Vaginal prolapse

[lithuanian farmer]

Have one cow which is on 275th day of pregnancy with not complete vaginal prolapse. When she lays down a pretty big size "ball" comes out. When she stands up it comes back in but it's coming out abit more and comes in slower recently. It's happening for the second week and she shouldn't calve for ~2 weeks. It was happening for the past two years but the size of the "ball" was maybe 2-3 times smaller and it would start coming out only a few days before calving. This year she will have a calf by another bull. She already was on the cull list for this year after weaning the calf.
What would be your thoughts what could be done to prevent a full prolapse? One person suggested stitching, but not really sure if it'll hold well. What we think is that we need to force her calve sooner with some medicine. Will try to take a photo tomorrow how everything looks when she lays down, but it's pretty bad looking.

 

[Supa Dexta]

She'll likely be fine. Close to calving and you have big calves, a lot of pressure going on in there. You can stitch it, they usually want you to snip the stitch ahead of time, but they generally break open when that time comes anyways.

 

[lithuanian farmer]

No other cow had something like that before. Also she is usually pushing abit when laying so that makes everything worse.

 

[MRRherefords]

We have a cow that does that every year and always raises the best calf. We are going to have to get rid of her this year though as that "ball" came out way too early this year.

 

[Nesikep]

Try and force her to exercise.. make her walk to water and hay... I find that really helps, though I cull them at the first opportunity I get

 

[dun]

Try and force her to exercise.. make her walk to water and hay... I find that really helps, though I cull them at the first opportunity I get

My thoughts too on the exercise

 

[Aaron]

Throw a couple stitches in and cut them when the time comes. Remember all of this unnecessary work in the fall, send her away and let some good plant operator put a slug in her.

 

[turklilley]

They make a pin that attaches the prolapse. A stainless steel pin about 4 inches long
and comes outside the cow. A hairpin clip holds it in. I think you are to remove them when you see them close to calving, but I had one calve with it in, and it didn't hurt anything. I would never sew one up again if I can get the vet to put a pin in.

 

[HanginH]

Personally I would cull her. I worked for a guy that had a bunch of Hereford cows and Hereford Angus cross cows and we would have a couple of these every year as they got heavy in calf. Our vet said it is inheritable and it did run in certain cow families on that particular ranch. I wouldn't want the hassle of these types of cows in my herd personally as they always presented extra work and more diligent checking. Our vet would stitch them up and if they didn't prolapse bad he would tie in a piece of surgical tubing that would allow the stitch to pull through when they laid down to calve. If they were a full on vaginal prolapse then he would just tie them up tight and we would have to cut the string when they went into labor.
Good luck.
HanginH

 

[wbvs58]

They make a pin that attaches the prolapse. A stainless steel pin about 4 inches long
and comes outside the cow. A hairpin clip holds it in. I think you are to remove them when you see them close to calving, but I had one calve with it in, and it didn't hurt anything. I would never sew one up again if I can get the vet to put a pin in.

I've used those on a few occaisions with good results, very easy to put in and yes they can calve with them in.

Ken

 

[lithuanian farmer]

Thank you all for advices.
She was destined to be culled after weaning this year calf since last spring already. She's almost 10 years old. Have her 13 years old dam, but she never had such problem.
Our cows are kept outside for the whole year, so they have everyday exercise. They have to walk to the hay, water and salt for licking.
Some photos of her.
Just less than minute after laying down.

After a couple minutes.

After abit of straining. She always poops after laying down, so she needs to strain more.


That's how it looks now and normally she still has around two weeks until calving.

Consulted with the vet. Have injected some medicine for her which should make her calve quicker. Most of the time it helps and cow calves after 3-4 days. Hopefully it'll help.

 

[wbvs58]

That looks more like a vaginal cyst than a prolapse.

Ken

 

[milkmaid]

I wouldn't keep that cow another year....

 

[wacocowboy]

She would of gone to the barn a long time ago. Heck I might would run her through the barn right now.

 

[lithuanian farmer]

After so many stress finally can relax. Cow has calved abit more than 30 minutes ago by herself. After water bag was out checked her 30minutes later and alive calf was on the ground.Normal size calf, but has pretty long legs. Probably will weigh later. 282days gestation, maybe with some medication help. No complications for the cow thankfully. Cow's "ball" was coming out less and not so quickly since yesterday.
Have a nice heifer calf born sired by our new Limo bull. Only the 3rd calf for the bull and the 1st heifer. Cow is 3/4Limo.



Cow will be culled after weaning this calf, ~6-7 months. Not just because of this reason, but there are a couple more. New heifer won't be left as replacement too. As this trait is inheritable don't want any more stressful waiting.

 

[ddd75]

awesome man. thats good news.

 

[TCRanch]

I have one with a vag prolapse but not neeear as bad as your girl. Yikes! Glad she successfully calved.

 

[lithuanian farmer]

Nice 92lbs. Glad everything ended well.

 

[Israel Trujillo]

Vaginal vault prolapse occurs when the upper portion of the vagina loses its normal shape and sags or drops down into the vaginal canal.

 

[lithuanian farmer]

We were happy that this girl has calved and have no daughters left from her. However this Saturday saw another cow with the same problem. Were really surprised, but later remembered that she's sired by the 1st cow's son. Used him for one season and now have 5 his daughters in the herd.
This time this cow is due on 4th of April. She's a pretty young cow, only 5 years old in march, carrying her 4th calf. Very good girl and have two her daughters in the herd.
Really don't like how she looks. The "ball" doesn't come in once she stands up. Needs to push her rear to face up the hill for it to come inside. It looks abit more loose that the 1st cow's. She's already preparing to calve but ligaments are still not getting any smoother. Again can't sleep calmly. :/ She'll be culled in the autumn too.