Calving and Dystocia: When to call the Vet

"They didn't say anything about this in the books, I thought, as the snow blew in through the gaping doorway and settled on my naked back.
I lay face down on the cobbled floor in a pool of nameless muck, my arm deep inside the straining cow, my feet scrabbling for a toe hold between the stones. I was stripped to the waist and the snow mingled with the dirt and the dried blood on my body. I could see nothing outside the circle of flickering light thrown by the smoky oil lamp which the farmer held over me.
No, there wasn't a word in the books about searching for your ropes and instruments in the shadows; about trying to keep clean in a half bucket of tepid water; about the cobbles digging into your chest. Nor about the slow numbing of the arms, the creeping paralysis of the muscles as the fingers tried to work against the cow's powerful expulsive efforts.
My mind went back to that picture in the obstetrics book. A cow standing in the middle of a gleaming floor while a sleek veterinary surgeon in a spotless parturition overall inserted his arm to a polite distance. He was relaxed and smiling, the farmer and his helpers were smiling, even the cow was smiling. There was no dirt or blood or sweat anywhere."

So begins James Herriot's book All Creatures Great and Small. If you have never read his books, you really should. From the first paragraph you are hooked. But this post isn't about James Herriot, rather it is about cow calving and when you should call your veterinarian for assistance. We are just starting into spring calving season here on the Palouse. I had my first middle-of-the-night calving call just a few weeks ago. It is sometimes all I can do to drag myself from my warm bed and venture into the cold blustery dark, but when a new, live calf is the result of my labors (no pun intended), it does make it all worthwhile.


Before we go into the particulars about when to call the vet, let's talk about the normal stages of parturition (labor and delivery). The first stage of labor, which is the dilation of the cervix, often goes unnoticed. You may notice the cow looking uncomfortable, getting up and down, looking around at her sides. The first stage can take up to 8 hrs or more. The second stage commences when the cervix is fully dilated and the calf can begin it's journey through the birth canal. You may see the cow behaving oddly, laying down to push a little, getting up and pacing around. Usually, the bag of fluids that surrounds the calf will rupture in a gush and "strings" from the amniotic sac will hang from the vulva. Soon afterwards, you should see the front feet appear and the nose not far behind. The second stage ends with the delivery of the calf. The second stage should not exceed 1 to 1 1/2 hours. The third stage is the delivery of the placenta and usually takes 4-8 hours.

Dystocia is what we call a difficult and/or prolonged parturition (labor and delivery). Dystocia can occur for many different reasons that fall into two generalized categories: 1) something wrong with the cow, and 2) something wrong with the calf and/or it's position. Things that can go wrong with the cow include weakness due to poor health or nutrition, uterine torsion, scar tissue adhesions, or hormonal imbalances. Problems with the calf include malpositions, deformities, multiple calves, or being too large to be pushed through the pelvis.

So, the question still is "When do I call the veterinarian to check the cow?" Well... there is no set answer, but here are some guidelines I suggest. Call your veterinarian if: 1) You think the cow should have calved and she hasn't. I regularly hear, "I thought she wanted to calve two days ago, but she hasn't shown anything yet." 2) Part of the placenta has been hanging out or you have seen fluid drainage for 1 1/2 hours. 3) Part of the calf has been out for 30 minutes and it still isn't on the ground. 4) The fluid, placenta, or calf is stained yellow. 5) The toes are pointed down instead of up. (This usually occurs with a backward calf.) I feel you will save more calves and cows (and thus more money) if you assist earlier as apposed to waiting too long.

This old diagram shows a backward calf that
will need assistance to be delivered alive.

Notice the toes pointing down with the backward calf.
If these were front feet they would be pointing up.

This is a nightmare that usually occurs at 2 AM,

with 20 degrees and 20 mph winds up my back...
and she has been this way for 2 days.

This presentation usually occurs when
the calf is dead during stage one of parturition.
It is the calf's job to get it's feet up into the vagina.

So, this has been a brief overview of calving and dystocia. Hopefully I have helped you to make decisions about when to call your veterinarian out to check your laboring cow.

PS Always go back inside the cow's uterus and check for another calf if you have had to assist her with calving. Just a tip.

A Calving Call

Last week, Dr. McGraw received a phone call from a frantic, crazy woman who said her first-time heifer was calving and that she (the heifer) had been up and down pushing for 1 1/2 hrs with nothing to show for it. So, Dr. McGraw made a quick trip home to placate the frantic, crazy woman and to check one of her (and his) cows. (Yes, the crazy woman, his wife -- a vet herself-- could have checked that heifer, but she didn't have any chains or calf-puller at her disposal, and besides that she likes to see her husband come home in the middle of the day--any excuse is a good excuse!)

