Young Cow Prolapse

[mooboy]

I have a cow that is six months bred. This will be her second calf. The cow is about three years and two months old. Last Friday she had a mild prolapse. I sent a picture the Vet's office and he said wait and see if it goes back in and it did. It was out and in the next day also. I did not know this was a possibility! Anyway, today she prolapsed again and it was out a lot further. I sent another picture to the Vet and he said the cow needs attention. The Vet came out today and sewed her up. Should I chance it and try to get the calf on the ground, or just sell her as is at a discount? What does everyone think?

 

[bigbull338]

since she has prolapsed twice its a toss up to weather she will prolapse again.the gamble is up to you.it might be smart to sell her and cut your loses.

 

[A.J.]

I'm not much of a gambler. If she were mine I would sell her, and use the money towards her replacement. I'd rather get some money out of her now and not risk further complications and chancing a total loss if something really bad happened.

 

[wbvs58]

No guarantees but they will usually calve OK with a vaginal prolapse. You can get a pin put in, very simple, it is nylon with a stainless stylet for insertion, goes in vaginally then pushed out dorso laterally through muscle and then skin, pin removed and big nylon washer placed over and a clip pushed through to retain it. Very effective at keeping it in.
Ken

 

[Quigly]

It depends on your availability at calving time. She will need the stitch cut out when she goes into labor. If you are around when most of your cows calve you can try to watch for her and cut it out when the time comes. If you have a day job, she might be one to sell, you don't want her tearing her self up when she tries to calve with the stitch in.

Either way, if you keep her she needs to be sold after this calf. If she has it normally, dont convince yourself she is fine and hold onto her another year. There's a decent chance she will prolapse again in the future.

 

[Nesikep]

We've had TONS of those... I had one old cow where it was chronic.. twice a day I'd be pushing it back in. It was no fun at all. We've culled well over a dozen cows for it.
They are definitely genetically predisposed for it, but I found that if they get lots of exercise, and don't eat too much, and don't lay down all day, it goes a long way in minimizing the occurrence and severity.

The big question here is are you going to be around when she is going to calf? That's the same criteria I'd use for selling her NOW.. otherwise I'd sell her in the fall regardless.

 

[mooboy]

Nesikep, Quigly,

I saw this cow get bred so I think I have a good idea when she is due. If I cut the stitch when I see her bag filling and she prolapses immediately, can she still have the calf? What about inducing labor when I cut the stitch?

She is definitely going on the trailer for town, it just a matter of deciding if I want to try for the calf or not. I would hate to see her go to slaughter with a six month calf in her.

 

[bigbull338]

watch her when she calves.because thats when she will prolapse.

 

[Quigly]

I would be hesitant to induce a cow based on a breeding date if she stayed out with the bull for the following cycles and the calf was not aged at preg check. If she didn't stick on that service and got bred later, you can abort the calf by inducing her 21 or 42 days too early. It's not a bad theory, but a little risky for me given the value of calves. I would possibly watch for vaginal relaxation, milk development, any signs she is preparing to calf and if it looks like she will calve on the cycle you predict, remove the stitch a couple days before she is due if you aren't going to be around to watch her well.

I'm not sure what would happen if a cow had a vaginal prolapse at the time of calving, if anyone has experience with that I would be interested in hearing them.

When sewing up vaginal prolapses in the future, you could discuss with your vet having them leave long tails on the suture. They can tie a shoe string bow knot and then when you think the cow is going into labor, untie the knot but leave the string in her. If she starts calving she will push the string out, and if you check her later and it turns out she hasn't actually started, you tie her back up and wait some more.

 

[wbvs58]

The textbook Veterinary Obstetrics by Roberts has many usefull statistics and it states that "there is no relationship between prolapse of the vagina prior to parturition and prolapse of the uterus after. Prolapse of uterus is no more likely to occur than in cows not affected by a prolapsed vagina".
Ken

 

[mooboy]

Quigly,

The vet did leave long tails on the suture and he showed me where the knot is (right side aft looking forward). He gave instructions on how to cut/remove. I am going to have another conversation with the vet. I appreciate all the responses.

 

[stocky]

I have had several that prolapsed before they freshened, they were from 2 months to a week before labor began. If they were cows I had alot of money in or real good cows, I kept them, got lucky and saw them trying to freshen and cut the string and the cow and calf were both just fine. If they were not real good or I did not have more than slaughter price in them, I shipped them. On the flip side, my neighbor had a cow prolapse, the vet sewed her up, 3 days later she freshened, he cut the string, calf died, the next day she prolapsed again, vet sewed her up and she looked real bad and he sold her for almost nothing. Looked like she had infection, since they had not given her antibiotics, in case he wanted to sell her. 350 for the vet calls, dead calf, sick cow, not much money to sell her----some bad luck

 

[mooboy]

It has been about five months since I started this thread. Three days ago the cow gave birth to a bull calf. The cow did not prolapse again and I removed the stitch about a month ago. I am truly blessed.

 

[Hook]

Good ending to the issue!

 

[branguscowgirl]

Great news! Thanks for letting us know how it all went.

 

[Supa Dexta]

She will again next year. I have a few here that do it while bred. They're still raising calves and not causing much trouble so I put up with it for now.