Weird Vulva on cow real pic

RoyalValley · #1 01/21/13, 03:41 PM

My first calf heifer is due any day, her udder is big, everything normal until this morning when we went to the barn, she has a VERY swollen vulva. It's not just 'springy' like it should be, it's actually very englarged and swollen. Just wondering if any of you have every seen something like this? She is flicking her tail a lot and when I touch it, she doen't like it one bit, as opposed to when I had touch it when it was normal in the last few days, she didn't care at all.

Just wanted to make sure there isn't something I'm missing. I've been around quite a few cow births and never have seen it look like this.

Weird Vulva on cow **real pic** - Cattle

Weird Vulva on cow **real pic** - Cattle

http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/sl...NAME=snapfish/

thequeensblessing · #2 01/21/13, 04:19 PM

I don't think it looks all that unusual. I mean, they don't all swell and look identical. Tail switching is also a sign of impending labor as is licking at her sides a lot. Is she doing that? I'd keep an eye on her for the next 48 to 72 hours.

momagoat61 · #3 01/21/13, 04:30 PM

Oh I can't see the picture, I would very much like to compair what your seeing to my pet cow, the last two of her calvings she swells to unblievable size and I have been around cattle birthing my entire life, 51 one years, as well as my entire family, we birth out about 48 to 52 calves ayear and no other one does what my Sally Girl does several week before she is due, and it ain't just spring either. Nothing has ever become it and the swelling startes going away the day the calves have been born.

momagoat61 · #4 01/21/13, 04:52 PM

Well I could now see your picture, for some reason I couldn't before. Your picture of your heifer's vulva looks very much like my girl Sally's except My Sally's was three or four times that size the day she calved. Some people thought maybe is was a prolaps but it wasn't. Nothing internal was coming out, its was all external swelling and only at the vulva. I don't know why my girl Sally has done that the last two of her 6 calvings. The last two calves have been born during winter where the others weren't. Now my Girl Sally is blind and has been since birth and I wrote it off as she wasn't getting much exercise for the last two births because during winter I have to lock her up in a small barn lot maybe 100 feet by 100 feet and she goes into the barn and eats her Hay from a round feeder . All the other four calves have been born during spring and summer and during that time my Sally is keep in a 5 acre lot and gets plenty of exercise and she doesn't get that with winter calves being born. Does your heifer get plenty of exercise? what size area she is in or is she very confined to a small area? These are only my guesses as to my girl Sally does that.

Chaty · #5 01/21/13, 05:22 PM

I have some that swell and some that dont...I just believe they are doing this so the salf can pass easily. My goats sometimes swell and then the swelling goes down and its very springy back there to make room for something large to get thru. She should be fine. The cows that do this here basically have a easier birth I think. Yep the twitchy tail is a clue and also when you see what we call slimeing. Thicker fluid that has gone from clear to a amber color and it will get longer the closer she gets. With my first time heifers i pen mine up also just incase they need me. Good luck

momagoat61 · #6 01/21/13, 05:32 PM

Picture of my Sally Girl before she had her calf January 10th 2011, she did the same thing last year before her March 10th calf was born. Unfortunately my girl Sally isn't calving this year, it's kinda hard to catch her in heat and get one of our two bulls up and turned in just the right time and unfortunately I missed the times. With Sally being blind she doesn't run over the entire 100 acre farm with all the other cows and bulls..

RoyalValley · #7 01/21/13, 05:33 PM

It's not prolapse at all......just that huge swelling. I'm glad someone has seen something similar, I've seen springy, superspringy and stuff but never where it is actually swollen huge where I can see it when she stands in profile.

Thanks all! I'll keep a watch on her, keeping her close in the corral.

Chief Cook · #8 01/21/13, 06:11 PM

Good luck and I hope that all goes well.

matt_man · #9 01/22/13, 06:29 PM

She could have some edema. Our cow who calved last month would have a huge swollen vulva one day and it wouldn't be that way the next. She had terrible edema.

mekasmom · #10 01/22/13, 07:50 PM

It looks normal to me.

Think this through though..... We all look at cow,goat and even swine vulva pictures posted on the forum and give opinions of them. And we do it with excitement because everyone gets excited about coming babies. LOL.

Jennifer L. · #11 01/23/13, 11:55 AM

Cows are all individuals, and some swell a lot. It's just the way she is, and I don't think it's a problem.

RoyalValley · #12 01/26/13, 02:51 PM

She goes up and down, still hasn't calved. It hasn't gotten as swollen as it was for that pic, but the last couple days it has been normal.

She also has developed some udder edema. I asked me vet about it, she said it can be normal in first calf heifers especially and it should go away one the calf is nursing. Said to call her if it gets worse, so far it's stayed the same.

Thanks all!!

RoyalValley · #13 01/26/13, 02:52 PM

I'll post some pics once this baby gets here!!!