Cow w/ Uterine Infection

[sidney411]

I noticed one of my cows on Saturday kind of hunched up, standing with her tail out a bit. I thought she was due to calve anyday but the bull was keeping watch ofer her and trying to mount her. I thought she may have slipped her calf and was in heat. I observerd this behavior all day. She never tucked her tail in and when she would urinate a small amount of milky looking slime would stream from her vulva. I put her and the bull in the pens and houled both to the vet. She was diagnosed witha uterine infection. Vet said she may get better with antibiotics and lutalize but no guarantees. She already had 2 strikes since it has been 13 months since the birth of her last calf (a gem dandy heifer) and we mouthed her and the 2 middle teeth were gone, she's only 8 too, strange she would be missing those teeth I think. Anyway, we decided to haul her to the sale and replace her. She weighed 950 lbs and I got a check for $400. I got brave and decided to bid on a pretty little hereford heifer I saw in the back. I got her for 99 cents/lb and she weighted in at 610 lbs. So basically I traded an 8 yr old broke mouth open cow and $203.04 for a heifer. This was the 1st time I have ever bought anything at an auction. I sat next to a big time buyer and he explained some things for me and helped me buy the heifer. It was actually a lot of fun! I had a great day! I took my heifer strait to the vet to get a 'heifer package' done on her and he thought she was a good trade. I brought her home and put her in the pen with a trough of feed and she went right to it and started to chow down. She is real calm, I am pretty sure she was pre-weaned although the auctioneer did not state it. Allright - I would like everyones opinion, Do you think I did good on this heifer? (I will get some pictures of her and post them as soon as I can) I don't know her age, she has 8 teeth across the front, I am pretty sure she is a fullblood hereford. How much weight should I put on her before I breed her?

 

[dun]

If you're happy with her, you did good. The best test is if in a month or two your still happy, then you know you really did good. Did the vet check her repro tract? Those nice heifers I'm alwasy leery about being possible freemartins. Just my paranoia maybe. Make sure she gets vaccinatied just as if she hasn't had any shots at all, cheap insurance. Keep her away from the others for a week or two to insure she didn't pick up any unwanted guests at the sale barn.
SS and BM cows can alwasy fool you. SS cows can be that way young from the type of forage they're eating. BMs can have a genetic tendency towards it. It's not alwasy a sign of age in yearsm but age none the less.

dun

 

[TheBullLady]

Sounds like a good trade off so far! Now if she gets bred on time and you like her (like dun said) in a few months, it's a great trade off!

 

[MR3]

Sidney411, Congratulation on the new heifer! I was just curious, You said, you thought the cow was about due to calf. What happened there? did the Vet confirm she had slipped the calf?

Rod

 

[sidney411]

Hey Rod- I am simply assuming she slipped because she was due aprox 1 month ago, but we have had some changing in bulls and could have been off a month or two. I had noticed her bag start swelling a little bit a month ago but no vuvla swelling yet. When she was standing around with her tail out I thought something was wrong. He vet said he couldn't tell for sure if she had slipped but that the uterine infection could have been caused by her slipping and not fully cleaning out. The infection was causing her to produce estrogen which in turn caused the bull to think she was coming in. I had not noticed the bull on her the week before like he was this weekend so I assume the infection was just now becoming full blown. When the vet palpated her, he saw some pus to come out of her vulva. She had no other signs. She was eating well, acting well, looked big as if she was bred. I'm just glad I took her in and also checked her teeth, it was time for her to go. I would suggest that everytime you have the chance to look at your cows teeth- do so, you might be suprised. I had checked her teeth last spring and they were all there. I don't know why she lost them so quick.

 

[MR3]

Sidney411> I know a bull will be interested in a cow "sometimes when she gets close to calving. Thought that might have been why he was interested. Thanks for the follow up.

Rod

 

[sidney411]

Oh, I didn't know that a bull would be interested to the cow close to calving. How close to calving will the bull show interest? I have not seen this in my herd. Could you use that as a tool to know when a cow will calve?

 

[dun]

Some will, some won't. And I sure wouldn't want to try to use it as a reliable indicator

dun