Necropsies can be an extremely valuable tool in diagnosing herd health problems. Before you begin, review the calf’s history:
- How old was the animal?
- What vaccines and treatments did it receive?
- How long was it sick?
- What were the clinical signs before it died?
- Herd demographics:
- How many animals are affected? (morbidity and mortality rates)
- Nutrition
- Housing
“A picture is worth a thousand words.” Take pictures before you start taking samples or moving organs around, with a special focus on anything that looks abnormal.
Calf necropsy checklist
Equipment needed
- Gloves
- Jack knife, kitchen knife or scalpel
- Jar with formalin – (10-to-1 ratio of formalin to tissue)
- 3 to 4 bags (Ziploc or Whirl-Pak)
- Hedge trimmers (to cut ribs on older animals)
Directions
- When cutting samples, if you can see tissue that looks normal next to tissue that looks abnormal, try to get a sample where normal and abnormal tissue meet.
- Get fresh and formalin-preserved samples of each tissue listed below.
- Gather samples of the gut tissues last to minimize contamination.
Samples needed
Non-gut tissues – can share the same bag
- Muscle
- Skin – ear notch works well for this
- Lung – does the sample float in water or formalin?
- Heart – take a cross-section including a section of a heart valve
- Liver
- Gallbladder
- Spleen
- Kidneys – cut kidneys lengthwise and then take a cross-cut sample
- Bladder
Gut tissues – can share the same bag
- Rumen
- Reticulum
- Omasum
- Abomasum
- Small intestine (multiple sites and include lymph nodes)
- Large intestine
Manure sample – place in bag
Blood sample – store in a red top tube
- Tip: Cut up the armpit of the front leg and get a blood sample from the vein.
Submit samples for diagnosis
- Refrigerate samples; do not freeze.
- Label with animal ID, farm name and date of sample collection.
- Place all sample bags in another bag in case of leakage.
- Submit to the diagnostic lab within 24 hours.
Please discuss with your herd veterinarian or consulting veterinarian for detailed recommendations for submitting guidelines to specific labs.
