Mucous discharges

[Highland Girl]

Posted: Tue Jul 30, 2002 12:57 am by Vicki the Vet

There are two different mucous discharges which you are lumping into the same category.

#1 Thick slime, often yellowish in colour produced within the last 1-2 months pre calving, usually scant but can certainly slime the tail

#2 Cervical plug; thick, colourless, clear to opaque, ELASTIC which will wrap around tail and anything else nearby, can hang to floor...ONLY found when cervix is dilating, generally within the immediate calving process (stage 1 of labour)

To me they're not interchangeable and easy to tell apart. The cervical plug rarely seems to get coated with manure...thus always looks CLEAR to OPAQUE and is always ELASTIC. If you see it, almost 100% of the time she's calving, and will go within 24 hours.

Clear as mud? V

Can anyone tell me why a cow has the first discharge?

How different do these discharges look to the mucus during estrus?

Thanks

 

[dun]

The only common types of discharge that I've seen is the sticky stuff that's the mucus plug (that's what we always layed it to anyway) and that happens upto a month or so precalving. The calving discharge is much thinner and is more like that of a cow that is in standing heat. That's the stuff that tells you the calf is coming soon, usually. If you are ever fortunate enough to get your hands immersed in both types you can tell the difference by the feel. The first stuff sticks to everything but will break, the other has a slick/slippery feel.
But I ain;t no vet and don;t get technical.

dun

 

[Highland Girl]

Thanks Dun.

I have a cow that 6 months ago the vet said that she was not pregnant. Yesterday I saw discharge and wanted to know if it was just the mucus during estrus or if it was pre calving discharge. Sounds like there is no way to tell them apart and I will just have to wait and find out. I guess if a calf turns up she was pregnant!

 

[dun]

If it was the slick kind and there isn;t a calf in the next 24 hours you can pretty well figure she's open. To be absolutlely sure you can have her palpated

dun