What do you do if your cow has placenta out before the blister at calving?

Answer 1

It depends on a lot of factors, including whether your cow is a first-calver or one that has calved before, or if she has accepted her calf right away or not. Often heifers that have given birth to their first calf won't pass the placenta until 2 to 12 hours later. Suckling often triggers uterine contractions to start shedding the placenta. If she is slow to accept her calf, or doesn't have a calf nursing on her, then the process of her cleaning out will be a bit slower. Twins can cause a retained placenta; so can anything that causes a calf to come early (heat stress, inflammation of the placenta from some infectious disease), nutritional deficiency, lack of exercise before calving, or even if the cow is overweight.

So, with that in mind, what I would do, if I were you, is just leave her be. Make sure she gets lots of exercise, as this will often help her clean out her placental membranes. Keep an eye on her in case she gets ill on you all of a sudden, but really, it's actually rare for a cow to get an infection from having a retained placenta. But if she does, then get some antibiotics in her straight away. Injections of Oxytocin can help the uterus to shrink up and shed the placenta, but keep in mind this is only helpful after the first 48 hours (from the time she birthed to 48 hours later). DO NOT go in to get the placenta out yourself nor even ask a vet to do it, as the membranes should be let to slough off on their own. Even the vet will tell you that, because careful removal can still cause damage to the uterus, and small pieces of that membrane are often invariably left inside, which may cause problems later.

If your cow does not develop a serious infection following a retained placenta (and most cows don't), she will eventually clear the temporary infection and inflammation on her own, and will have normal fertility. But she will have normal fertility if you don't have her bred at least 60 days after calving.

Answer 2

Not sure what you mean by "blister," but usually a cow has already calved out by the time the placenta shows. The placenta is a deep reddish stringy membrane, whereas the water bag is more yellowish. You may have to get the cow in a head-gate and reach in to check if there is a calf there or if she has already expelled it. If there is no calf, which 99.999% of the time there shouldn't be, then don't worry about it. If there is a calf, then you'd better get the vet out real quick, or try pushing the placenta back in and pulling the calf out...which can be easier said than done.

Answer 3

You NEVER, EVER remove the placenta from a cow! You leave it and let it be expelled naturally. Give her some oxytocin injectible solution to encourage her to push it out, or leave it alone to let her clean out herself (it may take a few days) but you absolutely DO NOT go in and remove the placenta yourself. You will risk your cow's life (not to mention induce infection of the uterus which may get severe) and create more problems doing this than if you just leave things be.