Signs of eating a cow's placenta after childbirth, treatment and consequences
Placental development occurs during the first trimester. It is a connective tissue covered with epithelial cells. The placenta functions as an endocrine gland. Most animals reflexively eat their afterbirth without harm to health. If a cow ate the afterbirth after giving birth, this can lead to digestive disorders and even death of the animal.
Why does a cow do it
Eating a baby's place after calving is called placentophagy. The main reason for 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 its body. This phenomenon can be observed in private households and agricultural farms when the norms of feeding cows are violated.
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 within the first 8-15 hours after childbirth. That is why it is very important to stay close to the animal after giving birth, if the afterbirth did not come out after 3-4 hours after the calf.
A delay in the child's place in the birth canal for more than 12 hours is a pathology and requires immediate veterinary intervention.
Signs of eating the placenta
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 understand the situation as quickly as possible, because the algorithm for further veterinary manipulations depends on it. In order to find out what happened, you need to invite a veterinarian or an experienced livestock specialist. Diagnostics can be done independently. On visual examination, in the presence of a child's place in the birth canal, bloody films with a vascular mesh or a dark cord are visible from the genital fissure.
If no visual signs are found, the diagnosis is carried out manually, by palpating the placenta with hands in the birth canal.
Signs indicating the presence of a placenta in the birth canal:
- the animal bends its back in the lumbar region;
- after calving, attempts continue;
- the cow hums angrily;
- the animal tries to lie down and moves its tail.
If the cow is calm, not nervous, heart rate and respiratory rate are normal, most likely the placenta has been eaten.
Secondary signs of eating the placenta:
- tympania - increased gas production in the digestive tract of the animal;
- loose stools;
- complete refusal to eat;
- an increase in the frequency of respiratory movements;
- increased heart rate;
- the animal begins to sweat;
- undigested pieces of the placenta are clearly visible in the feces, the feces are painted in a dark, almost black color;
- in rare cases - an increase in body temperature.
If in the first three days the cow has no colic and swelling of the rumen, it means that the act of digestion has not been disturbed, and the placenta will come out with the feces. It is required to provide the pet with first aid, since 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:
- A large amount of gases accumulates in the rumen of the cow, which press on the walls, leading to constant pain syndrome. This provokes the appearance of acute obstruction, which, in most cases, is fatal.
- A piece of the placenta blocks the exit from the trachea to the stomach, suffocation develops.
- 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 regimen
If it was revealed that the animal has eaten 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. Thanks 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, crimped feed grain.
With the help of bitter means, vomiting can be provoked. 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 gastric secretion. To obtain it, you need to 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 enhance 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 water the animal with 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 seat must be discreetly taken away from the animal and immediately buried in the soil. In order for the animal not to have a 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.
The cow's diet is adjusted 28 days before calving. It becomes less high-calorie, low-nutritional hay from cereals 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 added to the feed mixture. At the time of calving, the woman in labor needs to drink a bucket of lukewarm salted water and feed 500 grams of steamed bran. The animal should not be hungry.The litter should be clean, and fresh hay is laid out next to the cow.
If in the first hours after giving birth it is not possible to be close to the animal, then the cow's head should be fixed on a short leash so that she cannot reach the placenta.
Can you drink the milk of such a cow?
Placentophagy leads to severe indigestion in the form of diarrhea. Undigested particles of the baby's place come out with feces 8-11 days after calving. All this time, the process is accompanied by bloating. Milk is not recommended for 21 days.
