cesarean on dead cow possible?

[Cricket]

I work on a dairy farm and we have a cow with an incurable foot infection. Eventually she will have to be put down--not shippable. She is due to calve in the next few weeks. Has anyone heard of 'rescuing' the calf afterwards. Sounds gruesome to me, but hate for it to not have a chance.

 

[20kidsonhill]

at the same time, but you have to be fast.

 

[Cricket]

Thank you. Maybe I'll see if I can find a diagram and post it in the barn and someone will be inspired. Hopefully, she'll just calve and solve this issue herself!

 

[elevan]

at the same time, but you have to be fast.

I think you have something like 5 minutes to get the baby out (of any dead animal) before it starts dying itself.

 

[redtailgal]

It is possible, and it is a nasty bloody mess. I've done it, and was covered in blood. Not just the arms, but all of me, my shoulders, my face, my hair, blood dripping off my elbows. The cow was very very dead, but it was nasty. Be prepared.

Get a short bladed, very sharp knife.

Before you kill her, feel her belly and get familiar with her belly..........where that calf is, etc. Take some chalk and mark where you intend to cut......but mark on BOTH sides of her belly (if she is standing, you dont know which way she will go down). Once she is down and you are sure she is dead (Please please make sure she is dead before you cut), work quickly but without panic. One her heart stops, you need to have the calf out and the cord cut in under 5 minutes. be quick, but not panicked.

Plan on three cuts. The first cut will get you thru the skin, make a long 12 in cut, grab both sides and PULL to get a larger opening. Do the same with the muscle, make a cut grab both sides and pull. Once you find the uterus, try to grab a handful and pull it up and out...........away from the calf before you cut.

It is very very easy to slice open a calf during an emergency C-section. This is why I say to use three cuts, and to pull the openings larger. It may take two people to get the openings pulled open enough.

Have warm blankets ready, the calf will be cold and weak. The calf may have trouble starting to breath on its own (I think that the passage thru the birth canal helps them with this normaly). Also, the calf may have more mucous in the respiratory tract, be sure to have something there to clear the nose and mouth, (a bulb syringe like you would use for a baby is fine). If breathing does not start on its own, cup the mouth shut and give a breath thru the nose of the calf. (remember the whole COVERED in blood part? I was serious).

I have done three postmortem sections. I delivered twins by this manner and two time a single calf.. They all lived. The area around me was gruesome, it looked like some scene from a horror movie. I would recommend having 1-2 helpers, and if you are going to allow children to watch, they may need to have an adult their to attend to their own needs.

 

[redtailgal]

This video will not help you with the c-section, but it give a good example of the immediate care of a c-section calf. I'll provide the link in case I still cannon imbed the video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNu2YU0u5QU&feature=related

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNu2YU0u5QU[/youtube]

 

[greybeard]

I saw it performed once long ago---RTG is not exaggerating the messiness involved one bit. Of all the odd places, i saw it at a small slaughterhouse/beefprocessor. The guy doing the cutting was very quick. The calf survived.
If you aren't familar with the "insides" it might help to brush up on bovine anatomy a bit before attempting this unless you are going to have a vet there.

 

[Bossroo]

I have performed quite a few C- sections on live as well as dead cows. Unless one cuts a major blood vessel , there is very little blood to contend with. There is quite a bit of yellow amniotic fluid in the uterus and may gush out with the first cut into the uterus. If one cuts through any utereine blood vessels and it bleeds into the uterus,the fluid will become red tinged. Otherwise it can be done very fast and pretty clean. That is if one doesn't do the deed after 3 days of a major rain storm , out in a muddy pasture after tieing the cow to a fence post and 3 people trying to pull the calf out, and it being too large to come out, cow dieing from exhaustion, and I using a pocket knife, cuting her open and pulling the still live calf out. Carrieing it to the barn to dry off and warm up with all of us bing completely mud covered and soaking wet. After the storm we invited the cow to freezer camp and later to quite a few BBQs.

 

[redtailgal]

Bossroo wrote:
"Unless one cuts a major blood vessel , there is very little blood to contend with"

This is true, however, when you are trying to get a calf out quickly, and the cow is HOT and dead......well, I sort just cut through what is there to get to the calf, vessel or not. LOl, by the time the cow is dead, I dont worry too much about making it a clean surgery.

Lol, about the barn. Been there, it's cold and pouring rain, wrap the new calf in my coat so it doesnt freeze then tromp thu that pouring rain, hauling that calf and my equipment, praying I dont fall in the mud. You'd think that the long slow walk thru the pouring rain would wash the muck and mud and blood off of you, but nope it just spreads it more evenly.

What type of anesthesia did you use on that cow? Did you use a side cut or an under cut?

 

[rd200]

Why dont you just induce??? Wait until 2 or 3 weeks before she's due and induce her. She should have it between 12-36 hours i think. (not a vet)

I think the mixture is like 15 cc dexamethasone and 15 cc oxytocin. Sometimes its a harder, longer labor because its not natural but we have had very good luck on induction.

the calf will probably be small, but still viable 3 weeks out i think. Some cows carrying heifer calves sometimes calve 2 weeks before naturally.

One other thing to think about it that if you take the calf after you kill the cow, you need to have colostrum replacer on hand for the calf considering the cow wont be giving you any colostrum and the stress on the calf, its going to need good quality colostrum to survive. Good luck, Rach

Is the calf sexed???