With spring on our doorstep, we are looking back at last season’s assisted calvings.
Last spring VetSouth Winton assisted around 700 calvings. For 500 of these, we recorded information for further analysis. The overall presentation of calves resembled was very similar to last year, with most calves being presented dead but fresh.
The most common reason for the calving not progressing was a head-back, followed by the calf being too large for the dam.
Out of the 477 recorded calvings:
- Just under 40% were delivered via correction of presentation and traction.
- Around 26% had to be delivered through a foetotomy (cut up)
- 7% had a caesarian.
- 7% were euthanized on presentation.
Remember, based on last year's statistics the prognosis of the cow significantly decreases:
- Where the farmer has tried for more than 30 minutes before calling out the vet.
- In cows with signs of metabolic disease.
Take home message for this spring:
Have a good transition plan in place to minimise metabolic disease in spring. If you attempt to calve a cow and are not making any progress within 20 minutes, ring your KeyVet or the Farm Services team straight away.
