Proper procedure for a bovine necropsy

[red]

DL had a very good post on another thread that made me start thinking ))
Her reponse to a question was:
calf guilt - it is a terrible thing! I take loosing a calf personally too AND I ALWAYS necropsy any calf (actuallly any bovine) that dies and recommend the same to friends/clients/etc.  Calves die for reasons that we have no control over - if we just bury them or dump them in the dead pile we feel bad and we figure we did something wrong.

I am amazed at the number of times calves die from wierd congenital heart diseases, lung abnormalities, or other wierd things (thus removing the onus of guilt from the human) 
I have some questions about where to send a calf & the proper procedure on getting it ready. DL or anyone else can you give us a down & dirty lesson on what to do in event you need a calf or cow necropsied? ???

thanks,
Red

 

[Show Heifer]

I can speak from experience that DL is excellent at this!!! I had a calf last year she helped me with, and found that it wasn't my fault it died. DL talked (actually typed) me through it, and I had answers. Put my mind at ease, both from the thought that I couldn't have save it, but also that it wasn't anything contagious for the other calves. (clapping)
So go for it DL! It was a great lesson for me!

And to the others: I hope you realize that DL is full of information and that she does this out of her love of sharing information and not for financial gain. May not always agree with her (although I usually do ) but her knowledge is priceless and I for one, appreciate it beyond words.  Thanks, Super woman!!! Keep that info coming!!!

 

[red]

I can speak from experience that DL is excellent at this!!! I had a calf last year she helped me with, and found that it wasn't my fault it died. DL talked (actually typed) me through it, and I had answers. Put my mind at ease, both from the thought that I couldn't have save it, but also that it wasn't anything contagious for the other calves. (clapping)
So go for it DL! It was a great lesson for me!

And to the others: I hope you realize that DL is full of information and that she does this out of her love of sharing information and not for financial gain. May not always agree with her (although I usually do ) but her knowledge is priceless and I for one, appreciate it beyond words.  Thanks, Super woman!!! Keep that info coming!!!

(clapping) (clapping) (cow) (cow) (clapping)
Amen to your thoughts!
Red

 

[DL]

Coming soon - the calf I necropsied this pm wore me out for the last several days so I am going to bed..... :'( (cow)

 

[red]

Coming soon - the calf I necropsied this pm wore me out for the last several days so I am going to bed..... :'( (cow)

Hope not one of yours DL!

Red

 

[DL]

OK - I have stalled long enough on this one - actually not stalling just busy like us all trying to keep calves alive, cows fed, myself in a cheery mood  ;D

Dragon Lady thoughts on necropsy

IMHO there are (at least) 2 good reasons to necropsy everything that dies on your farm. (Now lets be rational, it ain't always easy with cows, so for the time being lets stick with calves aborted, born dead, or die before weaning. Even for the scrawny and decrepit these can be done on the farm with a little knowledge and a strong stomach!)

1) Why did it die - this covers bovine guilt, could I have done something different, did I make the issue better or worse, or would it have died no matter what I did?

2) Did it die of something that could potentially impact the rest of my bovines. Some one once said that the most important animal to examine is the first one that dies - this is particularly important in the case of abortions - if you don't look at the first one when the second one happens you are way behind the eight ball!

If you have the luxury of being near a state diagnostic lab or U vet school - the best option is to take (or send, yes some schools have a "package" deal where you get the necropsy and shipping- call ahead) the calf. The deal here is that they have access to all the comforts that we back of the pick up or in the sled necropsy people don't - table of right height, warmth, lots of sharp instruments, water, and a host of diagnostic tests - all for in most cases less that 100 bucks. 

A common complaint I hear is something like "well I took something up to the U once and they charged me a bunch of money and they didn't find anything" - well look at the report - if they list that all viral tests were negative and that the heart and lungs were normal (etc) you know what it didn't die of - that is important information.

It gets a little dicey in warm weather but ideally you want the body cool, but not frozen.

If you don't have access to a U then there is always your vet - some vets do necropsies - some don't like to - doing it right takes a fair amount of time and your vet rightly should expect to be paid for it. He/she will also often take samples (and there will be an additional cost - hence again the beauty of the U). Since most cattle disease is lung and gut that is where most vets have the most experience.

OK so no U, no vet - that leave you. If you have a low tolerance for blood and guts return to options a or b! Hunters can be real helpful here - in order to have a sense of what is wrong you must know what is normal.

That's all for installment one....I find my brain has addled and needs to sleep to become unaddled!  More comin' DL (cow) (cow)

 

[red]

Thank you so much DL. It has really made me reconsider our practice of composting the dead calves right away. I wish I had the little red one done after she was trampled. She just never was right from the begining.
For those of you that keep your old Voices around there is an article in the Jan/Feb 2000 issue on the subject w/ pictures.

Red