Placenta and first time heifer

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Thank you!

 

[chippie]

Does the calf wag it's tail while it nurses? If so, that means it is getting milk and is happy. The butting the udder is normal behavior. The cow will get tired of it if the calf gets too rough and will teach it some manners.

 

[colleen]

No she dosnt wag her tail. I told my husband she wasn't but she did have milk on her mouth. Maybe when she is out in the pasture she has a good long feeding and she wags her tail and I'm just not seeing it. I usually only look for the tail wagging while nursing and when there was none that was my first red flag. I've only seen her stay at the bag 2 maybe 3 minutes at a time. Little short quick episodes. But she is tiny. I'm thinking she is loading up when i can't see her otherwise she wouldn't be running her mom around like she does! Very alert and active. So I'm not going to worry about her anymore. Going to keep on bringing mom in and give her feed a couple times a day. Thanks for the help!

 

[colleen]

I apologize if I sound ignorant about calving, like its our first calf. It's not, but every time one is born that is the main thing I watch for and more so this time because she is a new mom. And my husband is gone. So I may be analyzing the situation too much. Watching a little too closely. I'm sure she is fine. Husband will be home today!!

 

[chippie]

Sounds good. I have to ask, is there a reason for feeding the cow so frequently?
Good roughage (hay) is very important for milk production too.

 

[glacierridge]

We have a first time heifer who gave birth Friday morning. Here it is Sunday, so 2 days now and she just passed another piece of her placenta. I guess it is the placenta. Thick stringy long piece. She has been real slow cleaning out. Sorta resembles the mucous that leaks out the last month of pregnancy only denser and not clear. Is she retaining her placenta?? She seems fine. Baby came a week early by my books and is really tiny but full of energy.

Thanks for any advice!
Colleen

If you have enough vitamins and minerals you will have not have too much of a problem with not cleaning out.
We had this issue in the past, not good.
They make pills that you can put directly in the uterus (within a day this is easiest to do) I think it has antibiotic to help with infection, it can set in quickly and the cow can be ill for months if she doesn't die.
Or they have a liquid that you can put in the uterus with a pipette (kind of like AI-ing a cow)
Please keep a sharp eye on her and if she were mine I'd treat her.
It's a pain treating, but cheaper than losing an animal. Even if you end up selling her after the calf is old enough, she will be in better shape to sell.
If she clears up, she'll be okay to keep tho.
My dad has farmed for many many years, he wouldn't NOT treat this.
The retained placenta can essentially poison the cow.

 

[colleen]

Chippie just giving her a couple quarts in the morning and sometimes at night if she is looking this way. Maybe we should give her a little hay. Nobody around her is putting out hay just yet. We still have grass and she grazes when she isn't hovering over the holy terror.

Glacierridge, I'm confident now that that was mucous that she was passing. Clear and stringy. I had never seen that after a birth with our older cows but then again I don't watch them as closely as I have her. Thanks for the good info tho!

 

[glacierridge]

Hope all goes well and momma and baby thrive for you.

 

[colleen]

Thank you!

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Colleen - As you realize, your heifer has not retained her placenta - but, if she had, we no longer treat a retained placenta as explained above. You should NEVER treat a cow with a retained placenta - or remove a RP - UNLESS the cow is SICK - not eating/fever, etc. Sometimes it may take a few days to a few weeks for everything to get released. It does more harm to give antibiotics or manually remove it. Again, unless she is SICK - then you have to treat.

 

[glacierridge]

Colleen - As you realize, your heifer has not retained her placenta - but, if she had, we no longer treat a retained placenta as explained above. You should NEVER treat a cow with a retained placenta - or remove a RP - UNLESS the cow is SICK - not eating/fever, etc. Sometimes it may take a few days to a few weeks for everything to get released. It does more harm to give antibiotics or manually remove it. Again, unless she is SICK - then you have to treat.

We have a different set up than most, we bring mommas into the barn, therefore we notice right away when someone is sick (calves and moms)
But also like I said, since we make sure all get plenty vitamins and minerals we haven't had this problem as of late (knock on wood )
Prior to '96 dad had dairy, had this problem WAY too often for his liking and the cows would get really sick because that retained placenta is decomposing and breaking down inside the cow.
Dad seems to think the beef had a lesser problem than dairy as they aren't producing milk like a dairy cow does. And in my head, probably don't drink as much water for milk production as dairy mommas (oh they drink a TON of water) and many vitamins are water soluable?

 

[cow pollinater]

Colleen - As you realize, your heifer has not retained her placenta - but, if she had, we no longer treat a retained placenta as explained above. You should NEVER treat a cow with a retained placenta - or remove a RP - UNLESS the cow is SICK - not eating/fever, etc. Sometimes it may take a few days to a few weeks for everything to get released. It does more harm to give antibiotics or manually remove it. Again, unless she is SICK - then you have to treat.

Yep. The precursor to sick will be blood/infection matted on the hair all around her hind end and they don't have to have a visual placenta to do it. Sometimes you can smell it but usually by then they're already sick. For a placenta that I can see that may become a problem, I usually chase them around a few times at a trot and the weight of what's already hanging will gently get the rest of it moving... When you see an inch or so of clean placenta, she'll do the rest herself. If you have to clean one, go through the rectum and "scrape" the uterus a few times. Getting things moving for her will do more good than trying to stop an infection that won't get better until she cleans out.

 

[colleen]

I did do some reading up on it when I thought she might have a Rp. It said that the infection that can occur is not from the placenta itself but from it hanging out, dragging in dirt and her feces getting on it and that going back up into her uterus causing an infection, as you have said. And that the best thing to do if it's hanging is to clip off never pull. Then if she quits eating and runs fever...then u treat that infection. We would call the vet in that case and let him check her out. Hers was definitly mucous and I thought that it was but wanted to make sure by asking y'all! I did also read that it is more common in dairy cows than beef cattle. Thanks for your help. We have never had a cow with a Rp. Yet! Never had a first time heifer either, so I was looking for something to go wrong. We have another 1st timer due in a month, now that one is gona be a problem. If something is gona go wrong it will be her!!

 

[glacierridge]

I did do some reading up on it when I thought she might have a Rp. It said that the infection that can occur is not from the placenta itself but from it hanging out, dragging in dirt and her feces getting on it and that going back up into her uterus causing an infection, as you have said. And that the best thing to do if it's hanging is to clip off never pull. Then if she quits eating and runs fever...then u treat that infection. We would call the vet in that case and let him check her out. Hers was definitly mucous and I thought that it was but wanted to make sure by asking y'all! I did also read that it is more common in dairy cows than beef cattle. Thanks for your help. We have never had a cow with a Rp. Yet! Never had a first time heifer either, so I was looking for something to go wrong. We have another 1st timer due in a month, now that one is gona be a problem. If something is gona go wrong it will be her!!

Why you say that? Is she the "problem child"?

 

[colleen]

Problem child is due next month. Just always getting into something!

 

[colleen]

Problem child is due next month. Just always getting into something! We have never kept any heifers, these are our first 2.

 

[glacierridge]

Problem child is due next month. Just always getting into something! We have never kept any heifers, these are our first 2.

May all go well and you not have to midwife.
Keep us posted!

 

[colleen]

Baby will be one week old tomorrow and she has now mastered the skill of nursing a whole bag!! She is a pro, switching sides and all that fancy kinda stuff! So what can I worry about now?

 

[glacierridge]

Yay!!
With any luck, not a thing