Question about a retained placenta.

[wbvs58]

I am reluctant to use antibiotics and pessaries unless the cow is visibly sick and has a fever. Bacteria around the retained membranes is an important part of the decomposition and parting of its attachments allowing it to be expelled naturally. once gone completely things clean up quickly.

Ken

 

[Margonme]

I am reluctant to use antibiotics and pessaries unless the cow is visibly sick and has a fever. Bacteria around the retained membranes is an important part of the decomposition and parting of its attachments allowing it to be expelled naturally. once gone completely things clean up quickly.

Ken

Exactly. I don't think antibiotics contributes much to the healing process. It is a function of decomposition and discharge of the resulting debris.

 

[TexasBred]

So you should never have to pull the placenta out by hand?

:nod:

Don't. Don't pull it out. Don't do it. Don't.

Did I mention, don't? Haha!
:mrgreen:

I've always removed them after a couple of days.....very very slowly and gently. As long as you don't draw blood you've done no harm. I don't want to wait until they are stinking or the problem has already begun and boluses don't always solve that problem. Will run them through the chute again the next day after removal and check again for clear mucous inside and insert more boluses.

 

[BRYANT]

I know a man that him and his family run a bunch of cattle , many of you people from around Okla. would know them if I said the name, and he never leaves the placenta hanging more than a couple days. I have watched him remove them and removed them my self and NEVER had a problem . You do not pull hard on them but a little LIGHT, VERY LIGHT AND SLOW and they will turn loose and come out. Then a shot of LA200 and they are good to go.

 

[cow pollinater]

I've always pulled them. I pull straight down and steady. If you feel popping then stop and let it hang for another day or two and hit them with antibiotics. You can infuse them with penicillin as well. I like to go in rectally and scrape backwards and sometimes that's all it takes to get her to drop it herself within the next day or so.

 

[Nesikep]

As long as the cow is bright-eyed, I don't give her antibiotics.. perhaps boluses which help break down the placenta.

I had one abort just after new years, she hung on to it the placenta for about a week or 10 days.. granted it's cold here, but she never showed signs of fever so I let it be.. she's just fine now... probably be in heat in a week or two.. joy joy, the bulls are going to be fighting over that

 

[Nesikep]

I am reluctant to use antibiotics and pessaries unless the cow is visibly sick and has a fever. Bacteria around the retained membranes is an important part of the decomposition and parting of its attachments allowing it to be expelled naturally. once gone completely things clean up quickly.

Ken

My vet told me that the Sulfa boluses he gave me sped up the decomposition, but not bacterially...

 

[TexasBred]

I am reluctant to use antibiotics and pessaries unless the cow is visibly sick and has a fever. Bacteria around the retained membranes is an important part of the decomposition and parting of its attachments allowing it to be expelled naturally. once gone completely things clean up quickly.

Ken

My vet told me that the Sulfa boluses he gave me sped up the decomposition, but not bacterially...

do you really want placenta decomposing inside the uterus?? Have you ever pulled handfuls of rotting stinking soup from the inside of a cow??? It ain't pretty but I guess we all have our own way of thinking.

 

[cow pollinater]

do you really want placenta decomposing inside the uterus?? Have you ever pulled handfuls of rotting stinking soup from the inside of a cow??? It ain't pretty but I guess we all have our own way of thinking.

I used to have a chart that showed the decrease in fertility for every day that a cow maintained a uterine infection that I showed to dairymen whenever I picked up a new breeding account. It's a much more severe decline than most realize.The first thing I did was get with them, their vet and their nutritionist and have a meeting in the fresh cow pen and we would figure out how to get those cows cleaned up. :nod:
All breeding starts at calving. Cows are really good at walling off infection and when that happens in the uterus you wind up with microscopic scar tissue on the lining of the uterus and it decreases the ability for an embryo to attach properly. I can't even begin to tell you how many times I've looked up cow cards on dairy comp for cows that I've bred seven or eight times and saw where the vet called her "pyo" (pyometria) at her first vet check.
Don't do it, folks. get her cleaned out in a timely manner and cycle her a few times before her breeding date.

 

[Nesikep]

I am reluctant to use antibiotics and pessaries unless the cow is visibly sick and has a fever. Bacteria around the retained membranes is an important part of the decomposition and parting of its attachments allowing it to be expelled naturally. once gone completely things clean up quickly.

