When it's time to call a vet for calving help

Special to The Post

Question: I read your column in The Land and Livestock Post on how to tell when a heifer needs help to deliver her calf. Are there any practical guidelines on how to tell if a calf can fit through a heifer's birth canal or if a C-section is needed?

Answer: Being able to determine if a calf can be delivered through the birth canal is one of the most important skills a cattleman can have. Too often, I've been called to deliver a calf and found it nearly dead when I arrived because the rancher had tried too long to deliver it. They didn't know there was no way the calf could be normally delivered.

They would have called me much sooner if they took the following three steps to determine if a calf can be delivered through the birth canal:

Step 1: Restrain the heifer. Tie its tail out of the way or have someone hold it. Wash your hands and arms, and the area surrounding the heifer's birth canal with disinfectant soap. Put on plastic OB sleeves if you have them. Next, put obstetrical lube or liquid Ivy soap, if you don't have lube, on your hands and arms. Be clean!

Step 2: Properly position the calf (head between front legs, top of head facing up). Abnormal presentation may be the cause of the difficult birth. Sometimes, however, the reason a calf is abnormally positioned is that it is too big to fit properly in the birth canal. In that case a huge calf and small birth canal may immediately indicate a C-section is needed.

If a normal birth is possible, you should be able to slide your hand between the calf's head or shoulders and the pelvic bone. If the head or shoulders are tightly wedged into the pelvic bone, the calf is too big for the birth canal and movement through the birth canal will not be possible. If you cannot bring both legs as well as the calf's head into the birth canal, the calf is too big to be delivered normally.

Traction test

Often, whether or not a big calf can be delivered through the birth canal is not obvious and a traction test is needed. If the calf is abnormally positioned, you must move its parts into normal position before the traction test. Correction of an abnormal presentation is easiest when the heifer is standing.

Common abnormal presentations include elbow lock, leg back, head turned sideways and breech. Breech is when the calf's hindquarters are stuffed into the birth canal with its hind legs extending forward. In breech presentations, there may be no part of the calf protruding from the birth canal or classically the calf's tail.

Some calves are positioned in posterior presentation where both hind legs protrude from the birth canal. These calves can be delivered backwards as long as the calf is not too big for the birth canal. It's very important to immediately help a heifer trying to deliver a backwards calf. In that position, the umbilical cord of the calf can be squeezed shut against the pelvis of the heifer and the calf could die due to lack of oxygen. A backwards birth is an emergency!

Step 3: Conduct a traction test. Place clean obstetrical chains, nylon straps or ropes on the two feet. Chains are best because they can be kept cleaner. Place a loop of chain above each fetlock joint and a half-hitch of chain below the fetlock joint.

Thoroughly lubricate

Thoroughly lubricate the calf and birth canal. Don't hold back here. Sometimes I use a stomach tube to pump a whole gallon of lube into the uterus around the calf. Ranchers in my practice called me "Slippery Steve." Now apply traction to determine if the calf can be delivered through the birth canal. It's different for calves coming frontwards and backwards.

Frontward presentation: If the calf's head is not in the birth canal, attach a head snare around it or place a clean loop of rope behind both ears and into its mouth. Apply moderate tension on the calf's head to keep it in the birth canal. Pull one leg in a slightly upward direction until the fetlock joint is a hand's width past the vulva of the heifer. This will be easy as only one shoulder is pulled past the pelvic ring and into the canal.

Moment of truth

Next is the moment of truth. Apply traction on the second leg to see if it can be pulled even with the first. This will be hard if the calf is big, but the force applied should never exceed the strength of two men. Only apply traction when the heifer strains.

If the second foot can be pulled even with the first, the second shoulder will be through the heifer's pelvic ring and sliding through the birth canal. If both fetlocks can be pulled a hand's width past the vulva, the calf can be delivered through the birth canal by an experienced rancher. Immediately call your veterinarian to perform a surgical procedure if that is not possible.

Backward presentation: First rotate the calf 45 degrees so the hip's widest part (side to side) is lined up with the widest part of the heifer's pelvis (top to bottom). When the heifer strains, one person on each leg then applies traction slightly upwards to see if the hocks of the calf can be pulled a hand's width past the vulva of the heifer.

If that's possible, the calf's hips will be through the pelvic ring of the heifer and sliding through the birth canal. If both hocks can be pulled a hand's width past the vulva, the calf can be delivered through the birth canal by an experienced rancher. Immediately call your veterinarian to perform a surgical procedure if that is not possible.

It takes a lot of practice to become proficient in delivering calves. These guidelines are helpful, but not foolproof.

For example, even if a traction test is positive, the chances of delivering a live calf are less if the calf's head had not entered the birth canal when the heifer was straining hard. Crossed legs within the birth canal which indicate wide shoulders are also an unfavorable sign.

If you are inexperienced, call an experienced neighbor to help you. Be clean, use lots of lubrication, manipulate the calf into normal position and do a traction test.

If it's negative, immediately call your veterinarian out to save the calf.

If the test is positive, but it's a whooper calf, quite a lot of finesse will be needed for you to get it out alive and healthy.

Next month, we'll discuss how to get that job done right.

* Dr. Steve Wikse is a retired professor of large-animal clinical sciences in the College of Veterin-ary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at Texas A&M University.