Calving Intervention

How quickly should you should take action when cows are calving? This question comes up regularly. On some farms, there is a tendency to panic and intervene too early when a cow is calving. Early intervention can sometimes also occur late at night as it may ease management to have the cow calved and the calf sucked before bedtime. However, starting to pull the calf too early before the cervix has fully opened can create calving problems. Also, the calf may not be in the correct position and pulling too early can place stress on the cow and calf. Excessive pulling of the calf can lead to further problems with suckling once the calf is born, with some calves unable to stand for days.

Generally speaking, once the water bag has burst, you should observe on 30-minute intervals to check progress but do not disturb the cow. If calving is progressing well, you should not intervene. If the calf has not been born within two hours of the water bag bursting, you should then intervene to check for malpresentation or if veterinary assistance is required.

Always be extremely careful when entering a pen with a cow calving. With a heifer, allow one hour to calve after the water bag bursts before intervening. If she is making progress, leave her be. When progress stops or the calf becomes distressed, then step in and assist. With cows in good body condition, restricting silage intake or moving on to a hay diet for two to three weeks pre-calving may reduce calving difficulty. Good minerals are essential when feeding low-protein forages such as hay. Feeding 0.5kg soya bean meal daily per cow two to three weeks before calving can help boost colostrum production.

Dry Cow Minerals

Feeding a good-quality mineral six to eight weeks prior to calving is a must to keep the calving period running as smoothly as possible and reduce problems at calving and breeding time. Make sure that your mineral has all important major and trace elements. Be careful if choosing the cheapest mineral; this may not always be the best value because of low inclusion rates of some elements. Phosphorus is often at a low level or left out and it’s important that cows get adequate phosphorus during the dry period. Make sure you are feeding at the correct rate by weighing out a bucket or jug of minerals.

Coccidosis

I spoke to two farmers last week who were having problems with coccidiosis in calves. Both were autumn-calving and calves had access to a straw bedded area. Straw is scarce on one of the farms and this has probably compounded the problem as calves ingesting faecal material will aid the spread of this parasite. Faecal samples can be taken to determine the level of infection. However, veterinary advice is that if you have one confirmed case in a group of calves, you are better to treat the whole bunch as the chances are the rest have been infected. Adequate bedding, good hygiene and keeping feed troughs off the ground will help to reduce disease spread.