# Milk cow aborted calf



## LHRanch (Feb 5, 2013)

I've posted here before about the big brown swiss cow we recieved that was pregnant. Unfortunately she aborted her calf today. We showed a picture to our vet and he said the calf was about 5 months but a cattle farmer we showed said it looked around 7 months along. Either way she has milk now and seems to still be having contractions.

We found the calf in our lawn this morning around 6am. She pushed the arena gate open and got out with our steer. The calf was pink with no hair, white hooves, a nose, ears, tongue, looked developed but extremely small. About the size of a large cat.

She has been tested for TB and is Neg. If we milk her is it okay to feed to our pigs? And is it possible she has another calf in her? She has not passed the afterbirth yet but the sac with the calf was about 5-6 feet away from it.

Also, the milk is cind of clear and I'm assuming it is colostrom? I didn't think they developed milk when the aborted though..?

Thanks for any help.


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## LHRanch (Feb 5, 2013)

Also, she is 15 years old per pre-owner.


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## bigmudder77 (Jun 9, 2008)

Ship her its sad but if you dont know how long she was pregnant then its gonna take a long time to milk her to just dump the milk to the pigs it will be good for pigs though but good enough to cut the cost of keeping a cow no not worth it at all

And at that old idk i cant remember where you got her from but if it was from a big dairy farm then id guess shes not gonna be around long enough to have another calf and it might take forever to get her pregnant again 

And usually at an abortion they pass the after birth first before the calf 

And milk shouldnt be clear it should be like a darkish yellow but not knowing how long shes been breed she might not come back in to milk 

I wouldnt think there was another one inside her


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## LHRanch (Feb 5, 2013)

I'm used to horses so I was thinking the afterbirth was after the calf. There is still a small piece of the ?placenta? inside her... She is a home-grown cow, the gal we got her from had issues with her husband and she was neglected for about 8 weeks before we got her. She has owned her since the day she was born. Not sure if this info is important or not? I'm not too worried about the cost because I am able to turn her out to pasture in the summer time, late into mid-winter.


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## Jersey/guernsey (Nov 12, 2012)

I wouldnât think that thereâs another calf in her after this long if sheâs been straining all this time.
If the milk is clear then itâs not colostrum, which should be thick and yellow/orange. 
If her calf was only five months along then I wouldnât expect her to make proper milk right away, but it should be safe for your piggies or you after a bit.
Frequent milkings are your friend, they will help to normalize her milk, and they also help her to clean although a dose of antibiotics would still be a good idea. 
Hope your cow is alright


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## SpaceCadet12364 (Apr 27, 2003)

It does not hurt to have her checked for another calf. because I would have her checked to find out if there is a reason she aborted the calf in the first place. It would suck to loose her too now. If she is sick and that is why she aborted, IDK. I always like to find a why something happened.


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## G. Seddon (May 16, 2005)

bigmudder77 said:


> And usually at an abortion they pass the after birth first before the calf
> 
> I wouldnt think there was another one inside her


Pass the after birth first before the calf? Huh? What makes you think that this cow doesn't have a twin inside her?

I agree with SpaceCadet. If this cow aborted and is still straining, then she should be checked, preferably by a vet, who should be able to determine if there IS a twin. It wouldn't hurt to make a list of your questions about milking this animal to ask the vet either.


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## bigmudder77 (Jun 9, 2008)

When they abort everyone I seen abort had afterbirth first then the calf when the have it regular its calf then after birth 

how does she look ears down eyes sunk in ears cold slower than normal

if you want to make sure then call a vet to come out and check her out if you want to lose her if she really is sick then wait for answers on here 

around here we have had alot of twisted stomachs due to lack of good hay and some are aborting there calf could she have a twist idk cause I can't look at her will a twist kill her over time yes and by time idk but the longer we waited the harder it was on the cow to recover from it if they cut her open if they rolled her then it wasn't so bad on her


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## bigmudder77 (Jun 9, 2008)

And I remember this cow and she didn't look in the pictures to have twins she looked in really poor health and like she has been in a mud hole before you got her 

new advice for you please call a vet and get some answers

Is she still a 3 qt milker or did all 4 come in to milk and are the same color milk?


