Holstein heifer miscarriage???

This will be my 1st year that we breed our couple of cows. Always bought calves because my great grandfather was killed in my barn by a bull in 1929. So my problem/ question is one of the girls had a mis-carriage sometime saturday. She was about 2 months early. She still has what looks to be the ambilikal cord still hanging out of her rear end. Will it dry up and fall off?? Was still their last night.
Also what possibe reason are there for her having the mis-carriage. I should add that these are Holstein heifers breed with my neigbors angus bull and is the 1st year for them being breed, they are about 3 years old.
Thanks
Ryan in northern michigan

she hasn't cleaned yet, if it doesn't come out in a few days and starts to stink call the vet.

Dunno why on the miscarriage. Didn't get into a fight or kicked around by one of the others? Sometimes stress....
Otherwise, if you get one that doesn't clean right away, we'll give them a shot of oxytocin... about 10cc every few hours until she cleans. I probably wouldn't give more than 3 shots like that and that's a good deal more than a vet will recomend.
If she still doesn't clean, get the vet in after 5-7 days and it should pull out by then.

Rod

Is it normal to breed dairy cattle to calve at 3 years? Did that once upon a time with our beef cattle (some Angus, some Polled Hereford and some F1 cross) replacement heifers and it was a disaster; they were too big, too fat and we had to pull about half of them.

The usual age for a holstien to get bred is 18 months I believe. But as long as they are not too fat I wouldn"t see any reason that her age would have anything to do with it. As the other guys said stress could have caused it. There is an endless list of things that could have caused the miscarriage.

For here cleaning out just give her some oxytocin and that will help. I don"t think I would give more than 15 or 20 cc total. 5cc dose should do the trick. If you give her too much you can very well kill her. Oxytocin causes contractions of the smooth muscles like the uterus. The problem is her diaphram is also made of smooth muscle. If this contracts too much and too often you will in esence sufficate her.

Let us know how it works out.

We usually breed ours at 15 months so they calve at 24 months. Some guys like to have them calve at 22 to 23 months, but I've only tried that with a few of my biggest heifers.

If she was mine,and I was going to re-breed her again,I would give her 3cc's of a prostoglandin today,and another 2cc's in 2-3 weeks time.The next time she comes in heat after the second shot,have her bred.If she's already 3,she will be just about 4 having her first calf.We normally like to see them have their first at anywhere from 1-11 to 2-3 in a perfect world.Not that her age will hurt her any,just there's alot of $$$ in her now and still not paying ya back.Best of luck,pd.

Ryan, When a dairy cow or heifer mis-carriages they never pass all of the placenta (cleanings). I assume you want to milk this heifer, which wont be a problem, At only two months premature she can have a normal lactation. Have the vet out to clean the uterus, and follow vets recommendation so as to not get a uterus infection. Oxytocin is a good idea for two reasons, one it will help her pass the cleanings and two it will stimulate milk let down. Give it to her right before milking. Follow the Vets doseage. Do this sooner the better. Jon

Ryan I have had cows for several years but never ran into so many problems as I did when I started milking my own herd last year. I have learned on thing when it comes to cows health and that is be aggressive when you see a problem and don’t wait 4 days to ask for advise or help. we had a few retained placentas and after I lost one to infection I follow the advise of the vet and since I have several that come by from 2 different practices it all seems to be the same. 1st give her a shot of prostaglandin today and again in a week also after they just freshen we offer them warm water to drink. It seems to help them clean faster and I don’t know why. you are going to have to put boluses in her either Iodine or urea to help fight off infection and maybe start her on antibiotics (penicillin). since its already been 4 day you might want to take some actions to prevent a infection. Take her temp and if it is high (above 101.5) start her on penicillian. Vet bills are cheaper than replacements.

One thing no one has mentioned yet that gets forgotten way to often in working with cattle. Take her temperature often. A normal temperature for a cow is around 101.5. I would suggest getting one of the little digital thermometers that TSC or the vet should carry. A cow that doesn't clean right away isn't an emergency until she develops an infection and the first sign will be an increase in temp, even before you smell anything. If she gets above 102.5, she has an infection and needs to be seen by a vet. I completely agree on using oxytocin at 10-15 cc to get her to expel the placenta. I give it morning and night for 3 shots then if she doesn't clean the vet is called. When you give her the oxytocin, after a few minutes you can give the afterbirth a gentle tug to see if it will come out. But do not pull to hard. If the placenta is still firmly attached to the little buttons, called caruncles, on the uterus you can do permanent damage by ripping the placenta loose before the buttons are ready to let go. These buttons are what the fertilized egg attaches to at the beginning of pregnancy so if a bunch of the buttons are ruined by scar tissue, it will make it more difficult for her to get pregnant later. She might have a fertilized egg but it is wasted unless it can land and get attached to a caruncle which feeds it thru the pregnancy.
I have unfortunaly had to deal with retained placentas and have found the best thing, if there is afterbirth hanging out, take a piece of twine and tie it to the placenta about 10 inches below the vulva. And then leave about a foot of twine hanging and tie something onto the end of the twine. I use spare gutter chain links and put about 5-10 pounds on the twine. It isn't enough to rip the buttons but is enough to keep a gentle constant pull on the placenta and in conjunction with the oxytocin is the best way I have found to get one to clean. Just remember, if she gets a fever at all, it isn't working and the vet needs to be there as soon as possible.
Just curious, where ya at in North Michigan? I am in the Sparta area.

All good advise on getting her to clean up. Has she been nnalert for Brucellosis and Lepto?