[An unusual case of a 35 days preterm birth of a German Holstein calf]

A female calf of the breed German Holstein (GH) was spontaneously born on July 28, 2013 which was 35 days before the expected term of birth. The dam was a heifer when she got pregnant from the first insemination on November 23, 2012. Calving was without complications. The calf was fully viable and without visible anomalies. We assume that the calf was fully mature at the termination of the pregnancy. Growth rate after the second month of life was comparable to calves born in the same herd after normal length of gestation. The sire of this preterm calf was a GH-bull used for artificial insemination. This bull had already sired 151 daughters. For this bull, preterm calvings were not yet reported. The dam was a heifer, and neither external influences on this dam or in the herd could be identified that could have induced this premature calving. In the herd, no further premature calvings were observed or reasons associated with a preterm calving were found. In this exceptional case, however, gestation length was 248 days and the prematurely born calf survived without any signs of debility, organ defects and respiratory distress.