Discharge of afterbirth

[Jjack1961]

My 4 year old black angus cow gave birth to what appears to be healthy twins this morning. At this point in time (12 hours later) she hasn't dropped the afterbirth and it is still hanging from her. With her previous 2 calves she's discharged it right away. How long should I wait for her to completely discharge this before I need to worry and take some action? Thanks

 

[rattler]

Jjack sometime's it take's a cow longer th clean up the last one we had that had twin's took her about 4 days if my mmory serve's me right.Give her time she should be fine.


rattler

 

[msscamp]

Cleaning tends to take longer after twins. I'm with rattler on this - give her some time, she should be fine. Do not try to pull or manually remove the afterbirth, as you can cause some pretty serious damage to the cow. If it gets to where she is stepping on it, just tie it up on itself.

 

[cowvet]

It's not unusual for a cow to retain her membranes after having twins. Keep an eye on her - if she looks off colour or has an increased temperature then get her on penicillin.

I usually leave them 5-7 days before doing an internal exam to see if I can get the membranes out. It is important not to pull the membranes into pieces - you want it ALL to come out together.


I only use uterine pessaries once the membranes have come away or if the animal is toxic.

 

[Alan]

A few years back I had a cow that hadn't cleaned in over a week. It was dragging the ground and I was concerned about her stepping on it. As soon as I started moving her to the catch pen and she started to run it slid out and fell to the ground. I guess she just needed to do more than walk and eat.

Alan

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

This is one of the bad parts related to twinning. It is very common to retain the afterbirth. Also common with very early or very late births.
Leave it alone. It will get stinking, but unless she is off feed and/or running a fever, do NOT give her any antibiotics. Her natural bugs in her system will eat away at the decaying "peices" that are inside her. If you give antibiotics for not reason, you also kill the good bugs.
I HATE TWINS!

 

[msscamp]

I HATE TWINS!

Golly, Jeanne, who would have thunk it? :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Just want to make sure no one gets the wrong idea

 

[msscamp]

Just want to make sure no one gets the wrong idea

:lol2: :lol2: :lol2: