What to Do When a Cow Has Difficulty Calving? Detailed Guide to Handling Methods

Every time the peak production season arrives, many cows are about to go into labor, but many cows cannot complete a normal birth. This involves various factors and causes, and some farmers do not take certain situations into account, so they cannot determine the cause. So what are the causes of difficult calving? Below, let me explain what to do when a cow has difficult calving!

1. Causes of difficult calving

Many cows are no longer giving birth for the first time and may have already calved several times before. In addition, some farmers provide feed of substandard quality, or provide poor-quality feed for the cows to eat, which easily leads to a decline in their physique and immunity. Also, if they frequently lack exercise or do too much labor, the elasticity of the cow's uterus decreases, and the birth canal becomes very narrow, resulting in difficult calving due to an overly large fetus. In some cases, fetal deformity or abnormal fetal position can also trigger difficult calving.

2. Symptoms

Once labor begins, there are obvious signs of parturition, but the labor lasts a long time, with weak straining and weak uterine contractions. The fetus cannot pass out of the vagina for a long time. The head and part of the body can be seen emerging from the vagina, but it simply cannot be completely delivered from the vagina.

3. Weak uterine contractions and straining

Because the uterus contracts weakly during labor, the fetus remains in the vagina and cannot be delivered. The cervical mucus has softened. In this situation, most measures involve directly and slowly pulling the fetus out.

4. Narrow birth canal

This situation is more common in cows giving birth for the first time. Generally, the cow strains strongly, but the fetus's lips appear at the vaginal opening and the vulva is pushed outward. However, once the straining stops, it retracts again. If this situation is likely to occur, it is best to inject a lubricant into the vagina before calving and use the hand to stretch the vagina as much as possible. If a tumor is found in the vagina or it is too narrow, surgery can be performed to cut it open.

5. Abnormal fetal position

Abnormal fetal position means that the fetus's posture in the birth canal is abnormal, such as backward presentation or transverse presentation. In this situation, some warm liquid paraffin oil can be injected into the birth canal, and then the hand can be used to pull the fetus in the birth canal into position, correcting the posture while pushing. Generally, for difficult calving caused by deformity, a cesarean section is mostly used.