"Luna" the cow had been off by herself all morning, getting up, laying down, trying to find a place to get away from all the strange pain and discomfort she had been feeling. I had been watching her carefully since this was her first time calving. I was sure she had been in active labor for 3 hrs and pushing for 1 1/2hrs, and I had not seen any evidence of the amniotic sack rupturing or any feet sticking out, I gave Dr. McGraw a call to see if he could come out and check her. She was a raised as a bottle calf so she is still very tame -- he was able to walk right up to her and check her.

The amniotic sac ruptured as he palpated and he was able to feel front feet and pull them out part way. When the sac ruptured, we could tell that the amniotic fluid was filled with {meconium} -- a sign that the calf was under stress. The calf was moving its feet though so we could tell it was still alive. Luna was trying hard to push with every contraction, but she wasn't getting very far even with help, so Dr. McGraw ran back to his truck to get the chains.

Notice the double wrap on the chains -- this helps alleviate any damage that the chains might cause on the legs when the calf is being pulled.

PULL!!!! HARD!!!! PUSH, LUNA, PUSH!!!!

No luck! Together, man and beast can only get the calf out as far as it's nose.

Time to get out the calf puller. Hang on there little calf!

A few contractions and a few ratchets on the calf puller and the calf is out. Yeah!
Ummmm.... the photographer forgot to take pictures while the calf was coming out. Sorry!

Hello little lady. So glad you could join us. Did you know that you are covered in poo?

Luna, meet your baby. Clean her up real good. This right here is the cause of all your discomfort and pain.

Enough cooing. Dr. McGraw has work to do. He checks to make sure all 4 quarters are opened up, and then he is back to the clinic. Thanks Dr. McGraw!

Within 10 minutes of being born, the calf is already trying to get up and find the milk bar. It amazes me everytime how quickly a calf goes from being in the water world of the womb to terra firma and walking on legs that have never stood before in just a matter of minutes.

Look at that calf go! Just hours later she is kicking up her heels. Would Luna have been able to have her calf on her own? Probably. Hopefully. But it would have been quite awhile later and the calf may not have faired so well had the labor gone on for much longer.

A Down Cow

Seven AM on a beautiful Saturday morning--Ring! Ring! Down cow.

Coffee and toast to go, please ma'am.

Thirty minutes later--here's the three day old calf--a beautiful Shorthorn.

And here's the poor mama. She is not in very good shape. Being that she is pastured on new grass and just calved, odds are that she has an electrolyte imbalance called "grass tetanus".

But no, instead she has a very bad case of mastitis--or infection of her mammary glands.When she weaned her last calf, some bacteria probably got into the mammary gland and sat there until she started producing milk again. Then the bacteria started growing crazy on all the fresh milk. Sometimes it hits so fast you just find a dead cow. But in this case the left hind quarter was a dead sack of pus and the cow was so toxic she couldn't get up.

The only choice is to cut our losses (excuse the pun) and cut off the dead quarter so that the pus could drain out in the hopes that the toxins produced by the bacteria and dead tissue would drain out of the body instead of being forced deeper into the cow. She would never have been able to make milk in that quarter again anyway.

She didn't actually feel a thing because the tissue was dead, and as you can see-- there was very little bleeding. The drainage on the ground is the pus that was trapped inside. You can just imagine the odors that went along with it.

I treated her with some antibiotics, pain medications, and electrolytes and left some meds for the owner to continue treatment. It took a little assistance from the tractor, pulling, pushing, rolling, and a little grunting to help her sit up. She looks better, but has a long way to go...only time will tell. The calf will get introduced to milk replacer in a bottle. It won't be as good, but it's best option.

Cow Meets Porcupine

Just when you think you've seen it all, something new comes along. That should be the mantra for Veterinary practice. We get "dog meets porcupine" all the time and the occasional "horse meets porcupine", but this is the rare "cow meets porcupine".



Two cows were brought to our large animal facilities last weekend. The first cow had quills in her muzzle and right front foot, the second cow had them in her tongue. Who licks a porcupine? A cow, I guess. I thought cows were smarter than that!





Then the second cow decided she was done with the whole thing and tried to exit--out the top of the chute! Believe it or not, she nearly made it before changing her mind and going out the front of the chute instead. Cows.