First a re-cap: After waiting what seemed like forever, we purchased our two beautiful little guernsey heifers 8 years ago from a dairy farm near Mansfield, Missouri. I held her in my arms the day she was born, and loaded her in the pickup myself. We bottle raised them for 6 months.
They grew up and she (Laura) had three perfect calves for us. Then she lost her forth one and had to be cleaned out by the vet at about 4 months. She bounced back, came in perfect cycling heat for 4 or 5 months so we AI’d her to a Guernsey bull in June of 2016. All was well for quite a few months, then I noticed a change in her behavior, but she was so fat, continued to bag up (but not all the way) and by the due date of last March (2017) was dripping milk, but never had a calf. Everyone told me she just wasn't pregnant. I knew she was.
She has never been the same cow since, even though the udder went completely down and she lost some of the weight. Vet checked her in June last year and palpated her, did an ultrasound and said he thought she had a tumor on an ovary and to cull her. We didn’t, she is the family cow and the grandkids love her just like we do.
Fast forward to now: A couple of weeks ago (19 months after being AI'd) she passed that calf. Normal cattle pregnancy is 9 months. We took her to a different vet, he looked at it (the fetus) and said it was a mumified calf (you could see all of it in a shrunken fetal position, even that it was a bull). This Vet said it usually happens between 5th and 8th month of gestation. That would put it about right when I noticed changes in her behavior, etc.
Vet #1 was no help at all, which cost us a considerable second vet bill, for a calf he should have found in her last June, but the worst of it is what our cow Laura has been through. As soon as she passed the mumified fetus (a month after another cow had her calf in the same pasture) she became her old self again. She was friendly with the other two cows now, and she started becoming the "other mother" to this month old calf and licked her clean every day several times a day. She doesn't have that big-eyed look on her face every time I go out to the barnyard lately (like "help me") and I always knew something was wrong. She is relaxed, happy and almost content (if she had her own calf).
Laura and her adopted calf Pepsi
Vet #2 said he could not detect a tumor on her ovary, but that we could do an ultrasound after her body and her ovaries got back to where everything belonged. I know we will probably never breed her back to calve again, since she lost two calves in a row, but at least she can be at peace here on her farm where she is loved by everyone who sees her.
In my internet research I found that Guernsey and Jersey's are more likely to have a mumified calf than any other breed. We had never even heard of it and I know it is rare – less that 2%. Has anyone out there ever had this experience? It’s really sad.
~ Gwen of IRISH ACRES
