Stupid heifer prolapsed

[Dave]

The last one I did was a real fight. And then just about the time I put the last stitch in her she died. You hate loosing them. Hate putting in all that work only to have one die. Just a bad situation all the way around.

 

[Nick Wagner]

It ain't her fault... it just happens.

Plain ol' white granulated sugar... 5-10 lbs of it, smeared liberally over that uterus, and massaged, will greatly relieve swelling, over a 10-30 minute period, but I can only imagine how hard it will be to try to shove that thing back in without being able to give her a lidocaine epidural to keep her from pushing back harder against you as you attempt to put it back in.

Caught unprepared without a Buhner needle and tape... I've sewed a couple with shoelaces and holes poked with my pocketknife. It wasn't pretty, but serviceable.

I would respectfully disagree about it being her fault Lucky. I know, there is university research that shows prolapse being random but don't you believe it. I've seen maybe thirty of them in Herefords, not a single one in my angus. Doc Hoffert taught me to use a sheet of plywood to keep it clean and powdered sugar, I stuffed many of those back in myself without an epidural. Sorry for your loss Murray, but I'd sell everyone related to her. A prolapsed uterus is a medical emergency, time is not on your side, especially in cold weather.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

It is a heritable trait, like in the old Hereford breed lines. But, it can randomly happen. Don't want to jinx myself, but I can only remember 1 uterine prolapse - 2 yr old. Vet got right out. Kept her and she calved unassisted til an old age. Kept all daughters with no problem.
Edit - sorry Murry - not the way you wanted another bottle baby!

 

[TCRanch]

It is a heritable trait, like in the old Hereford breed lines. But, it can randomly happen. Don't want to jinx myself, but I can only remember 1 uterine prolapse - 2 yr old. Vet got right out. Kept her and she calved unassisted til an old age. Kept all daughters with no problem.
Edit - sorry Murry - not the way you wanted another bottle baby!

From what my vet told me, and what I've learned/heard/read, vaginal prolapse can be a heritable trait but uterine is not. But I didn't know it was more common in certain breeds.

 

[TCRanch]

@Nick Wagner, my one & only prolapse was a purebred Angus heifer, bred to a registered, high calving ease Angus bull. She was, for some reason, laying on an incline when she calved.

@MurraysMutts, so sorry you lost the heifer! Looks like you have another bottle calf - and a cute one at that.

 

[MurraysMutts]

She is a lil cutie. And doing well!

Thanks again guys and gals. Sure appreciate ya'll.

 

[darcelina4]

A week ago Sunday I went out in the snowstorm to feed. I was cleaning snow out of feeders so I could grain the stock. In one pen I have 11 weaned heifers and 2 mini donkeys I got in August. So one of the donkeys looked pitiful. Wet, shaking, and her uterus hanging out the back. I had been told she might be bred but she didn't look close. I just paid a big vet bill on horses vet was not an option. We got her in the barn. She is friendly but not halter broke. Gave her banamine and penicillin. Put on gloves. Rinsed the uterus off with cold water. It was about 30 degrees outside so it wasn't very swelled. I felt around and found the center and worked it back in. Like making a sleeve right side out. I put a cow uttering bolus in there. The donkey laid down and looked close to death. We put a sheepskin lined canvas blanket over her. A couple hours later she got up and drank water. We gave more banamine and penicillin. Four more days of banamine and penicillin. After she got dry she quit shaking so bad. But she slowly started eating again. Sunday we put her back out with the heifers and the other donkey. I think she is going to live. I did not know I could do that. But she was going to die if I didn't try. So Sunday my daughter's red Angus show heifer loomed close to calving. No calf Monday morning. Monday night looked like she had calved but it was nearly dark when I got home from work. We searched the pasture and found a dead bull calf. Weighed 43 pounds. We spent the next hour looking for a possible twin. Found nothing. Calf was cleaned up. No idea why it was dead. Heifer looks fine. My daughter is pretty upset. Now I need a cheap calf to put on her. We are milking her at least for a few days to see if we can find her one. Farming can be so not fun.

