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All sewed up...

L

Liberty Belle

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 10, 2005
Messages
1,818
Location
northwestern South Dakota
Here's the way we entertained ourselves this morning. I was the gofer and surgical assistant for hubby and #1 son. Since we switched to Angus from Hereford, we haven't had many prolapses and we've never had one that went back together this hard. They used every bit of lubricant I could lay hands on and all of a big jar of petroleum jelly.

This cow had a good sized set of twins over a week ago. She has enough milk to raise one twin and the other we grafted onto a heifer that lost her calf. The cow was perfectly fine up until she prolapsed in the night. Even after she was sewn together and on her feet, she wouldn't quit bleeding so we irrigated her with a hose and cold water. That stopped the bleeding and now she's out by the feed bunk chewing her cud like nothing ever happened.

Get in there, doggone it!! Mom – bring me some more of that lubricant…
getinthere.jpg


Push hard, I think we're getting' her.
pushhard.jpg


Add a couple of boluses and a little disinfectant.
alittledisinfectant.jpg


Eeeeeeewwwwwwwooooo - peel that bloody thing off!!
bloodyobglove.jpg


We're sew careful.
carefullystitched.jpg


Hold still, we'll be done back here soon. Should we give her the rest of that penicillin?
holdstill.jpg


Pucker power? Just tighten the purse string…
puckerup.jpg


We'll wash up as soon as the cow is back on her feet and out of the shed.
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I know of something that works great on bio stains and on oil based stains. You can get it at Wal-Mart (please noone tar and feather me cause I said that) and I'm sure your local hardware store can get it if you ask.

It comes in a big purple jug, and its made by Castrol. Mechanics use the stuff to clean engine blocks. I just put about a 1/4 cup in the wash with the offending garments, and if they have really bad stains, I spot treat. It works great and doesn't destroy the material.

That's my secret weapon.
 
Good job Liberty,if she is out by the feed bunk chewing her cud,she can raise you a calf,sure beats the alternatives............good luck
 
One word of caution if you try this trick. Although we haven't done it, we've been told not to lift the cow too high. Just get her hindquarters hoisted up enough to get gravity to help you. They say if you lift her too high, her guts fall up against her diaphram where she can't breathe and you wind up with a dead cow. I'm not sure that's right, but we're not gonna check it out.
 
Did you know that in a situation where you don't have a loader or are able to give a spinal, if you pull the cows legs out straight behind her, while she is laying on her belly, she can't strain nearly as much. We've put several in this way. It's handy to have an extra person to straddle the cow and hold onto the tail, to keep her from tipping over onto her side.
 
That is true LB. I've seen it happen with a cow when her calf got hip-locked coming out. They took her out of the chuteand hoisted her too high. The calf popped out, but she was dead and they didn't realize it at first b/c they were so busy getting the calf revived. Like you said, as long as you don't torque'm up too far you'll do fine. And for hip-locks, rollin' them on their back is a sure way to pop 'em free.
 
Interesting photos LB.
I rarely make individual calls, as most of my practice is embryo transfer, ultrasound and preg testing, but a young fellow who is a neighbor called last fall with a rectal/cervical prolapse.
I was sure surprised by what I found. The cow was a Hereford on the right sida, and a Black Baldy on the left.
She looked like two cows had been squeezed together to make one. Even her tail was black on one side and red on the other.
The cervix was so engorged that it was about an hour struggle even with a spinal. Reminded me of one of Baxter Black's stories about the same situation. He said he fought it a long time, and finally realized he was trying to return the offending organs to the wrong holes. The bad part, he said was that he darn near succeeded.
Afterward, I commented, "That's hard on an old man." The client replied, "It was hard on a young man too, just watching."
 
That's what I love about Baxter – he's "been there and done that" and it's so easy for us to relate to the stories he tells!!!

I've never even heard of a cow like the one you described. Is there a medical term for them? And were your cow's rear orifices in the right places?

Our cow is still holding her own. If infection doesn't set in, we think she'll probably make it. Hope so. She's been a good cow.
 
cert said:
What do you use to get their clothes clean?
Click to expand...
My Mom always uses Hydrogen peroxide (not sure on spelling) to get blood out of clothes. As she always got my clothes clean I still wouldn't have had my chaps on. Jeans are $20-$40 ;)

Great pictures thanks for posting Liberty Belle.

Paul
 
Good pics LB. Had on one of the same thursday. Our youngest daughter took some pics also but I haven`t figured out how to post them. Kinda neat to see how different outfits accomplish the task. If we have hoisting access we use a hip lift. And my wife insists that I wear water proof coveralls.
 
I forgot to post this. Most times we`ll put the whole uterus in a 5 gal pail of COLD water to clean it and seems to help with the swelling.
 
I drove by a neighbors feed lot the other day and called him as he had a steer ( about 800#) that was prolapsed - - - he said it was prolapsed every morning for about two hours and then is alright the rest of the day.

I ask if he was going to do anything about it and he stated it did not seem to bother the steer so he was just going to leave it alone. I feel he will end up losing the animal.

For the record his herd is one of the best looking Angus herds I have ever seen. I feel I'll a little laid back in my attitude but I would have to do something to the steer.
 
Just waiting on a vet to come and put a prolapse into one of those trouble free queen's of the cow world a fricking EXT-she's got everything but her tonsils hanging out rectal and vaginal-I guess that 70 lb. calf she had a few days back was too much for her. If I had a cow to stick that calf on she'd be getting 130 grains of pain reliever. She was sorted to ship but she saved her bacon by calving before the sale rolled around-well her bacon is back in the frying pan. Trust me her Momma never prolapsed either.
 

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