Calving Problems

[ATovet35]

Looking for calving problems and thought that someone on here might have been thru the same thing that I have been thru the last few days. I had one of my cows last week have calving problems that I have never came across. She was in labor (nothing noticable) She kept moo'n nothing else. I noticed what I thought was the mucousy discharge. Anyways to make it short I went ahead and gloved up just b/c it didnt seem right. The baby was stuck and she was not contracting at ALL. Well we successfully pulled the baby. Now I have a 2nd cow that really is showing no signs except the discharge and axious and just not acting right. This is going on the 2nd day. Could she be in trouble? There is nothing that I can find with a cow just not contracting. Has anyone else had a problem like this?
Thanks
Angel

 

[I luv herfrds]

Yes, you are not alone. We have had 3 this year. Never really had a problem with it before.
Lost one calf because of it. The calf was coming tail first and the hind feet were under him. We couldn't reach them, but the vet was able to, but it was too late at that time.

I think since you now know what to watch for I would go ahead and check the cow. Better to take a look then to regret not doing so later.

 

[msscamp]

Looking for calving problems and thought that someone on here might have been thru the same thing that I have been thru the last few days. I had one of my cows last week have calving problems that I have never came across. She was in labor (nothing noticable) She kept moo'n nothing else. I noticed what I thought was the mucousy discharge. Anyways to make it short I went ahead and gloved up just b/c it didnt seem right. The baby was stuck and she was not contracting at ALL. Well we successfully pulled the baby. Now I have a 2nd cow that really is showing no signs except the discharge and axious and just not acting right. This is going on the 2nd day. Could she be in trouble? There is nothing that I can find with a cow just not contracting. Has anyone else had a problem like this?
Thanks
Angel

Yes, we've had it happen before, and she could very well be in trouble. I don't mean to preach or anything, but I honestly believe that situations like this is where knowing your cattle and their behaviour really pays off because you will know when something is wrong, and can take the appropriate steps before it becomes a train wreck. Good luck!

 

[ATovet35]

Thank you both very much. I guess I need to stop second guessing myself and trust my insticts. I just had never seen nothing like this b4. Nothing is different this year from any other year except this weather.

Thanks
Angel

 

[msscamp]

Thank you both very much. I guess I need to stop second guessing myself and trust my insticts. I just had never seen nothing like this b4. Nothing is different this year from any other year except this weather.

Thanks
Angel

After all these years of living, I have discovered that the only time I usually find myself in deep doodoo is when I don't listen to my instincts. ;-) I would suggest you seriously consider cultivating your instincts, and strongly heed what they are saying - they will rarely lead you astray. Conditions/feed/mineral/etc don't seem to have much to do with it, it just seems to be one of those things. Most of time that we have encountered this problem it was with first time heifers, but there have been a few times that it was with older cattle.

 

[randiliana]

A lot of cows will not go into hard labour if there is nothing entering the birth canal, which is what happened with your breech calf. We have had the occaisonal cow that just doesn't seem to push as well. It does happen.

As far as I am concerned, if you think there is a problem, catch her, glove up and check. Better to be wrong, and check out a cow that is not calving, than to lose a calf because she was, and you were second guessing yourself.