One Sunday evening recently, I got a call to a Charolais suckler cow that was not herself.

The farmer thought she was going to calve earlier that day, but she never made any effort and did not pass a water bag nor make any effort to force.

We got the cow secured in the calving gate and proceeded to examine her.

It is important to be able to confine the cow for handling in difficult calving cases.

Ideally, the cow’s left side should be accessible in case a caesarean is required, but also for right-handed operators handling is generally easier with the cow’s right side to a wall.

On handling, I was not able to get into the calf’s leg or head because the uterus was twisted, blocking access for my hand to go in or the calf to get out.

The cow was quiet and tired. After giving an epidural, along with some other drugs, I was able to untwist the calf bed. Once untwisted, we were able to pull out the Limousin calf quite easily and we got him revived and breathing easily enough.

Unfortunately, this is not always the outcome in cases where cows don’t progress quickly enough through the calving process.

Intervention

I would recommend intervention if a cow is not making progress on calving within two hours of starting, but these cases can be more difficult to assess where she does not even start.

In my opinion, if a cow that you are expecting to calve does not appear to be advancing as you would expect, one should investigate.

There can be many other reasons for this other than twisted calf beds, for example milk fever-related, cow tiredness, calf wrongly presented or simply that the calf is just too big.

If you experience difficulties with a cow or heifer calving, contact your local vet for advice and or assistance.

Donal Lynch owns Donal Lynch Veterinary, Killurin Cross, Tullamore, Co Offaly. Donal Lynch Veterinary is part of the XL Vets group of progressive practices who work together towards a better future for agriculture and veterinary in Ireland. See more at www.xlvets.ie.