Lost a calf

[InvalidID]

Lost my first calf last night. He didn't seem ill yesterday, but I went out to check them this morning and he was dead in the pasture. He died while eating, there was grass attached to the ground still in his mouth when I found him.

No holes or animal attack signs. We moved the others to an older pasture for fear it's something in the pasture, but they seem fine. They did the same thing they always do when I move them, try to eat more of the new stuff than the other guy.

I did notice HUGE piles of plop next to the dead calf. I mean very much larger that normal for sure. Also it seemed extra...solid? The pasture is native grass, but that's what they've been on for months now so I don't think it's the type of grass. And again, the other's are doing great as far as I can tell.

Any ideas? Something I should look for?

ETA: He was the runt of the herd. Has always been much smaller than the others. He was about a week younger than the rest, but always seemed 3-4 weeks behind. Could he just have been a weak calf and just didn't make it?

[FEF]

How old was he? We had a nice Angus heifer several years ago. For about three weeks she was normal, happy girl, even in charge of the little bull calves born after her. At about three weeks old she stopped eating. Her mom tried her best to get her to nurse, no luck. We offered her grain, no luck. The vet recommended some things. No luck. She just died. We had the vet post her and the opening between her esophagus and stomach was tiny. She was fine as long as she just drank milk. But when she started eating some grass and hay, she stopped up. She basically starved to death. Broke my heart. Never had seen it before or heard of it since.

[InvalidID]

Originally Posted by FEF

How old was he? We had a nice Angus heifer several years ago. For about three weeks she was normal, happy girl, even in charge of the little bull calves born after her. At about three weeks old she stopped eating. Her mom tried her best to get her to nurse, no luck. We offered her grain, no luck. The vet recommended some things. No luck. She just died. We had the vet post her and the opening between her esophagus and stomach was tiny. She was fine as long as she just drank milk. But when she started eating some grass and hay, she stopped up. She basically starved to death. Broke my heart. Never had seen it before or heard of it since.

He'd been weened for well over a month now. I did notice he'd recently started sucking on some of the other calves ears though, like when he was a bottle baby.

I'm going to keep a closer eye on the rest for awhile, but so far they look fine. Might just be one of those things I suppose.

[gone-a-milkin]

It sounds like 'one of those things' to me.
The fact that he was a poor doer is highly suspect.

Really though, sometimes animals just die. Short of doing an autopsy you may never know why. Weak heart, malformed guts, an injury?

I would still keep a close eye on everyone else, but since the calf didnt show any symptoms you dont have much to go on.

Good luck with them. Farming is just hard sometimes.

[InvalidID]

Originally Posted by gone-a-milkin

It sounds like 'one of those things' to me.
The fact that he was a poor doer is highly suspect.

Really though, sometimes animals just die. Short of doing an autopsy you may never know why. Weak heart, malformed guts, an injury?

I would still keep a close eye on everyone else, but since the calf didnt show any symptoms you dont have much to go on.

Good luck with them. Farming is just hard sometimes.

You say the fact he was a poor doer is suspect, what do you mean?

[Tad]

I think she means there might have been a congenital problem with her thats why she seemed so far behind everyone else. Just one of "those" things, fail to thrive. We once had a hiefer calve and she started looseing weight, she was always a skinny runt but she was turning into a bag of bones. The vet came out and checked her and said she had a huge heart, could be a infection or something she was born with. Put her on antibiotics he said if it was an infection she would get better if she was born that way she would die, she died. Stress of calveing was to much and that was it.

[G. Seddon]

Sorry to hear about your calf. Probably the ONLY way you'll know is if you have your vet or your nearest state lab do a necropsy (should be done as soon after death as possible). At least that way, you have some feedback on why the animal died, and it might help you care for the others you have.

[myersfarm]

was the calfs feet UP HILL....i LOST THE WEAK ONES THAT WAY from bloat

[InvalidID]

Originally Posted by myersfarm

was the calfs feet UP HILL....i LOST THE WEAK ONES THAT WAY from bloat

Up hill... not really. The ground he was on seemed pretty level. I never heard of them dieing like that, interesting.

[Chixarecute]

We lost a cow once to bloat, she was laying down next to a depression, laid back to roll, got stuck in the depression, bloated and died. It can happen to strong or weak.