prolapsed cow ? UPDATE!

[JHH]

I have a dumb question. I know there are 2 different kinds of prolapse. I had a cow have her calf last sat and she looked like she was prolapsed after she had it. By that I mean 6 or 8 inches was external ( vaginal ? ) well I called the vet and was going to take her in and he couldnt get there so He said she should be fine till morning and he would come to us. Well I got up early and went to check her and she appeared normal. I called him and he said they go back in by themselves sometimes. Cow is still fine and so is calf but will she so this again next year? should I get rid of her? She is a simmy NOT a hereford.

 

[dun]

I've had those little bubble type of prolapses one year and never again. IT;s the full on vaginal prolapse that seems to recur.

 

[farmwriter]

Mother of Pearl!!! Why in the world did I think I wanted to read Dun's prolapse response while I was having lunch?
And where is the vomit smiley?

 

[dun]

Mother of Pearl!!! Why in the world did I think I wanted to read Dun's prolapse response while I was having lunch?
And where is the vomit smiley?

Should a prefce it with "Not for the sqeamish"?

 

[JHH]

Mother of Pearl!!! Why in the world did I think I wanted to read Dun's prolapse response while I was having lunch?
And where is the vomit smiley?

Should a prefce it with "Not for the sqeamish"?

That is what it looked like. It went back in late that evening and I noticed when she was laying down it would come out a little but not as much. So you think she will be ok and calve again next year?

 

[dun]

Mother of Pearl!!! Why in the world did I think I wanted to read Dun's prolapse response while I was having lunch?
And where is the vomit smiley?

Should a prefce it with "Not for the sqeamish"?

That is what it looked like. It went back in late that evening and I noticed when she was laying down it would come out a little but not as much. So you think she will be ok and calve again next year?

If it was out that far I wouldn;t bother trying to keep her. Next year she'll probably prolapse well before calving then you have another mess on your hands.
Conventional wisdom is that if they prolapse before calving they will do it again, if the prolapse after she calves she won;t. The bad thing about conventional wisdom is the dumb cows don;t read the book. These are picks of an 8 year old cow that prolapsed the year before but we kept her because she was really a great cow.

 

[Boss Cowman]

i thought i was going to see a bad prolapse

 

[Aaron]

Mother of Pearl!!! Why in the world did I think I wanted to read Dun's prolapse response while I was having lunch?
And where is the vomit smiley?

Should a prefce it with "Not for the sqeamish"?

That is what it looked like. It went back in late that evening and I noticed when she was laying down it would come out a little but not as much. So you think she will be ok and calve again next year?

Don't keep her, unless you like dirty, thankless work like that. :shock: Doesn't matter how good the cow is, ship it. I had a great Victor 103T daughter do it this fall. Terrific cow. Just what I am aiming for. Pigmented udder, eyes and nose. Big beautiful heifer calf. But after going 1/2 way into shoving back a rectal and vaginal prolapse the 2nd time around, I was ready to go grab the .22 and finish her off in the chute. She is gone in another month and her calf will follow later this year. I think the only people that consider keeping junk like that are the ones that had a vet stitch them back up. Do it yourself, and you won't be quite as keen to relive the experience. :cowboy: Have stitched up a lot of cows over the years, many for other people. When I am done stitching, they usually ask if they should keep her. I just tell them I won't be back to stitch them the 2nd time. :roll:

A vaginal prolapse will fall back into the animal, the first few times. BUT....if they continue to do it nearly time they lie down, the entire prolapsed tissue area will become more and more engorged with blood flow and swelling, and, at some point, it will have to be physically pushed back in.

 

[I luv herfrds]

What Aaron said.
A couple we have had were caused by the cow laying with her backside downhill. It went back in and we had no problem, but if it continues to the extent of the one Dun pictured ship them.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

If you have one that is exposed, and goes back in, eventually, she will get infection because she is "dragging" manure/dirt,etc inside of her each time it goes back in.

 

[Beef Man]

We used to have some prolapse,years ago, but have selected and sold any and all that caused problems or were related in any way. I've always felt that it is primarily a genetic problem and you can easily send them down the road. Surely feel that this is a problem that could have been eliminated long ago. A old swiss cowman once told me that one of the continental breeds could have problems as a boy they had a harness affair they used on nearly all the cow's when they stood them in the barn's. Sometimes a cow has had a big calf pulled out of her as a heifer and been injured and can vaginal prolapse but to be on the safe side send send your's down the road,after all ther are plenty of cow's available who don't have the problem an d you who are so squiemish about it should have been exposed many years ago when it was comman.

 

[Wick]

A rather fast walk down hill will some times make those go back in or it has woked for me. I seem to think that an overly fat cow will do this prior to calving sometimes and you can pull the cow and modify what she is eating as in not gorging herself on free choice hay and feed. This seems to help alos or has for me. Don't stave them though.

 

[JHH]

Should a prefce it with "Not for the sqeamish"?

