Help. Cow either retained placenta or dead calf

[Ky cowboy]

She's up eating and acting fine. She's not springing or bagging up. Shouldn't be calving till Januaryish. I know she probably aboted the calf, can't find it, I'm worried it's still in there. Should I give her some more time to clean herself out or put a glove on and go in. This is day 2 of her cleaning herself out, yesterday there wasnt near as much hanging out. Looked more like typical stringing before delivery
Any advise thanks

 

[moses388]

My thoughts while waiting for one of the veterinarians to see your post.
It has been a couple days so something needs to be done; otherwise the cow will begin stinking, turn septic and die. Pen up the cow. Have a vet out to your place OR trailer the cow somewhere for treatment OR you'll have to try and help her.
Here's how I pulled afterbirth from one of my cows this year. Wearing clean sterile gloves, insert your hands just inside her vulva. Grasp the afterbirth firmly so it does not slip out of your hands. Gently pull and exert just enough pressure so the afterbirth begins to move. Do NOT jerk or use too much force; the afterbirth can rip apart leaving pieces still inside the cow. Do NOT put a dirty glove inside the cow's vulva.
If the cow is smelly, you should take her temperature. If the cow has a fever, she will need antibiotics from a vet. You can check for the calf by inserting one arm into the cow's rectum or by bumping her belly with your fist. You would bump her on the back side of the belly and below the hip.

As to why the cow aborted. Do you have any ideas? Was the cow up-to-date with her vaccinations? Any poisonous food sources?

 

[Ky cowboy]

My thoughts while waiting for one of the veterinarians to see your post.
It has been a couple days so something needs to be done; otherwise the cow will begin stinking, turn septic and die. Pen up the cow. Have a vet out to your place OR trailer the cow somewhere for treatment OR you'll have to try and help her.
Here's how I pulled afterbirth from one of my cows this year. Wearing clean sterile gloves, insert your hands just inside her vulva. Grasp the afterbirth firmly so it does not slip out of your hands. Gently pull and exert just enough pressure so the afterbirth begins to move. Do NOT jerk or use too much force; the afterbirth can rip apart leaving pieces still inside the cow. Do NOT put a dirty glove inside the cow's vulva.
If the cow is smelly, you should take her temperature. If the cow has a fever, she will need antibiotics from a vet. You can check for the calf by inserting one arm into the cow's rectum or by bumping her belly with your fist. You would bump her on the back side of the belly and below the hip.

As to why the cow aborted. Do you have any ideas? Was the cow up-to-date with her vaccinations? Any poisonous food sources?

I lost a cow a month ago to what I assumed was a cherry tree limb I found down. She is up to date on shots healthy etc.

 

[ez14.]

I'd give a shot of lut and check back in 3 days

 

[wbvs58]

When a cow aborts it is not unusual to have retained membranes. If there is more hanging out today than there was yesterday then I would say that things are progressing well. Just looking at the photo things look OK to me.

Ken

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

@Ky cowboy "Ken" is a retired VET.
I was going to say DO NOT PULL it out. Years ago, all vets used to go in and pull out the retained placenta and place antibiotic boluses inside the cow. It has long since been proven that it is best to leave her alone. If it is dragging, you can cut it off shorter, but don't pull. The cow's system has natural "bugs" that will eat away any of the pieces of afterbirth left inside her. If you give antibiotics, you kill ALL the bugs - good and bad, so the pieces rot inside of her.
Unless she is running a fever or not eating, leave her alone.

 

[Lucky_P]

What Ken said... abortions often come accompanied by retained placenta.
If you give it a gentle tug and it comes out... good. But if it seems still firmly attached, it needs additional time to 'uncouple'

The majority of cows with retained placenta have no systemic illness - they still have good appetites, and may seem totally unconcerned by the god-awful stinking mess hanging out their back end. Unless the cow is off feed or noticeably ill, there's no need for antibiotics.
Will an occasional cow get sick/septic? Yeah, but they are definitely in the minority.

I've had cows with dead calves inside them that have turned into stinking, chunky 'soup', that you could just scoop out by the armful, bones coming apart, etc. - and the cow standing there peacefully chewing her cud.

That 6-month fetus will be about the size of a cat. Easy to miss, especially in a 'wooded' pasture.
Abortion/stillbirth diagnostic workups are often unrewarding - other than 'ruling out' the things that you can actually do something about - like vaccinating against lepto, IBR, BVD. Playing the odds, I would bet a Coke that Neospora is the likely cause of abortion in this case.

Neospora caninum Abortion in Cattle | Animal & Food Sciences

afs.ca.uky.edu

 

[Ky cowboy]

Got off work this morning and she's cleaned herself. Thanks for the advise. It's always the best looking cow that disappoints you

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

What Ken said... abortions often come accompanied by retained placenta.
If you give it a gentle tug and it comes out... good. But if it seems still firmly attached, it needs additional time to 'uncouple'

The majority of cows with retained placenta have no systemic illness - they still have good appetites, and may seem totally unconcerned by the god-awful stinking mess hanging out their back end. Unless the cow is off feed or noticeably ill, there's no need for antibiotics.
Will an occasional cow get sick/septic? Yeah, but they are definitely in the minority.

I've had cows with dead calves inside them that have turned into stinking, chunky 'soup', that you could just scoop out by the armful, bones coming apart, etc. - and the cow standing there peacefully chewing her cud.

That 6-month fetus will be about the size of a cat. Easy to miss, especially in a 'wooded' pasture.
Abortion/stillbirth diagnostic workups are often unrewarding - other than 'ruling out' the things that you can actually do something about - like vaccinating against lepto, IBR, BVD. Playing the odds, I would bet a Coke that Neospora is the likely cause of abortion in this case.

Neospora caninum Abortion in Cattle | Animal & Food Sciences

afs.ca.uky.edu

Lucky - thanks for the article. I'm going to use it in my Nov/Dec newsletter.

 

[moses388]

Got off work this morning and she's cleaned herself. Thanks for the advise. It's always the best looking cow that disappoints you

Good to hear. Thank you for posting an update.