Calf Born with Intestines Out- Anyone Have this?

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KCcattle

New member
Joined
Oct 22, 2015
Messages
2
Had a weird deal tonight.  Had a first calf heifer calving, gave her about an hour and decided to assist her.  Was an easy pull, had a PB Simmi heifer that was a little big, 70-75 lbs, but not terrible.  Calf appeared normal until I seen its umbilical cord and you could see intestines inside.  Once it broke from cow, poor calf was left with a pop can sized hole in abdomen and about two ft of intestine hanging out.  Calf was vigorous and tried to stand, but we didn't let it and hauled it 20 minutes to vet.  Vet examined it, noticed there was also a tear in intestine, and with dirt on the guys it would probably be best to euthanize calf vs stitching it up and try one to make it live and potentially suffer with a terrible abdominal infection.

Never seen this before nor heard of it.  Vet chalked it up to birth defect and a form of schistosomas reflexus, which is entirely new to me but resulted in a google search that had some pretty nasty pictures. 

Any one come across this before?
 

HAB

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 6, 2010
Messages
862
Location
North Dakota
Worked on a ranch in MT back in the mid 1990's.

Purebred Horned Hereford with a full blown schistosomas reflexus.  Calf was completely inside out.  Calved guts first, then skeletal structure all four legs pointing backwards.  Quite the sight.
 

beebe

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 29, 2014
Messages
520
I have seen it twice, once here in the seventies and once at a neighbors in the nineties.  The first time the vet told me I would never see it again, I guess I am just lucky so to speak.  AJ I think it is just a fluke of nature.
 

cedargrove

Active member
Joined
Jun 10, 2012
Messages
35
We had 1 like  that 3 weeks ago. My vet had seen this once before on a dairy calf--she saved that one (operated after 2 days and the calf was strong). So she wanted to try again,but calf died within an hour after operation. My vet thought it was fluke of nature.
 
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