(12/2020) It's no secret that horses and chickens are probably my favorite species to work on. While I have nothing against cattle, I don't do any routine or preventative care for them and instead happily allow the other vets at the clinic to provide the routine cattle care. However, when it's your turn to be on call, you don't get to pick which animals get sick or injured.

Last weekend was my weekend to be on call and as luck would have it, I was called about a cow emergency. The text came through that it was a cow with a prolapsed uterus. This is a fairly common complication following birth of a calf, especially if the cow stays lying down and continues to push after a difficult birth.

I've treated enough of these to know exactly how to fix them but it didn't mean that I didn't dread seeing that text. For while in theory these are relatively simple and straight forward to fix, they are extremely physically demanding. I rarely bring a vet tech to assist me on farm calls, but I immediately called to see if one of the techs would be willing to join me.

Luck was in my favor and not only could I get a tech to join me, but the farm also had a skid loader, as well as two strong, experienced, farmers to assist. When I arrived at the farm, I found a first calf heifer who was down and had a large amount of her uterus prolapsed. She'd calved several hours before and unfortunately the calf had not survived. We were able to use the skid loader to sling the cow so her hindquarters were elevated.

When dealing with a fifty-pound uterus it's best to try to have gravity in your favor. As my tech was washing and cleaning the prolapsed uterus, I gave the cow an epidural shot to help alleviate her discomfort as well as keep her from pushing against us as we tried to replace the uterus. The uterus was placed in a large towel and the two farmers carefully elevated the heavy uterus as the tech and I pushed it back inside the cow.

While it requires a lot of strength to put it back in, you have to be gentle at the same time to prevent tearing or puncturing the uterus. As the cow was elevated in a sling, once I got the first few feet of uterus pushed back in the rest slid back inside with minimal effort. A quick palpation showed that the uterus was correctly aligned inside her.

The cow was given antibiotics and anti-inflammatories and sutured shut to prevent subsequent prolapse. While the entire procedure took less that an hour from start to finish, my tech still told me the next day that she could definitely feel the muscle soreness in her arms and shoulders.

The thing I credit most with the successful outcome for the cow was having the experienced farmer who had proper equipment to get the job done. The farmer had not only brought the cow up out of the field and up to the barn, but he'd placed her in a spot with easy access to running water and in a very well lit area.

The farmer had a skid loader and even had strong people to help assist. While having all those accommodations is not always possible, it does make for more efficient and effective treatment of the cow. Emergencies like this emergency really make me appreciate working with experienced and well prepared farmers.