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## matt_man (Feb 11, 2006)

If she was only 5 months then I wouldn't expect her to milk really good right away but the birth will stimulate her to produce milk. I would milk her and dump the milk to the pigs until it looks normal. It may take a week or two.


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## matt_man (Feb 11, 2006)

Is there afterbirth hanging out of her? The sac you found near the calf should be the afterbirth. She may have eaten most of it. She may still strain some here and there but if she is actively pushing, I would have her checked for a twin or partially retained placenta.


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## LHRanch (Feb 5, 2013)

I milked her this morning and only got about 10ccs of milk - it was white, a little clear but mostly white. Just gave it to the cats since it was hardly anything. I WOULD like to consider breeding her to a brown swiss, if I do it was be AI. I would like to get another milk cow and am willing to raise it but if she cannot be bred again then I'm fine with her sitting out here. She keeps our meat steers in the fence so technically she is saving me some money from having to keep repairing fences.

She isn't pushing as much, if at all anymore. When she was out I'm assuming it was for at minimum of 6 hours in our front yard. Would consuming pien needles that quickly cause an abortion? Two days prior the the incident she was seperated from the steers and was kind of stressed and anxious to get back with them. She is also scared of horses and I had a couple run by her which freaked her out. 

About 3 weeks ago she jumped a panel to get AWAY from an 8 month old colt and had a pretty nice scratch on her side. Not sure if this could play a factor...? Too many things happened I just am not sure how to pinpoint it.

I will have a vet come out and examine her asap. The part of placenta that is in her is clear, white. When she lays down fluid leaks out, just a little, and you can see the placenta. When she stands up it dissapears.


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## LHRanch (Feb 5, 2013)

bigmudder77 said:


> And I remember this cow and she didn't look in the pictures to have twins she looked in really poor health and like she has been in a mud hole before you got her
> 
> new advice for you please call a vet and get some answers
> 
> Is she still a 3 qt milker or did all 4 come in to milk and are the same color milk?


This morning I was actually only able to get milk out of 2 teats. Both on the left side.


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## LHRanch (Feb 5, 2013)

bigmudder77 said:


> When they abort everyone I seen abort had afterbirth first then the calf when the have it regular its calf then after birth
> 
> how does she look ears down eyes sunk in ears cold slower than normal
> 
> ...


She looks just fine. I had her out this morning and she was happy, bright and alert. She acts just the same.. Yesterday was a little distressing but it is like it didn't even happen.


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## bigmudder77 (Jun 9, 2008)

Well she might come back in to milk but if any of ours ever aborted we dumped the milk till about the time she should of had a calf then test the milk before we put it in the tank some never came back in to milk and we sent them to butcher


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## G. Seddon (May 16, 2005)

Bigmudder77, I owe you an apology. Our vet was here this morning for some work and I asked her about the afterbirth with aborted calves. You are correct, occasionally the afterbirth appears before the calf in this instance. I will continue to keep my fingers crossed that I don't see that happen though!


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## bigmudder77 (Jun 9, 2008)

G. Seddon said:


> Bigmudder77, I owe you an apology. Our vet was here this morning for some work and I asked her about the afterbirth with aborted calves. You are correct, occasionally the afterbirth appears before the calf in this instance. I will continue to keep my fingers crossed that I don't see that happen though!


its ok im use to it most people think im telling them a story or are full of it when i say the afterbirth comes first most times if shes going to abort. thank you for the apology 

did you ever get a vet out there to check on her im wondering what might be wrong with her


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## Miss Kay (Mar 31, 2012)

Before you breed her again I'd get some blood work done. There are diseases that cause them to slip the calf or it could have just been one of the things you mentioned. If the vet does come out, get him to draw the blood for you. If not, you draw some under the tail and mail it off to the many labs that check for you. Once you know she is clean and disease free you'll feel better about drinking the milk and can plan on breeding her.


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