Ken

My vet told me that the Sulfa boluses he gave me sped up the decomposition, but not bacterially...

do you really want placenta decomposing inside the uterus?? Have you ever pulled handfuls of rotting stinking soup from the inside of a cow??? It ain't pretty but I guess we all have our own way of thinking.

Yep, sure have!.. there's a smell that doesn't wash off easy!

The purpose of the Sulfa bolus as my vet described it to me was by breaking down the protein (proteolytic), it helps it distatch from the uterine wall better... If you use the bolus before you have a bacterial infection, you can avoid the infection.

Once again, if you have chronic RP, better look into why.. an ounce of prevention is indeed a pound of cure in this case.

 

[wbvs58]

I am reluctant to use antibiotics and pessaries unless the cow is visibly sick and has a fever. Bacteria around the retained membranes is an important part of the decomposition and parting of its attachments allowing it to be expelled naturally. once gone completely things clean up quickly.

Ken

My vet told me that the Sulfa boluses he gave me sped up the decomposition, but not bacterially...

do you really want placenta decomposing inside the uterus?? Have you ever pulled handfuls of rotting stinking soup from the inside of a cow??? It ain't pretty but I guess we all have our own way of thinking.

Like it or not if the placenta doesn't come away naturally in the 1st place then the only way it is going to detach is by decomposition. Manual seperation will speed things up but once again there has to be a certain amount of decomposition before this can be done and it is now well documented that this is detrimental and will delay breed back time.

Ken

 

[TexasBred]

My vet told me that the Sulfa boluses he gave me sped up the decomposition, but not bacterially...

do you really want placenta decomposing inside the uterus?? Have you ever pulled handfuls of rotting stinking soup from the inside of a cow??? It ain't pretty but I guess we all have our own way of thinking.

Like it or not if the placenta doesn't come away naturally in the 1st place then the only way it is going to detach is by decomposition. Manual seperation will speed things up but once again there has to be a certain amount of decomposition before this can be done and it is now well documented that this is detrimental and will delay breed back time.

Ken

I understand Ken but a uterine infection has the same negative effects. I realize most do nothing but removing it has always worked for me even if it was a two or three day process. What do doctors do with our wives if they have a retained placenta?? Wait a week and hope it releases??

 

[TexasBred]

My vet told me that the Sulfa boluses he gave me sped up the decomposition, but not bacterially...

do you really want placenta decomposing inside the uterus?? Have you ever pulled handfuls of rotting stinking soup from the inside of a cow??? It ain't pretty but I guess we all have our own way of thinking.

Yep, sure have!.. there's a smell that doesn't wash off easy!

The purpose of the Sulfa bolus as my vet described it to me was by breaking down the protein (proteolytic), it helps it distatch from the uterine wall better... If you use the bolus before you have a bacterial infection, you can avoid the infection.

Once again, if you have chronic RP, better look into why.. an ounce of prevention is indeed a pound of cure in this case.

Nobody mentioned "chronic"...but we all will have one occasionally and it's usually a nutritional problem....not knowing how to feed and take care of a cow especially during late gestation. I always used the Nolvasan Cap Taps boluses and they worked great. Never turned a cow out into the milking herd until she had clear mucous with no smell.

 

[showcattle]

Thirty years ago we manually removed the placenta. Current vet recommended to wait three days, if it hasn't passed, give a dose of LA200 or 300, and 5 cc's of Lutalyse. Haven't had very many, but any that did always recovered and rebred on time.

 

[Double R Ranch]

Had a few retained placenta's over the years.
Many years ago the vet we used had us wait 2-3 days and if the placenta hadn't dropped yet tie what had come out so far in knots until it's up fairly close to the vulva. Give lute and turn back out. Generally the lute and the "added" weight finishes the clean out pretty quickly.
Once not much was out and he had us attach a wet rag to the small portion that was out. Worked like a charm. Brought her back in once and tied the placenta in knots when it came out some. Left the rag which she kept moist for me.
Can't say we've ever had an infection or rotting smell with this. Has worked very well for us over the years.

 

[NolanCountyAG]

Just had one that took 6 days to release. No signs of fever or infection. I guess I will know at preg check how the re-bred was.