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Sunnyside, WA | All Holsteins, most all preg checked less than 40 days, all but 2 done by someone's arm. Only had one this year, 11 in 2007, 13 in 2006, and 2 in 2005 when I started tracking. I can tell you from my standpoint, it has nothing to do with sires used and guessing very little to do with genentics. My understanding is that the embryo can easily be damaged when the vet "slips" the calf, especially less than 40 days. Not saying that is the whole reason, but I keep track of how the cow was preg check, and most of the time it was done with an arm. I have only a couple that were done with the blood test I use (BioPryn). I don't preg check anything with an arm less that 50 days now in an AI pen. Some do get done in bull pens, but very few.
We started opening the calves up, and there was either nothing there, or it was not connected. Sometimes you could push your finger in a couple inches, other times there was no anus. We put them out of their misery very quickly after diagnosis. 99% of the time its heifers. Surgery has not been successful or economical.
Hope this helps. Don't go pointing the finger at the vet yet, but its a place to start looking.
Edited by J. Sheehan 8/3/2008 18:27
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Calves born without anus?
