calving management Friday, March 15, 2013
Innisfail Auction Market - 1:00 pm
Recognize Your Limits at Calving Give yourself 15 minutes, then call for help By Roy Lewis, DVM
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White and Red-Factor Yearling Charolais Bulls Barry & Simone Reese Didsbury, Alberta info@reesecattleco.com
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Barry: 403.870.3960 Greg: 403.507.9860
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umerous articles have been written over the years on how and when to intervene at calving, how to recognize malpresentations and what to do about them. Producers now see fewer and fewer calving-related problems as our breeding has improved and we select for easy-calving heifers with larger pelvises and moderate birth weights. Ensuring cattle have adequate exercise with good nutrition, including access to balanced minerals, also ensures cows have adequate strength for uterine contractions and calves are vigorous when they are born. I have always stated that at calving time the goal is to get a lively vigorous calf from every cow, not just a “live” calf. Over-pulling or pulling too fast out of sync with the cow’s contractions is not an option. Although we all don’t need to pull or assist calvings very often anymore, I would suggest that we still need to revisit our equipment and review calving guidelines and protocols every calving season just to remain prepared for these problem cases when they do appear. When we need to assist, timely intervention and, more importantly, recognizing your limits are critical as time ticks along. With each calving an internal
clock starts ticking as the cervix of the cow opens up and the delivery begins. I believe it is imperative to watch and record the time when a calving is initiated. This makes it very easy to decide when to intervene. Usually progress should have been made within one hour for cows and one and a half hours for heifers. If she continues to strain, or blood appears first or she is hunched over but nothing is being presented it may be wise to check her out. Since we don’t usually need to assist many cows anymore there is sometimes a reluctance to intervene. In working with experienced producers over the years I have found they are usually guided by their own intuition. If they feel something isn’t quite right they will check her out sooner rather than later, and usually that has avoided a wreck. Whether it is a full breech birth (both back legs pointed forward), head back or torsion a farmer’s intuition is usually correct. Knowing when to call for help is another difficult decision. With any malpresentation, improperly dilated cervix or any situation that requires fetal manipulation or extraction bear in mind that you should be making progress every 15 minutes. If you aren’t, call for assistance. To my mind veterinarians should be called for most full breech births. It takes careful manipulation of a breech to avoid tearing the uterus and this is
24 Canadian cattlemen / calving special 2013
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