Hi, Here goes with another question. The cow I wrote in about being over due had a healthy 85 LBS heifer. The cow retained her placenta and after 48 hrs. I gave her a shot of Lut. she passed the placenta within 24hrs. and seems fine. It is now 1 week since she has calved and she seems uncomfortable. She has her tail out and is passing bright red blood and clots.Not a lot but I notice it. I know it takes a week or so to clean out but this is different. Its not mucusy (sp) but just blood. She is eating and the calf is nursing. Is this something to worry about? And While I am at it will I screw up their cycles if I vaccinate now and implant with cyders in 2 weeks and breed after that or should I wait and vaccinate after they are bred. Thanks
After calving
- Thread starter Annie
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sidney411
Well-known member
If it is bright red blood and clots I would call the vet asap. She could be hemoraging? maybe some kind of tear? I don't usually see bright red blood except right after (hours) the calf is born. After that is is already starting to turn darker colored. I could be way off here, but that would be what I would do.
sidney411
Well-known member
They will often hold their tail out after calving and after cleaning, but not for 1 week after calving. If she is eating it, it sounds like afterbirth. But you said she had already cleaned out? Maybe it didn't fully clean out. I don't know, but a call to your vet should put you at ease.
Jeanne - Simme Valley
Well-known member
Annie":37x5f7ue said:
I am unclear about the tail held out, that could be a problem a vet needs to address. It is not uncommon for her to pass blood for a week or two. And if it comes out, they are likely to eat it (YUK).
As far as vaccinating prior to breeding, by all means YES - and I would recommend using a Modified Live Vaccine. Gives better & longer protection than a killed vaccine, and if you use Pfizer's BoviShield 5L5, you can vaccinated the calves with MLV anytime while they are still nursing. (I say use BS because they are the only one that their label says you can do this). I use BS on my cows & calves (for years now).
Now, breeding the cow - first she needs at least 30 days from calving. I believe they do not recommend putting a CIDR in for 30-45 days post calving. CIDRs and hormone shots do wonders, but if her body is not ready (or close to being ready), all the hormones in the world isn't going to get her pregnant - especially if she did not clean immediately. She may have a low-grade infection that her body needs to take care of. My vet recommends giving Lutalyse 10-14 days past calving if they retain their placenta to help "flush" out their system.
Why are you trying to breed her back so quickly??
Normal gestation is about 280 days so that leaves 85 days to get her bred to calve the same time next year as she did this year. Unless, you are trying to "up" her due date next year, I would give her 45 days without the CIDR to cycle naturally on her own. But, I would give her another Lut shot in the 10-14 day past calving and make sure her nutrition level is high enough for her to cycle back.
TexasShooter
Well-known member
Annie,
Had a heifer that had the exact same symptoms, except my heifer aborted or miscarried. With the advice from this board…take her to the vet. She had retained what I would call the afterbirth. The vet cleaned her out, placed 4 iodine and 4 antibiotics tablets in her, and gave her 4 shots. He told me to watch her and to make sure she doesn't continue to ooze. If she does, bring her back in. He also said if I had any LA200 give her 40CC shot in a couple of days. Bottom line he said she would be fine and still should be able to be a productive cow. That was 3 weeks ago, today she is doing great and already back with the bull.
Had a heifer that had the exact same symptoms, except my heifer aborted or miscarried. With the advice from this board…take her to the vet. She had retained what I would call the afterbirth. The vet cleaned her out, placed 4 iodine and 4 antibiotics tablets in her, and gave her 4 shots. He told me to watch her and to make sure she doesn't continue to ooze. If she does, bring her back in. He also said if I had any LA200 give her 40CC shot in a couple of days. Bottom line he said she would be fine and still should be able to be a productive cow. That was 3 weeks ago, today she is doing great and already back with the bull.
TexasShooter
Well-known member
Annie,
Sorry, meant to add this also... about vaccinating right now, I wouldn't. She probably has an infection and needs to be free from that before vaccinating, but you can ask your vet.
Sorry, meant to add this also... about vaccinating right now, I wouldn't. She probably has an infection and needs to be free from that before vaccinating, but you can ask your vet.
Thanks for the responses. Like I said I gave her a Lut to pass the placenta, so are you saying I can give her another dose in about 2 weeks?I am watching her closly today and brushed her off to see what is really coming out, today its more slimmy and sort or a tomato soup color. (sorry, yuk) I will give the vet a call. On the breeding question, I wasnt referring to her I will try and give her 45 days,(although I would like to bump her up) I was talking about the rest of the girls. Last year we vaccinated about 3 weeks before we wanted to breed, they were all cycling regularly and after vaccinating they seemed to get all messed up and quite cycling. I want to get the others bred towards the end of April as they calved in Feb. We would like to have Jan. calves.Is it not a good idea to wait 30 days after breeding to vaccinate? I relieze I wont be able to use the Bovi-shield this year but plan on getting on top of things this coming year and vaccinate earlier. Thanks
Jeanne - Simme Valley
Well-known member
Annie":16d0avgn said:
If you plan on calling a vet, he will advise about giving the Lut shot or not. If she is not holding her tail out, and is eating well, and was MY cow, I wouldn't think there was a need for the vet. But, yes, I would give her a 2nd shot 10-14 days after the first to clean any infection out. And, when I refer to her having an infection, I am talking a mild one that would not affect her health or vaccination status. If she had a bad infection, she would be showing signs, like not eating, and passing a lot of yellowish puss.
The "tomato soup color" is "normal" for some cows. She may have had a harder time calving than you think. They usually don't retain placenta, unless: dystocia, too early, very late, or imbalance of minerals.
I have ALWAYS vaccinated the cows prior to breeding and never saw any effect on their reproduction. Sometimes when you work cattle and they were close to cycling - they may come in earlier, but vaccinating shouldn't bother their cycles. If the nutrition level or weather was drastically different, that would be more likely to affect them.
One of the reasons to vaccinate in the spring is to protect the cows for diseases that affect their conception - like lepto. If you wait til after you go through your breeding season, they won't help. You should vaccinate 2-4 weeks prior to breeding (of course, this is a blanket statement - you must read your labels of whatever you plan to use) for them to protect the cows prior to breeding.
Amanda Michelle
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Sound sto me like she has a tear, I would call a vet asap, she could end up with metritis, and that could cause some major problems. Cows will quite often eat their afterbirth and anything else that they will pass after calving it is their nature, just like a deer in the wild, they eat their afterbirth to lose any scent of a new born to keep predators away from their young. If she was a month fresh I would start cycling her every two weeks to clear up her infection, I don't recommend cycling her now, give her a bit of a break. 
Jeanne - Simme Valley
Well-known member
Amanda Michelle":rahsb7g4 said:Sound sto me like she has a tear, I would call a vet asap, she could end up with metritis, and that could cause some major problems. Cows will quite often eat their afterbirth and anything else that they will pass after calving it is their nature, just like a deer in the wild, they eat their afterbirth to lose any scent of a new born to keep predators away from their young. If she was a month fresh I would start cycling her every two weeks to clear up her infection, I don't recommend cycling her now, give her a bit of a break.
The Lut shot at 14 days after calving, is not to get her to cycle. It just makes her uterous clean out the infection. All University, extension & vets in this area recommend this shot after dystocia or any retained placenta.
