Labor and Delivery<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Impending labor is marked by\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2b50 Isolating from the rest of the herd. This is not always the first sign however. I’ve seen more than one cow deliver a calf surrounded by her herd mates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2b50 Pacing, appearing uneasy, looking at her sides.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2b50 Tail raising occasionally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Active labor begins\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2b50 Clear, thin vaginal discharge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2b50 Discharge changes to blood tinged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2b50 Active contractions become evident, characterized by a rise and fall of her sides. Tail stays up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2b50 She may continue to get up, lay down, and pace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2b50 Water breaks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2b50 In a normal presentation front feet become visible. Head rests on top of them. You should see the nose within 4 to 6 inches of the tips of the hooves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2b50 Contractions should remain heavy at this point. You want to see progress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2b50 Delivery of calf.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2b50 Expulsion of placenta.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What are the signs of calving dystocia?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2b50 Soles up (backwards).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2b50 Front feet presenting, no nose evident (head back).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2b50 Heavy labor, no feet, only tail (breech).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2b50 One foot presenting only (leg back to any varying degree).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2b50 Active labor, no water bag evident (uterine torsion).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are more “bad scenarios” but I’ll stop with the more common issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Labor is not a one size fits all. Again, what you’re looking for is progress. Watch for rapid breathing, heavy salivation etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Older cows are more predisposed to pre calving milk fever. Check body temp if she has heavy vaginal discharge, dull dark eyes, and is appearing weak. Normal body temp is 101.9 to 102.1, although in warmer weather it can go higher. Milk fever presents as a temp around 100.3 or lower. In this case I go directly to IV calcium. Remember that calcium deficiency to a large degree fuels contractions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Check for a twin if the calf is smaller than normal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hot weather, assisted births, or milk fever inevitably lead into a cow that fails to expel placenta completely. It may LOOK like she’s cleaned, but residual is left behind. This results in metritis and often, subsequent ketosis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Feel free to comment!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Labor and Delivery Impending labor is marked by\u2026 \u2b50 Isolating from the rest of the herd. This is not always the first sign however. I’ve seen more than one cow deliver a calf surrounded by her herd mates. \u2b50 Pacing, appearing uneasy, looking at her sides. \u2b50 Tail raising occasionally. Active labor begins\u2026 \u2b50 Clear, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":8643,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[601,602,147,603],"class_list":["post-8632","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-herd-health","tag-birth","tag-birthing","tag-calving","tag-pregnancy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/irishdextercattlemen.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8632","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/irishdextercattlemen.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/irishdextercattlemen.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/irishdextercattlemen.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/irishdextercattlemen.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8632"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/irishdextercattlemen.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8632\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/irishdextercattlemen.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/irishdextercattlemen.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/irishdextercattlemen.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/irishdextercattlemen.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}