Katpau
Well-known member
Had an interesting birth the other day. We are down to the last few cows to calve, and when feeding the other morning we noted one did not show up for hay, so we assumed she had calved. We went searching, expecting to find a new delivery. Found her laying next to some brush and her rear end had some bloody discharge that made me think she had already calved. We could not find a calf anywhere nearby. After a bit, she got up and moved off.
At first, she did not appear to be in labor, but after she had moved off quite some distance, I saw her pause and briefly raise her tail. We decided she was still in the early stages of labor and watched her through binoculars as she moved off into some woods. It was about 9:45 AM when we first checked her. After giving her some time, I located her again with binoculars down in those woods. She did not seem to be in active labor, but was clearly uncomfortable. When I checked the third time, it was about noon and I saw what looked kind of like the bubble before delivery, but instead of the normal pink, it was bright red and it looked like maybe she might be prolapsing. I sent a photo off to my Vet and he too thought it was a prolapse. We are fortunate in that our Vet is also a good friend and will talk us through most situations on his private cell phone line.
We began the difficult task of getting her down off the hill and into the corral. Of course, she got away and went way off track, but eventually ended up with the rest of the herd. We were able to bring in the entire herd and catch her, but not until almost 2PM. By then the bubble had burst, and revealed what turned out to be the placenta coming before the calf. No feet were yet visible and she was not acting like a normal cow trying to deliver a calf. If it weren’t for that placenta dangling, you might not know she was in labor. We got her in and found a calf in the proper position. With a little work to get hold of the feet we were able to pull out a live calf. The rest of the afterbirth came right behind the calf.
I assume what we observed was placenta previa, where the placenta had attached down low in the uterus by the exit, so when delivery began, the placenta was being pushed out ahead of the calf. I think we got really lucky getting that calf out alive before the placenta was fully detached. I am not sure why the delivery took so long. Perhaps my repeated checking caused her to pause the process over and over. The Vet suggested maybe the calf was too large for her, but the calf only weighed 85 pounds. Her last calf was 96 pounds and the one before that was 91 pounds. She is a fairly large cow and weighed 1500 pounds when we weaned last fall, so I doubt the size of the calf was the issue. It was 6 hours from when I first saw her lift her tail to delivery. It was 2 hours from when the bright red bubble protruded until we could get her in and pull it. I asked the Vet if maybe we could have left her alone and she would have had it on her own. He believed; it would have died before delivery because the placenta was detaching prematurely. I suspect this may have been the second such case this year. We found a cow with a dead calf a month ago. Although the cow had cleaned the upper side of the calf, he was laying on top of the placenta and the cord was thick and still attached to it. It looked really odd, like the placenta had arrived before the calf hit the ground
At first, she did not appear to be in labor, but after she had moved off quite some distance, I saw her pause and briefly raise her tail. We decided she was still in the early stages of labor and watched her through binoculars as she moved off into some woods. It was about 9:45 AM when we first checked her. After giving her some time, I located her again with binoculars down in those woods. She did not seem to be in active labor, but was clearly uncomfortable. When I checked the third time, it was about noon and I saw what looked kind of like the bubble before delivery, but instead of the normal pink, it was bright red and it looked like maybe she might be prolapsing. I sent a photo off to my Vet and he too thought it was a prolapse. We are fortunate in that our Vet is also a good friend and will talk us through most situations on his private cell phone line.
We began the difficult task of getting her down off the hill and into the corral. Of course, she got away and went way off track, but eventually ended up with the rest of the herd. We were able to bring in the entire herd and catch her, but not until almost 2PM. By then the bubble had burst, and revealed what turned out to be the placenta coming before the calf. No feet were yet visible and she was not acting like a normal cow trying to deliver a calf. If it weren’t for that placenta dangling, you might not know she was in labor. We got her in and found a calf in the proper position. With a little work to get hold of the feet we were able to pull out a live calf. The rest of the afterbirth came right behind the calf.
I assume what we observed was placenta previa, where the placenta had attached down low in the uterus by the exit, so when delivery began, the placenta was being pushed out ahead of the calf. I think we got really lucky getting that calf out alive before the placenta was fully detached. I am not sure why the delivery took so long. Perhaps my repeated checking caused her to pause the process over and over. The Vet suggested maybe the calf was too large for her, but the calf only weighed 85 pounds. Her last calf was 96 pounds and the one before that was 91 pounds. She is a fairly large cow and weighed 1500 pounds when we weaned last fall, so I doubt the size of the calf was the issue. It was 6 hours from when I first saw her lift her tail to delivery. It was 2 hours from when the bright red bubble protruded until we could get her in and pull it. I asked the Vet if maybe we could have left her alone and she would have had it on her own. He believed; it would have died before delivery because the placenta was detaching prematurely. I suspect this may have been the second such case this year. We found a cow with a dead calf a month ago. Although the cow had cleaned the upper side of the calf, he was laying on top of the placenta and the cord was thick and still attached to it. It looked really odd, like the placenta had arrived before the calf hit the ground
