experiences w/ c-sections?

[red]

Was just wondering how sucessful the average person has been w/ c-sections? Do you generally save both the cow & calf, one of the other or neither?
We've never had good luck here. I don't think they've saved either in the ones they've done. The nephew took one to OSU & lost both.

Any feedback? What have been the reason's for a c-section? Do you do it yourself or have a vet?

Red

 

[C-CROSS]

We usually have at least 3 a year and have great success, they all rebreed and never ahve another problem.  We head to the vet the second we think we need one, too big, postion or what ever the case may be.  We live an hour away and in the last 3 years  we have lost 1 calf out of about 15.

 

[red]

so timing is a big factor in your experience?
thanks for the post c-cross!

Red

 

[C-CROSS]

Yes, I think timing is everything.  We have experienced taking one out the side and having things alive is much better for us then trying to pull one just to save money.  In the end a zipper is much more profitable for us.  We just had our first one this year yesterday and everyone is doing great.

 

[chambero]

We've never had a c-section done.  Probably had a few pulls we should have.

I walked into our vets office this winter right as he was starting one.  Didn't look that bad and baby came out fine and momma was up as quick as the rompum wore off.

 

[Dusty]

I have a funny c-section story.  
A friend of mine had a first calf heifer that was trying to calve.  He gave her an hour and the checked it out.  He has been raising cattle for 30 years, he knows when it is time to head to the vet.  It was time to head to the vet, probably 130 plus he said.
His normal vet was out of town, the other vet in the office was going to have to do it.  I think declawing cats is her specialty?  Well when he got there the vet said that she thought there was enough room that they could pull it.  He tried to talk her out of it, but finally went with her recommendation.  Well after the vet succeeded in killing the calf (it was alive when she started) and then crippling the cow, she replied: "Sorry, I thought there was enough room."  
Needless to say he was a little pissed.  He threw the calf in the trailer, drug the cow on the trailer and headed home.  This happened on Friday and the cow still can't get up.  She's been living in the trailer since.
He wants to send her a bill for the cow and she can have the calf for free if she wants it...LOL
His quote on the whole deal was: "I could have hitched a damn tractor to the calf, got the same thing accomplished and saved the trip to town!!!"

A good vet is worth a lot!  A bad one isn't worth the paper their degree is printed on.  There are more bad ones than good out there unfortunately.

 

[chambero]

We have lots of horse vets in our part of the world, not so many cattle vets.  They can't charge us near us much.  Luckily, we have a good cow vet and we give him as much business as possible so he'll show up when we need him.

Our vet comes to us for palpating/sonogramming, calfhood vaccinating heifers, and sometimes AI'ing our big groups. We'll take cattle to him for surgicle dehorning and big problems.  We calve our heifers out at our lots in town (around 50-60 hd per year) and have a whole crew to help watch them and assist with deliveries.  We breed 99% of our heifers to Angus and haven't ever had one we couldn't pull.  We'll lose one or two calves per year, but most often they are the ones that momma has by herself but fails to get the sack off, some that just don't get up, etc.

Had a cow out in the pasture with a breech that we should have had a c-section done on.  We might or might not have been able to get her in a trailer to get her there though.

 

[OH Breeder]

Done two
First  a young vet,first C-Section,  I was on the road communicating with kids through a cell phone. WEnt horrible and lost cow and calf.
Second was elective with an experienced vet and went extremely well. Calf did well and the cow rebred without a problem.

 

[justintime]

I just looked back through my records. There had been cows on our farm for over 70 years before the first C- section was done. That was in 1983, and it was done on a cow that had a twisted uterus. Another c- section was done two years after that on a Simmental heifer that we bred to the wrong sire.... totally own own fault. From 1985 to 2003 we had another 7 c sections... mostly on backwards calves. Three days ago I had the 10th c-section we have had on our farm in 105 years. It had been 6 years since I have even had to have a vet assist a birth. This was another heifer( a blue roan Shorthorn? Angus cross) that had a backwards calf and I could not pop the calves hips into the pelvis, so it was off to see the vet. Both moma and calf are doing fine.
We have been very fortunate as i know many of my neighbours need vet assistance a few times every year. Prolapses are another thing I do not like. When we sold most of the 100 Charolais cows we had, we also got rid of a prolapse problem... not that we had lots of them... just some of them. That is one plus I will say for the old Shorthorn cow. I have never had a Shorthorn prolapse, nor have I ever heard of a Shorthorn prolapsing. There probably are some now, with the mixture of genetics now in the breed, but knock on wood, we haven't ever had one.

 

[CAB]

I have had somewhere between 5 to 10 done that I have personally been involved with in one way or another. If the timing and conditions are good from the start, I have never had a bad outcome. The cows/heifers breed back well in a good time and I have kept all of them and never have done a 2nd C on one. I have had the bad start situation also, starting with dead twins, lost everything, but what are you going to do? Without the C you know you're going to lose everything. I have done them on my own, but that is always a 1/2 bad result, B/C I know the cows done B4 I start, but have saved a couple calves by taking them B4 it was too late for both.

 

[kanshow]

Several years ago, we had an absolute wreck with heifers and a young bull that had great CE & BW EPDs - I dunno how many sections we did that year - maybe as many as 15? -I'll ask hubby as he remembers details like that  but we thought about building a room on for our vet.  It also made us huge belivers in only using proven & high accuracy AI sires...    The thing is, we had pelvic measured that year and then the following year we decided to be extremely strict but still only culled 4 out of over 100 head.    The calves were coming big - most were over 100# with huge shoulders & hips.  Since that year, we've maybe only had 1 or 2 sections.   

So the key to a good c-section is a good vet.  Ours was great.  I believe it is best to do them standing.  Another thing is to catch them early enough in labor so that neither cow nor calf are stressed yet.  We had a little pasture next to our house that we don't usually keep cattle on in the winter but we put these out there as  it was clean & away from the rest of the herd.  We managed to save the majority of them - both the cow & calf.  Most of them rebred on pasture.  We even kept a few of them and they calved fine the next year. 

There is a vet around here  who does episiotiomies on cows because he doesn't like to do sections.  We called him a couple times when the other guy wasn't available....  we have NEVER saved any cow that he's hacked away at and both times the calf was dead by the time he got it out.    We have come to the point that we know when we need a section done on a cow.    We ask for it and insist on it.

 

[aj]

The good large animal vets are hard to come by. The money is with the small animal stuff. Who wants to do a c-section at 2 in the morning for 150$ when they can do a doggie operation during the day at 800$. My hats off to the vets.

 

[kanshow]

Me too Aj - We really like to let our good vet know he is appreciated. 

What do sections run in different parts of the country.  I think ours were around 200 each.  My dad just had the very first one done this spring and it was close to 400 - but then it was a Sunday night 10 pm deal. 

 

[justintime]

A c- section here costs just a little more than an average good commercial calf is worth at weaning.

 

[BCCC]

How much is that??

 

[Jill]

We have never had one here, but my neice had a couple last year (all out of calving ease Maine bulls) she lost 1 saved 1, 1st done by vet, 2nd at K-State.  We have a neighbor down the road that has several a year, they don't own a bull, breed everything AI and check them all when they get close, the ones they have that they think they are going to have problems on they send to K-State.