Prolapsed cow

FarmerDavid · #1 03/18/14, 06:49 PM

Feeding hay tonight and noticed a 5 yr old cow with something red sticking out. Went to look closer and it went back inside when she stood up. Called a neighbor and he says not to worry shell be fine. He hasn't really eased my concerns. It was probably the size of an orange to a grapefruit. She's probably still 3+ weeks before shell calve. Any precautions that need to be taken? neighbor didnt think it needed sewed up since it went back in. Hes got about 60 years experiance with cows so hes no spring chicken.

I know another neighbor is hauling some old cows to market I've got half a mind to sell her. How would she sell?

GraceAlice · #2 03/18/14, 07:28 PM

Well, I don't know about cows, but with goats you wouldn't worry about it as long as it goes back in when they stand up. I would imagine it's the same with cows.

MO_cows · #3 03/18/14, 07:39 PM

I wouldn't ship her this close to calving. If she is over conditioned/fat, or if she has a great big calf (or twins) in there, I might even give her another year and see if it happens again under more normal conditions. But no, this is not something you want to proliferate in your herd. Unless she has a good excuse - the calf is great big, twins, or she's too fat, she wouldn't be a long term keeper. And neither would her daughters.

ksfarmer · #4 03/18/14, 07:59 PM

Not much to worry about. Keep an eye on her, but she shouldn't have any problems . Like MO Cows says, might be she's too fat, might be a big calf. I had one that did that every year but never went any further than orange size.

FarmerDavid · #5 03/18/14, 08:26 PM

She's not to fat. Probably alittle but under optimum condition. I've kept two heifers out of her so now I'm wondering if they will have problems in the future also.

NeHomesteader · #6 03/19/14, 08:39 PM

She's heavy with calf and that is the calf bed. Some cows do this and she will be fine. Nothing to worry about. The neighbor is totally correct. As long as it goes back in when she stands it is no big deal.

DaleK · #7 03/19/14, 09:19 PM

Grapefruit sized is not a huge problem. When it looks like there's more of her outside than in, it's a problem.

FarmerDavid · #8 03/19/14, 10:56 PM

Today she looked totally normal. If I hadn't have seen it yesterday I'd never know it by looking at her today. Thanks for easing my concern it was unsettling being the first time I'd seen it.

FarmerDavid · #9 03/25/14, 10:22 AM

Well this situation escalated. We were able to get her in a pen and had someone come sew her up Sunday. She thought she was in labor and was continuously straining to push making the situation worse. Now ill just have to keep a close eye on her and cut the stick out before she calves. I'm sure that's going to drive me crazy wondering about when is the right time to do that.

G. Seddon · #10 03/25/14, 11:11 AM

Here's a short article on prolapse....there are many more if you google the topic. I hope your cow will be all right and calve safely, though from what I read, it sounds as if she might need to be culled in the future.

http://www.cattlenetwork.com/cattle-...179974331.html

lakeportfarms · #11 03/25/14, 12:48 PM

G. Seddon is right. The prolapse is heritable and unless your cow is so obese right now the situation will only worsen with each pregnancy. That she's only 5 years old and doing this is not a good sign for either her or her calves.

You should hope for a bull calf, steer him, and then do your best to keep her from being bred for the summer while she has a chance to nurse the calf, hopefully gain some condition, and then she probably should be culled at the best time later in the year.

Sorry to confirm the bad news...

FarmerDavid · #12 03/25/14, 01:40 PM

I think we've decided to cull several this year, this puts her on the cull list. Before she was a maybe. Current prices make it an attractive time to cull and it should make for a better herd moving forward.

FarmerDavid · #13 08/21/14, 02:52 PM

Ok I planned on culling this cow come fall with some others so I still have her. After we sewed her up she continued to strain for several days. We ran them through the chute and noticed that the stitches were gone, she never calves and never prolapsed again. I never did take the bull out last year so Ag could have been bred late. I noticed she's starting to bag up, is it possible that she slipped a calf but was preg with twins and is still carrying the second calf?

MO_cows · #14 08/21/14, 03:04 PM

Do I understand this right? She was prolapsing so badly she had to be stitched up, but she never calved?

Waiting Falcon · #15 08/21/14, 03:23 PM

The herd I was taking care of had something similar happen. We did not sew her as it always went back in even though it was getting larger. She did calve months later having to calve around the mass, which we knew by that time was a growth ... with a huge bull calf. In her case it was cancer and we put her down a short time later. She never accepted the calf after calving and went downhill fast .. we raised him on a bottle.

G. Seddon · #16 08/21/14, 03:26 PM

I'd get her checked. That way you'll know what's going on with her.

FarmerDavid · #17 08/21/14, 04:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MO_cows

Do I understand this right? She was prolapsing so badly she had to be stitched up, but she never calved?

I suspect she slipped a calf. She was pushing like she was in labor making the prolapse worse so we had it sewn up. I suspect she slipped the calf after she was sewn up, she was checked at that time and their was a calf in her, but she was still two momths frm calving minimum based in when i put the bull in. She continued pushing like she was in labor for a few days then stopped and has been normal since. I suspect that she slipped a calf a day or two after she was sewn up. Weather the stitches tore then or rotted I don't know but they were gone a month later when we ran a few through the chute. She has not prolapsed again. Im just curious if she could abort one calf but still carry another to term?

MO_cows · #18 08/21/14, 05:30 PM

Back in March, you told us she was due to calve in 3 weeks. Was that a guess or did somebody palpate her? (Or did I mis-read?)

If she really was that close to calving back in March, she couldn't lose one twin from that pregnancy and still be carrying the other one now, it's months overdue. And if she was really that close to calving back in March, she couldn't "slip a calf" with those stitches in her either. If she ripped the stitches out calving, you should have noticed the damage when you had her in the chute, which you said was a month after the stitches were put in, right?

Something just doesn't add up here.

G. Seddon · #19 08/21/14, 06:10 PM

FarmerDavid, what bothers me is that it seems that nobody has checked on this cow very much during this entire episode, five months! I cannot understand that.

FarmerDavid · #20 08/21/14, 06:23 PM

The three weeks would have been a guess as to her getting bred on the first day she was exposed. She was palpated but I wasn't given a time frame just a yep its in there.

No one checked on her? She gets checked every freaking day.