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Bones not moving

Alicecow

Member
Location
Connacht
Hi all.

Have a 3rd calver, due 31st May to Lim bull, bones started moving but stopped. Her paternal half sister went 12 days over to the same bull and all was fine but this one has bagged and stopped.
Any suggestions?

Thanks.
 

Flossie

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Lancs
Hi all.

Have a 3rd calver, due 31st May to Lim bull, bones started moving but stopped. Her paternal half sister went 12 days over to the same bull and all was fine but this one has bagged and stopped.
Any suggestions?

Thanks.
Is the bag going? If I felt something was amiss I'd bung a glove on and have a feel. Maybe she was getting ready, calf died and now the milk's going but she hasn't spat the calf out :unsure:
 

AGN76

Member
Location
north Wales
could she be due 3 weeks later than you thought she would be?
We had a cow go 3 weeks over and showed no signs, I put my hand in and there was a pair of monstrous feet waiting for me, we caesarianed a huge bull calf. Cow can't have been getting the signals.
12 months later the same cow was 3 weeks over again but calved a normal size calf, I can only assume that I had ai'd her 3 weeks later when OH and eldest were in hospital with bacterial meningitis and I was understandably distracted and hadn't written it down!
 

Alicecow

Member
Location
Connacht
Just checked her dates. Was originally ai'd on 31st july, then repeated and was re done on 21st August to which she kept.
I've never done the glove thing, never really needed to before plus a bit of a wimp, plus not experienced enough to do anything after that, so usually leave glove jobs to the vet :oops:
Just checked cow again and still no change, eating away etc, slightly grumpy as has been for a week now.
Maybe reading sjewart's thread on inducing the heifer has unnerved me a bit (n)
Just uneasy about this going on much longer as lots of other stuff going on, including 2 more cows due to the same bull :nailbiting:, one now 3 days over :facepalm:
 

Alicecow

Member
Location
Connacht
Bag has filled, and rear end gone loose and flappy.
Previous 2 calves were AA, 1st one she spat out and all was fine. 2nd one calved ok but had 3 dodgy legs.
Have used this bull quite a few times now and was ok (past performance is no guarantee of future performance, i know).
 

Alicecow

Member
Location
Connacht
I'd like to know the name of this Lim bull so I can avoid using it.

He's EBY from Dovea, Elderberry Galahad. Had twins from him last year without any problems (apart from 2nd one being backwards). He's down as 3.8% calving difficulty at 99% reliability.
Just talking to a man who said cows get lazy about calving when they're on grass, sharper about it if they're on slats till the last minute.
 

AGN76

Member
Location
north Wales
He's EBY from Dovea, Elderberry Galahad. Had twins from him last year without any problems (apart from 2nd one being backwards). He's down as 3.8% calving difficulty at 99% reliability.
Just talking to a man who said cows get lazy about calving when they're on grass, sharper about it if they're on slats till the last minute.
His sire is a cracking bull, I've got 3 daughters in the herd
 

GTB

Never Forgotten
Honorary Member
He's EBY from Dovea, Elderberry Galahad. Had twins from him last year without any problems (apart from 2nd one being backwards). He's down as 3.8% calving difficulty at 99% reliability.
Just talking to a man who said cows get lazy about calving when they're on grass, sharper about it if they're on slats till the last minute.
Cows can get lazy about calving if they're deficient in iodine. Seen them here years ago, water bag out then half an hour later they are back grazing or chewing their cud. When we had them in to see what was going on we'd find a correctly presented calf and it was nearly always an easy pull. Don't get them since we started bolusing.
 
Last edited:

Forever Fendt

Member
Location
Derbyshire
Just checked her dates. Was originally ai'd on 31st july, then repeated and was re done on 21st August to which she kept.
I've never done the glove thing, never really needed to before plus a bit of a wimp, plus not experienced enough to do anything after that, so usually leave glove jobs to the vet :oops:
Just checked cow again and still no change, eating away etc, slightly grumpy as has been for a week now.
Maybe reading sjewart's thread on inducing the heifer has unnerved me a bit (n)
Just uneasy about this going on much longer as lots of other stuff going on, including 2 more cows due to the same bull :nailbiting:, one now 3 days over :facepalm:
I had a limousin calve last night A I to nether hall galant ln2359 on 24/9/16 a small sharp calf didn't expect him just yet
 

Alicecow

Member
Location
Connacht
Cows only get lazy about calving if they're deficient in iodine. Seen them here years ago, water bag out then half an hour later they are back grazing or chewing their cud. When we had them in to see what was going on we'd find a correctly presented calf and it was nearly always an easy pull. Don't get them since we started bolusing.

I'll see if I can get some tomorrow. Think folks say 10% diluted down 50/50? How much to put on though?
Did give them a good dose of Butox today.
Tried boluses before but then found loads of them on the floor about 2 months later. Don't know how many I didn't find. Decided they were expensive as fertiliser.
 

bovine

Member
Location
North
Cows only get lazy about calving if they're deficient in iodine. .

That's simply wrong. It's one possible cause of very many.

This cow needs an internal examination - what you describe could be caused by a uterine torsion. I've seen similar cows finally presented days later with a stinking rotten calf inside. A simple check (by someone who knows what they are doing) should put your mind at rest. Also see if everything presented ok and alive.
 

GTB

Never Forgotten
Honorary Member
That's simply wrong. It's one possible cause of very many.

This cow needs an internal examination - what you describe could be caused by a uterine torsion. I've seen similar cows finally presented days later with a stinking rotten calf inside. A simple check (by someone who knows what they are doing) should put your mind at rest. Also see if everything presented ok and alive.
Yes sorry I worded it badly. Now edited.
 

GTB

Never Forgotten
Honorary Member
I'll see if I can get some tomorrow. Think folks say 10% diluted down 50/50? How much to put on though?
Did give them a good dose of Butox today.
Tried boluses before but then found loads of them on the floor about 2 months later. Don't know how many I didn't find. Decided they were expensive as fertiliser.
We've never had problems with boluses in cows. Don't think I've ever seen one on the ground. I'm not sure if applying iodine at this late stage would help the cow in question. I've never tried applying the liquid onto their backs tbh so don't know how fast it works. We bolus twice a year so the iodine is always there.
 
New formula iodine is spirit based not aqueous. It neither disperses in water, nor absorbs readily via skin application.
Agree re 'cows can get lazy if deficient in iodine'.
Also dopey calves which are difficult to get going or just plain dead.
 

Alicecow

Member
Location
Connacht
Good news. :)
Vet came out and checked her and all is in order. Cervix still closed. No torsion. Calf is alive, & correctly presented at the moment. Cow has plenty of room for him to get out.
Vet said another farmer is using an easy calving limousin and his calves are carrying over by 3 weeks or sometimes even more!
Gave her an injection of Kickupthearse so should see some results before the weekend.(y)
 

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