Clean out or not to clean out? That’s the question

[fnfarms1]

Had a 9yr old cow that we raised have calf Friday. She didn't clean out so with incoming weather local vet agreed to clean her out if brought her to him in town.

Other vet I called said to just put in boluses. Said old school was to manually clean them. New research says to leave it with boluses. I called BS and took her to the vet in town. Thoughts?

 

[Nick Wagner]

Had a 9yr old cow that we raised have calf Friday. She didn't clean out so with incoming weather local vet agreed to clean her out if brought her to him in town.

Other vet I called said to just put in boluses. Said old school was to manually clean them. New research says to leave it with boluses. I called BS and took her to the vet in town. Thoughts?

It'll fall out on its own, with or without boluses. Feed more calcium and you'll quit having retained placenta.

 

[moses388]

Other vet I called said to just put in boluses.

Yes, new vets say to leave the cow alone. It's up to you. If the cow seems fine that's great. If she is stinking, I would take her temp and go from there.

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

I have a 14yo hereford cow that retains her placenta just about every year, one time for 14ish days. Vet has checked her out and can't find anything wrong, and he said not to worry.

She also is the first to calve every year so I quit worrying about it.

 

[fnfarms1]

I have a 14yo hereford cow that retains her placenta just about every year, one time for 14ish days. Vet has checked her out and can't find anything wrong, and he said not to worry.

She also is the first to calve every year so I quit worrying about it.

You don't do anything for it?

Neighbor said shot of lutolyse is all he does.

 

[fnfarms1]

It'll fall out on its own, with or without boluses. Feed more calcium and you'll quit having retained placenta.

I admit I got busy and let my mineral program slip past 3-4 mths. Starting new mineral that's same as my bull supplier uses, VitaZine. He swears by it, his stuff always looks really good. We will see.

 

[wbvs58]

I would leave it and no boluses. It needs a bit of bacterial action to break the attachments down.

Ken

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

You don't do anything for it?

Neighbor said shot of lutolyse is all he does.

Nope. Multiple vets over the years have said to leave it, you can do more harm than good pulling it.

Hasn't caused a problem yet and guessing it won't for her last couple years here.

 

[Lucky]

We used to have a few take 2-7 days to clean out and never did anything. We started having a mineral pack put in our feed mix and didn't see anymore issues. Not sure how much mineral is in the mineral pack but it was only $7 a ton extra. We stopped doing that last year and haven't noticed any retained placentas. If we start seeing it again we'll add the minerals back.

 

[Nick Wagner]

I admit I got busy and let my mineral program slip past 3-4 mths. Starting new mineral that's same as my bull supplier uses, VitaZine. He swears by it, his stuff always looks really good. We will see.

Some years ago, started renting the farm next to me. Pastured cows on land adjoining me, made hay off the rest. Suddenly went from a couple retained placenta per year to seemed like half the herd. Did some google research, found a human study that found a correlation between low blood calcium level and retained placenta. Applied calcium carbonate byproduct available locally on Don's farm. Not sure when the last time I saw a retained placenta.

 

[fnfarms1]

I would leave it and no boluses. It needs a bit of bacterial action to break the attachments down.

Ken

I thought id be asking for infections and whatever else comes with dead tissue.

 

[moses388]

I thought id be asking for infections and whatever else comes with dead tissue.

No. The healing process will expel things from the body which do not belong. It's rare the healing process is overwhelmed and things turn septic. The cow should be okay if you only smell a hint of something. If the cow becomes raunchy, she may need attention.