Cow ate afterbirth: signs and treatment, possible consequences

The development of the placenta occurs during the first trimester. It is a connective tissue covered with epithelial cells. The placenta performs the function of an endocrine gland. Most animals reflexively eat their placenta without harm to he alth. If a cow eats an afterbirth after giving birth, this can lead to indigestion and even death of the animal.

Why does a cow do this

Eating a baby's place after calving is called placentophagy. The main cause of placentophagy is a pronounced lack of vitamins, micro- and macroelements in the cow's body, which she gave to the fetus during the formation of his body.This phenomenon can be observed in private households and agricultural farms in violation of the norms of feeding calf cows.

The placenta contains a large amount of vitamins, minerals and hormones that stimulate uterine contractions after calving. The placenta can be eaten both immediately after calving and during the first 8-15 hours after birth. That is why it is very important to be near the animal after childbirth, if the placenta did not come out after 3-4 hours after the calf.

Delaying a baby in the birth canal for more than 12 hours is a pathology and requires immediate veterinary intervention.

Signs of afterbirth eating

On average, the placenta comes out 4-7 hours after the birth of the calf. If not, you need to determine what happened:

• stagnation of the placenta in the birth canal, which is a serious complication of calving;
• the cow ate the child's seat.

It is very important to sort out the situation as quickly as possible, because the algorithm of further veterinary manipulations depends on it. In order to find out what happened, you need to invite a veterinarian or an experienced zootechnical specialist. Diagnosis can be done independently. On visual examination, in the presence of a child's place in the birth canal, bloody films with a vascular network or a dark cord are visible from the genital slit.

If no visual signs are found, the diagnosis is carried out manually, by probing the placenta with your hands in the birth canal.

Signs indicating the presence of a placenta in the birth canal:

• the animal bends its back in the lumbar;
• after calving, attempts continue;
• cow mooing angrily;
• the animal tries to lie down and moves its tail away.

If the cow is calm, not nervous, heart rate and respiratory rate are normal, most likely the placenta has been eaten.

Secondary signs of placenta eating:

• tympania - increased gas formation in the gastrointestinal tract of an animal;
• liquid stool;
• complete refusal to eat;
• increased respiratory rate;
• increased heart rate;
• animal begins to sweat;
• undigested pieces of the placenta are clearly visible in the feces, the feces are dark, almost black;
• in rare cases - fever.

If in the first three days the cow does not have colic and swelling of the scar, it means that the act of digestion was not disturbed, and the placenta will come out with the feces. First aid is required for the pet, as the digestive system of herbivores is not designed to digest animal food.

Possible consequences

If a cow eats the afterbirth, it threatens the development of the following pathological acute conditions:

1. A large amount of gases accumulate in the rumen of a cow, which put pressure on the walls, leading to a constant pain syndrome. This provokes the appearance of acute obstruction, which, in most cases, ends in death.
2. A piece of afterbirth blocks the exit from the trachea to the stomach, suffocation develops.
3. Undigested pieces of the placenta begin to rot, which leads to a strong inflammatory process in the rumen and the development of intoxication.

Animal Treatment Scheme

If it was found that the animal ate the placenta, special measures must be taken to avoid the development of complications. Their purpose is as follows:

• increased lactation;
• prevention of gastrointestinal complications;
• starting digestive processes.

For 48 hours, the animal is assigned a starvation diet. Drinking should be plentiful and freely available. Due to this, undigested pieces of the placenta are quickly evacuated with feces. After 48 hours, the cow is offered easily digestible feed - high-quality hay, steamed bran, flattened feed grains.

You can clean the gastrointestinal tract with the help of special laxatives. One of these is Glauber's s alt. A medium-sized cow will need 550-700 grams of the drug.

Bitter remedies can induce vomiting. For these purposes, powder "Apomorphine hydrochloride" is suitable. It must be diluted in water in a ratio of 1 to 60. If the cow refuses to drink it on her own, the solution is poured through a probe.Artificial gastric juice can be used to enhance the secretion of gastric juice. To obtain it, you must mix a liter of water, 20 grams of pepsin and 20 ml of hydrochloric acid. Give the solution twice a day.

Barium chloride is effectively used to increase intestinal motility. It is necessary to dilute 5 grams of the substance per liter of water and drink the solution twice a day. To suppress the development of pathogenic microorganisms, drugs such as Ichthyol and Phtalazol are used. It is permissible to give the animal a pale solution of potassium permanganate (no more than 1 gram per 2 lira of water). When chewing gum disappears, hellebore infusion is used.

Preventive measures

The simplest and most effective preventive measure is the removal of the placenta immediately after childbirth.The child's place must be discreetly taken away from the animal and immediately buried in the soil. In order for the animal not to have the desire to eat the placenta, it is necessary to carefully monitor the diet and supplement it with all the necessary vitamins and minerals, especially during pregnancy.

28 days before calving, the cow's diet is adjusted. It becomes less high-calorie, low nutritional value of hay from cereal crops is introduced into it. 21-7 days before calving, the veterinarian begins to adjust the daily diet depending on the condition of the animal. Concentrates are introduced into feed mixtures. At the time of calving, a woman in labor should drink a bucket of slightly warm s alted water and feed 500 grams of steamed bran. The animal should not be hungry. The litter should be clean, fresh hay is laid out next to the cow.

If in the first hours after birth it is not possible to be near the animal, then the cow's head should be fixed on a short leash so that it cannot reach the placenta.

Is it possible to drink the milk of such a cow

Placentophagy leads to severe indigestion in the form of diarrhea. Undigested particles of the child's place come out with feces 8-11 days after calving. All this time, the process is accompanied by swelling. Drinking milk is not recommended for 21 days.

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