That is what it looked like. It went back in late that evening and I noticed when she was laying down it would come out a little but not as much. So you think she will be ok and calve again next year?

Don't keep her, unless you like dirty, thankless work like that. :shock: Doesn't matter how good the cow is, ship it. I had a great Victor 103T daughter do it this fall. Terrific cow. Just what I am aiming for. Pigmented udder, eyes and nose. Big beautiful heifer calf. But after going 1/2 way into shoving back a rectal and vaginal prolapse the 2nd time around, I was ready to go grab the .22 and finish her off in the chute. She is gone in another month and her calf will follow later this year. I think the only people that consider keeping junk like that are the ones that had a vet stitch them back up. Do it yourself, and you won't be quite as keen to relive the experience. :cowboy: Have stitched up a lot of cows over the years, many for other people. When I am done stitching, they usually ask if they should keep her. I just tell them I won't be back to stitch them the 2nd time. :roll:

A vaginal prolapse will fall back into the animal, the first few times. BUT....if they continue to do it nearly time they lie down, the entire prolapsed tissue area will become more and more engorged with blood flow and swelling, and, at some point, it will have to be physically pushed back in.

We used to have some prolapse,years ago, but have selected and sold any and all that caused problems or were related in any way. I've always felt that it is primarily a genetic problem and you can easily send them down the road. Surely feel that this is a problem that could have been eliminated long ago. A old swiss cowman once told me that one of the continental breeds could have problems as a boy they had a harness affair they used on nearly all the cow's when they stood them in the barn's. Sometimes a cow has had a big calf pulled out of her as a heifer and been injured and can vaginal prolapse but to be on the safe side send send your's down the road,after all ther are plenty of cow's available who don't have the problem an d you who are so squiemish about it should have been exposed many years ago when it was comman.

You guys are right I dont need the sleepless nights like I had worrying about her last weekend. She will leave as soon as she weans the calf. ;-) Here she is with calf on sunday in corral

Pic of back side.

 

[JHH]

here she is with last years calf

 

[I luv herfrds]

is that what you are talking about in the picture?

If so that is a bit of the placenta that did not come out when she first cleaned. We see that once in a while. No worry.

 

[dun]

is that what you are talking about in the picture?

If so that is a bit of the placenta that did not come out when she first cleaned. We see that once in a while. No worry.

Either that or if it's before caliving it's just part of the mucus plug. That stuff can drain like that for eeks, doesn;t mean squat. The bubble type of prolapse is normally pinkish or whitish with a pink tinge. Those kind frequently will just pop back in. When her whole vagina turns inside out like the pictures I posted it isn;t going to just go in by itself.

 

[JHH]

is that what you are talking about in the picture?

If so that is a bit of the placenta that did not come out when she first cleaned. We see that once in a while. No worry.

Either that or if it's before caliving it's just part of the mucus plug. That stuff can drain like that for eeks, doesn;t mean squat. The bubble type of prolapse is normally pinkish or whitish with a pink tinge. Those kind frequently will just pop back in. When her whole vagina turns inside out like the pictures I posted it isn;t going to just go in by itself.

No Dun she looked like your cow till early sunday morning. I know what a placenta is ( I have seen several cows give birth) I dont know why it went back in but when she lays down it still looks like yours but not quit as far out as it was.

 

[Hippie Rancher]

My understanding is that vaginal prolapse is more nutritional than hereditary and that the odds are it will NOT reoccur.

I have a 5 year old crossbred cow that prolapsed (vaginal) after her first calf. She had it out for a few days before I got her in and fixed it. Had sold the first one I had experienced but on further reading decided to keep this one and see what happened. She has had two more good calves unassisted and seems fine. She WAS a little thin (and young) with the first one.

The third one I had was a wild goofy thing and I think she went off and died. I never found her or her calf after I fixed her and turned her back out.

Now a uterine prolapse, if you can fix it (major job) is more than likely to happen again so those should go bye bye.

Edit to add a couple things:

these 3 vaginal prolapses are over my whole lifetime, have only seen 2 uterine prolapses - once when I was a kid and another was a cow that belonged to somebody else, BIG dead calf had been pulled and cow blew out. We got her back together but I don't know what they did with her.

my other comment was to echo the question about your "back end" photo - and agree that is placenta that hasn't cleaned out, not any kind of prolapse (slow dial up so the pix hadn't loaded when I started my reply)

 

[Northern Rancher]

an her and your sure it won't happen again-my experience is that it's a problem that definately doesn't improve with age-she's not the greatest uddred cow anyways.

 

[dun]

I have a 5 year old crossbred cow that prolapsed (vaginal) after her first calf. She had it out for a few days before I got her in and fixed it. Had sold the first one I had experienced but on further reading decided to keep this one and see what happened. She has had two more good calves unassisted and seems fine. She WAS a little thin (and young) with the first one.

The "after" leads to the conventional wisdom that if it's after calving they won't (usually) do it again and if it's before calving they will