Vet on Call: Causes of cow’s death after calving

Goats at the Crescent Farm in Kitale. Although a smooth calving looks simple and natural, it is a complicated biological process that can reward the farmer with a bundle of joy or frustrate him with a dead animal in a few days. PHOTO | GERALD BWISA | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Though a smooth calving looks simple and natural, it is a complicated biological process that can reward the farmer with a bundle of joy or frustrate him with a dead cow in a few days.
  • At birth, all the new tissues the uterus generated must be expelled and only the foetus will survive to propagate the cattle species and profit the farmer.
  • Upon examining the animal, I found the uterus was enlarged, the walls were thickened and it contained a thick fluid. I diagnosed post-calving pyometrititis.
  • Unproductive labour is when the cow discharges the birth fluids and continues pushing without the calf coming out or when the calf gets stuck in the birth canal.

Calving is always a great joy to farmers as they target to have a calf once every year from their animals.

Under normal circumstances, cattle should calve without assistance and progress to recover fully in readiness for another pregnancy in 42 days.

Breeding cattle between 42 and 60 days after calving ensures the farmer gets a calf from each cow every year. This should be done with both beef and dairy cattle.

Though a smooth calving looks simple and natural, it is a complicated biological process that can reward the farmer with a bundle of joy or frustrate him with a dead cow in a few days.

You see, the uterus of a cow is a live vessel small enough to fit in a person’s palm when not pregnant but may weigh over 50 kilos when carrying a mature pregnancy.

It is an organ that is connected to others like the blood and the brain through physical structures and body chemicals, including hormones and nutrients.

Once the uterus is implanted with a fertilised egg after insemination, the organ grows continuously for the next nine months and develops new tissues.

The most notable of the tissues are the foetus, the placenta, the membranes that wrap the foetus and the voluminous fluids that surround it.

At birth, all the new tissues the uterus generated must be expelled and only the foetus will survive to propagate the cattle species and profit the farmer.

All the other tissues die out and they are disposed of as reproductive waste.

However, all waste is problematic if not handled properly and reproductive waste is no exception.

Many cattle give birth smoothly making the farmer celebrate only to cry later as it happened to Jean when the cow wastes away and dies or becomes infertile.

ALTERNATIVE SERVICE PROVIDER

Jean, a dairy farmer in Juja, has lost three cows to post-calving complications by the time she reached me.

When I arrived on her farm, she showed me a cow that was breathing heavily and looked dazed. It had calved four weeks earlier with some slight help from her workers.

Jean’s cow had progressed well for the first few days after calving but later started eating little and had fever. She takes the temperature of her cows to determine is she should call for veterinary assistance.

The other cows she lost had behaved similarly and died despite attempted treatment.

She, therefore, decided to seek an alternative service provider for the current case. She could not afford to lose another of her valuable dairy cows.

Upon examining the animal, I found the uterus was enlarged, the walls were thickened and it contained a thick fluid. I diagnosed post-calving pyometrititis.

This means infection of the uterus after calving with production of pus that is retained in the uterus.

If not properly treated, the condition may lead to death or infertility of the cow.

I treated Jean’s cow with a load of medicines including antibiotics, anti-inflammatories, and a hormone to open the uterus.

I returned after two days and cleaned the uterus to empty the pus. Jean’s cow recovered after two weeks of intense treatment.

Unfortunately, the infection had damaged the uterus too much and the cow became infertile. Jean will have to fatten it and sell for meat. That is better than losing the cow altogether.

Another case came to me on email from George in Bungoma. He has in the last six months lost two cows, days after calving. In his case, both cows were said to have retained placenta.

UNPRODUCTIVE LABOUR

Retained placenta and post-calving uterus infection in cattle occur mainly on dairy farms due to various reasons, some which the farmer can mitigate.

Top on the list of retained placenta causes is poor nutrition. Cattle that have deficiencies in minerals and vitamins are known to have difficulties expelling the placenta.

Farmers should, therefore, feed their cattle with balanced diets throughout the pregnancy period.

Infections of the reproductive tract are another major cause of retained placenta and uterine infection.

Most of the infections occur due to unhygienic birthing conditions such as dirty maternity pens or intervention by unqualified people such as farm workers or even unprofessional service providers.

Farmers should observe the calving process and report to a qualified veterinary service providers if the animals appear to be in difficulties.

As a rule of thumb, a cow that has unproductive labour for more than 30 minutes should be reported to the veterinary service provider.

Unproductive labour is when the cow discharges the birth fluids and continues pushing without the calf coming out or when the calf gets stuck in the birth canal.

Farm workers and other unqualified people should not be allowed to assist the cattle in delivery.

Infection of the uterus may also set in towards the end of pregnancy and cause retention of the placenta due to swelling of the connections between the uterus and the placenta.

SHOULD NOT STRAIN

This, however, is less common than infection caused by unsanitary calving environment and human intervention.

I have seen farmers tying stones and banana bells to a retained placenta in an attempt to put weight on it to come out. The banana bell is believed to have magical powers to help the placenta to drop.

Unfortunately these are just myths. In fact the weight causes more problems by swelling the tissue junctions between the placenta and the uterus hence delaying detachment and dropping of the placenta.

This increases the chances of infection of the uterus.

Farmers should observe their cattle continuously for two to three weeks after calving to ensure that they are eating well, breathing normally and producing milk in expected quantities.

In the first seven days, the cow should discharge fluid from the vulva in decreasing quantities until it stops altogether.

Scientifically the fluid is called lochia and is pink or bloody. It keeps thickening with time from the date of calving.

If a cow produces fluid of any other colour or tinged with any other colour such as white or yellow, the farmer should report to their veterinary service provider as that indicates infection.

Under normal circumstances, a cow should not strain when discharging the fluid.

Straining may indicate infection or retention of the placenta. The farmer should seek help for any animal that strains when discharging the fluid.