This is one of the most urgent conditions we attend. Maybe a third of these cows will die and the quicker they are attended to the better is the survival and future breeding outcome. Prolapsed uterus is when the whole womb gets pushed out, usually within a few hours after calving, while the vagina and uterus are just one huge tube, before the cervix has had time to contract up. Now you are looking at the inside-out womb, maybe a metre long and weighing 20kg. In cold and windy weather the heat lost from the prolapse can be fatal. If this huge soft organ, which is normally protected inside her abdomen, is now physically damaged enough the blood loss can be fatal. In dairy cows the predisposing cause of uterine prolapse is usually loss of muscle tone with milk fever. If your cow has progressed to ‘third stage’ milk fever where she is out on her side, probably starting to bloat because she cannot belch on her side, and not moving then the milk fever is getting close to the next stage….death.
Newsletter – August 2022