 

[Lee VanRoss]

Never had a prolapse since we got shut of the white face ................. but that is not my point.
Tell me, How does the intellect of the animal have anything to do with the subject matter?

 

[timer]

I have a couple comments. I will disclose, I have 50 ears experience as a large animal veterinarian who has had beef cattle for 60 years. There is a genetic predisposition to vaginal prolapse. Replace, suture the vulva shut, and cure by culling. Do not keep breeding stock from any relatives of the culprit. Uterine prolapse is somewhat random. It can be related to low blood calcium especially in dairy cows. If replaced properly, there is no need for sutures. Epidural anesthesia is critical to success. If the uterus is severely swollen, the sugar and massaging are very helpful. Lots of cleaning with warm water and soap and lubrication are very important. If the cow is down, pull the hind legs straight back to tip the pelvis forward. If the cow is bloated, bloat should be relieved before replacement is attempted. Oxytocin after the replacement is helpful. The long necked wine bottle is also a good idea if you cannot reach the tip of the replaced uterine horn. Always work with a closed hand to avoid perforating the uterus. Good luck.

 

[Nick Wagner]

I have a couple comments. I will disclose, I have 50 ears experience as a large animal veterinarian who has had beef cattle for 60 years. There is a genetic predisposition to vaginal prolapse. Replace, suture the vulva shut, and cure by culling. Do not keep breeding stock from any relatives of the culprit. Uterine prolapse is somewhat random. It can be related to low blood calcium especially in dairy cows. If replaced properly, there is no need for sutures. Epidural anesthesia is critical to success. If the uterus is severely swollen, the sugar and massaging are very helpful. Lots of cleaning with warm water and soap and lubrication are very important. If the cow is down, pull the hind legs straight back to tip the pelvis forward. If the cow is bloated, bloat should be relieved before replacement is attempted. Oxytocin after the replacement is helpful. The long necked wine bottle is also a good idea if you cannot reach the tip of the replaced uterine horn. Always work with a closed hand to avoid perforating the uterus. Good luck.

A lot of good advise Timer, let me share some my life experience. After I started running cows on the neighbor's place sixteen or seventeen years ago, I went from one or two retained placentas per year to maybe twenty, seemed like a quarter of my herd. Did some research and found a human study that showed a correlation between low blood calcium and retained placenta. Limed his farm and mine with high calcium lime a little and often. Haven't seen a retained placenta in years now. Thinking back, we had a retained placenta occasionally at home, also had at least one rectal prolapse in a Hereford. I only remember one cow, an angus, that had vaginal prolapse every year maybe twenty years ago, and I would argue nearly every ailment has a genetic component. Specifically, after dealing with prolapsed uterus' frequently in the Herefords growing up, someone finally made the observation that her mother did that too. I learned then that if you send your problems to town, eventually you have less problems, a solution many folks who raise "good" stock, as in she's too good to sell, fail to understand. I have not seen a prolapsed uterus in over thirty years, let me find some wood to knock on, not that I'm superstitious but I hope I never see one again. I don't doubt it can be random, but I'm sure it can be hereditary.

 

[lithuanian farmer]

Have seen prolapsed uterus almost once a year here. Almost all the time it's when the cow has a hard calving. Maybe just one time cow has prolapsed while calving an average size calf and she somehow managed to rupture her bladder while calving, so placing uterus back only kept her alive for three days. Most of the time the prolapse happened to 1st or 2nd calf cows with too big calves for them and, I mean, way too big, like 145.5lbs for 1350lbs second calver, or 110lbs calf for hardly 1200lbs heifer. Never have any of them repeat the prolapse again. Never seen any breed predisposition or noticed some repeat prolapses in the family lines. The main and probably only reason what causes an uterine prolapse in our herd is too big calves for some cows causing prolonged and hard calving. The last prolapse we had was two years ago. Trying to work with reducing prolapse numbers even more.

