# miscarriage at 5 months



## farmgirl756 (Mar 24, 2005)

Our cow was artificially inseminated in october, she just had a miscarriage. As small time hobby farmers, this was a first for us. Does anyone have any suggestions on what might have went wrong?


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## wr (Aug 10, 2003)

How old is your cow? What type of feed & supplement program do you have her on? Has she slipped or injured herself recently? I can think of several possible reasons but would need more background.


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## farmgirl756 (Mar 24, 2005)

she's 4 yrs old, she has previously had a calf . As for the feed and supplements, I'm not sure, that's my husbands dept. I do know we feed beef ration, oats, barley and a little corn. As for slipping, I guess that is possible, but she is not showing any signs of injury. Also it has been at least 9 hours since she miscarried. Shouldn't she have passed her placenta by now? It is still hanging, and every so often she strains to try and pass it.


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## dosthouhavemilk (Oct 29, 2004)

Have you had her vaccinated for anything? 

Since she aborted, it generally means there was something wrong with the pregnancy. It is not suprising that she has not cleaned yet. Has any milk come in? If so, try milking her a little (if this is possible). The milking will stimulate contractions and may help her celan. Also, lots of warm water can help.

Is this a beef or dairy animal?


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## lilsassafrass (May 13, 2002)

My guess would be lepto 

this has been an ugly damp winter all across the country .. with many I have talked to having muddy barn lots and wet pastures despite the snow and cold 
easy enough to pick up lepto , next time vac against .. i like triangle nine , as it can be used on preg cows .. but there are other products out there .. you can have your vet take blood to check if she has become a carrier for lepto 

other causes besides physical , could be brucillocis, again , your vet can take blood to find out , how ever if she had calfhoods given to late she might titer positive to brucellocis and not be a carrier at all 

those two jump to mind right off the bat ..

there many other reasons as some have mentioned , nutrition , also physical injury , or stress .. like being worried by dogs 

give her time to cleanse we wait a week or ten days .. if she hasnt after that your vet can give her a shot to make her cleanse , if it gets toward the end of ten days and if you feel more comfortable you can give her some penG or other antibiotic against infection


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## 65284 (Sep 17, 2003)

What kind of cow? If she is a Dexter could have been a bulldog calf.


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## farmgirl756 (Mar 24, 2005)

She is a Charolais, and she has not had any vaccinations


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## astrocow (Mar 11, 2005)

In the feeds that she was getting you didn't mention hay but I'll add my tiny two cents worth. I read that the mycotoxins in moldy hay will cause abortions. 
Leigh


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## farmgirl756 (Mar 24, 2005)

hmmm that is interesting......about the moldy hay. When we bought our hay we got it from 2 different places, we just got to our second purchase and some of it is very dusty. We stopped feeding it, and have just purchased a bunch more of quality hay. But if it were the hay wouldn't our other bred cow have had problems too? 
Also she still hasn't passed her placenta, someone said there are pills we can buy to help her pass it.


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## herefordman (Aug 24, 2004)

Its not too unusual for miscarriages to happen, not necessarily anything that was done wrong or any diseases, sometimes its just natures way of weeding out what may have been a sickly calf if it did survive.
Just try her again, and if she still does the same then its time to get rid of her.
Better luck next time.


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## astrocow (Mar 11, 2005)

With the snow melting and all the flooding around our hay storage we had to move our hay and re-cover it all. Last year I had a cement pad poured and put down a thick sheet of plastic then piled our square bales on top of that. Along the edge of the plastic where ever a portion of a bale rested on the cement itself, it went moldy. Moisture travels through the cement. The mold was either black or white and thready looking. We throw out that portion of the bale that has the mold and the other part of it that appears still good goes to our unbred cattle. Our bred cow never gets this stuff. Our bales are dusty but that is normal and it is okay to feed. We put the bales outside for them to eat. If they were fed in a confined area with poor ventilation then the dust could cause them problems. The mold won't hurt the cow herself but does hurt her fetus but I still wouldn't give an animal something moldy to eat. Our animals are vaccinated against Leptosporosis (or some name close to that). This bacteria causes abortions. A local cattle farmer told us that cattle can get it from drinking water contaminated with deer droppings as some deer are carriers. I don't know if that's true about the deer but that's what he told us. 
Leigh


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## farmgirl756 (Mar 24, 2005)

Thanks to everyone for all your advice. I will make sure we vaccinate against the lepto before the next go round. Mama seems to be doing o.k. and has passed the placenta. 

Thanks again


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## Mark T (Jan 7, 2003)

Astrocow's neighbor is correct; Lepto is spread by deer. My vet firmly recommended a lepto vaccination at the sixth month of pregnancy to avoid a miscarriage.

Deer carry Lepto. If a cow drinks out of a puddle, pond or stream in which a deer has urinated, it can become contaniminated. The cow will survive but often loses her calf. (For dogs it is much worse - it can lead to death)

Bonnie and my steers do not drink out of any standing water; I give them fresh water in containers every day as I move them to a new paddock. So I shouldn't have a problem. Except for the fact that I am overrun by deer from the neighboring conservationist's property - I shot 13 in the garden last year. So, on the off chance that Bonnie might lap at a puddle after a rain storm, I went ahead and gave her the shot.

I'm sorry for your lost calf and hope you have better luck in the future.


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