Survival and fertility after uterine prolapse in dairy cows

Abstract

Sixty-eight cases of uterine prolapase in pastured dairy cows were treated in 2 consecutive spring calving seasons in East Gippsland, Victoria. Fifty cows survived (73.5%). Of 43 cows available for followup, 36 (84%) conceived in the mating period following the prolapse, taking 10 d longer to conceive than herd mates that calved on the same day. Three of the 36 cows (8%) that conceived, aborted, this occurring in the middle trimester of pregnancy. No prolapses occurred at the following calving but one case had suffered uterine prolapse 2 years previously. The conclusions drawn from these observations are that cows with uterine prolapse have a good chance of surviving if treated, that treatment is cost-effective, that uterine prolapse is unlikely to reoccur and treated cows have a good chance of conceiving. The veterinarians involved in this investigation were reasonably accurate in their ability to predict long term survival but not as good in predicting ability to conceive again.

Uterine prolapse in cows: Effect of raising the rear end on the clinical outcomes and reproductive performance

“…In the present study, after treatment, the reproductive performance almost agreed with Murphy and Dobson (2002) and Jubb et al (1990). Since the mean non-pregnant term of uterine prolapse was extended to 189 days, the influence on the reproductive results in uterine prolapse was considered to be serious.…”

“…This result is higher than that previously reported by Gardner et al (1990), who reported that four (2%) out of 200 cows with uterine prolapse had died before treatment. However, the recovery rate in this study was 60.6%, which was also lower than those previously recorded (Gardner et al, 1990;Jubb et al, 1990;Murphy and Dobson, 2002). Some possible factors may have led to these results, including the treatment technique, the environment such as the stole form of the barn, temperature, or milk product capacity of the cows, etc, although the precise cause was not clarified.…”

“…It is regarded as a veterinary emergency because without treatment, the cow is likely to die (Murphy and Dobson, 2002;Miesner and Anderson, 2008). Due to the very low incidence (0.002 to 0.003%), only a limited number of comprehensive studies concerned with the survival rate and fertility of affected cows have been reported (Gardner et al, 1990;Jubb et al, 1990;Murphy and Dobson, 2002). The calving-toconception interval was 50 days longer for rebred prolapse cases compared with matched control (Murphy and Dobson, 2002).…”

Survival and fertility of dairy cows following uterine prolapse

“…A neighbouring practice with eight veterinarians attended about 95 Jubb et al (5) Odegaard (3) Gardener et al (4) cases over the two seasons during the same period equating to 6 cases per veterinarian per year. Since our practice services about 430 farms with an estimated population of 68 800 cows; this represents about 0.1 % cases per herd and 0.07% cases per cow serviced.…”

“…Uterine prolapse is regarded as a veterinary emergency, as without treatment the cow is likely to die. Although no New Zealand studies have been found in the literature surveyed, there have been a number of studies reported from overseas(2)(3)(4) (5).…”