Skip to main content
. 2020 Jul 9;187(1):28. doi: 10.1136/vr.105536

Table 4.

Cause of death for 54 beef calves that died in the perinatal period (full term, born dead or died within 48 hours) from nine herds that submitted all perinatal losses and 14 herds that submitted losses on an ad hoc basis

Cause of death Calves, n (N=54) Further details of cause of death
All (n=34) Ad hoc (n=20)
Congenital malformations 5 1 Atresia jejuni (3), schistosomus reflexus (1), complex (cleft palate, VSD, contracted tendons) (1), very low birthweight (21kg) and hypotrichosis following hydrops allantois (1).
Intrauterine infections 8 5 Bacillus licheniformis (3), Aspergillus fumigatus (1), Aspergillus niger (1), Aeromonas hydrophila (2), Escherichia coli (1), Leptospira hardjo (1), non-specific gross or histopathology (4).
Parturition-related (anoxia sustained during stage 2 calving) 14 6 Includes cases with specific evidence of bradytocia (9), trauma (3), malpresentation (3), twin birth (2), arthrogryposis (1) and non-specific evidence of fetal response to infection considered non-life-threatening (3). These are not mutually exclusive.
Postpartum infections 0 6 All due to E coli; all calves more than 24 hours of age at time of death had complete failure of passive transfer (5).
Diagnosis not reached 5 2 Time of death was recorded as prepartum (4) or intrapartum (3).
Other 2 0 Colostrum administered into the lungs (1), abomasal rupture of unknown cause (1).

VSD, ventricular septal defect.