 

[Mgutzwiler]

Have seen prolapsed uterus almost once a year here. Almost all the time it's when the cow has a hard calving. Maybe just one time cow has prolapsed while calving an average size calf and she somehow managed to rupture her bladder while calving, so placing uterus back only kept her alive for three days. Most of the time the prolapse happened to 1st or 2nd calf cows with too big calves for them and, I mean, way too big, like 145.5lbs for 1350lbs second calver, or 110lbs calf for hardly 1200lbs heifer. Never have any of them repeat the prolapse again. Never seen any breed predisposition or noticed some repeat prolapses in the family lines. The main and probably only reason what causes an uterine prolapse in our herd is too big calves for some cows causing prolonged and hard calving. The last prolapse we had was two years ago. Trying to work with reducing prolapse numbers even more.

What kind of condition are your cows in? Are they out on pasture most of the year? We run cattle out in the hills until after the wheat is harvested. They run on the stubble up until snow flies. Then in December they are on a dry lot and fed twenty pounds of hay and straw until they calve. Then after they calve we bump it up to 28 pounds. So they are in good condition but not fat. Free choice minerals, protein tubs and salt. Also give Multi-min injectable twice a year. You will run into trouble when the cows are to fat. Just my thoughts best of luck to you!

 

[lithuanian farmer]

What kind of condition are your cows in? Are they out on pasture most of the year? We run cattle out in the hills until after the wheat is harvested. They run on the stubble up until snow flies. Then in December they are on a dry lot and fed twenty pounds of hay and straw until they calve. Then after they calve we bump it up to 28 pounds. So they are in good condition but not fat. Free choice minerals, protein tubs and salt. Also give Multi-min injectable twice a year. You will run into trouble when the cows are to fat. Just my thoughts best of luck to you!

They are outside all year round. Grazing in natural grass since may/june until november. Then on almost just hay, rarely some haylage until the new grazing season. Those, which had more time between calvings or have lost their calves and stayed dry until the new calf, sometimes get abit fatter. However, others never get fat. And as much as I remember, none of the prolapsed cows were fat. Have heard about it being the cause, but not here.
Thank you, good luck to you too! Happy New Year!

 

[Lucky_P]

What timer said... uterine prolapse is an accident at calving, no more common in any breed than another. so far as I'm aware.
There's definitely a genetic predisposition for vaginal prolapse in some lines of Hereford and Shorthorn - and cattle derived from those breeds... though the first one I ever saw in my life was in a hot little black Brahman crossbred - and one of only two that I couldn't get back in... the other in a 3/4Bison-1/4Brahman heifer...neither were as big as a soccerball, but they'd pushed them out of a hole I couldn't stick my index finger through.
Spent a lot of time in the early days of my veterinary career replacing and sewing in vaginal/cervical prolapses in Beefmaster cows... some as big as a 5 gallon bucket. Aside from Angus, there were probably more of those old Beefmaster girls in our practice area than anything else at the time... they probably got the bad genes from both sides... the Hereford and Shorthorn in their makeup.

 

[Ky hills]

Was at a local cattleman's dinner/meeting a few years ago, speaker was an area vet that we use. The topic was calving. He said that uterine prolapse is not hereditary and if put back successfully not likely to happen again. Vaginal prolapse is hereditary and recommended to cull.
From my experience,Herefords have had that stereotype for being prone to prolapse. I used to have registered Charolais and a few of those would prolapse and it was the same line of cows. They were said to have been bred up from Herefords. In more recent times I have had 3 cows to vaginal prolapse, two were some version of Hereford x Brahman, that were bought as heifers and had had 3 or 4 calves before doing that. The other cow was an older Hereford cow I bought through the stockyards as a bred. She had that calf ok without incident then the following winter prolapsed a couple months before calving again.