What is the reason and what to do if the cow eats hay poorly after calving and treatment

Postpartum complications in cows do not always go away with obvious signs. A health problem is often identified as a lack of appetite. The symptom occurs with physiological and chemical changes in the body, with infection. The method of treatment depends on the diagnosis. What to do if, after calving, the cow eats hay poorly and does not drink water is determined by the accompanying symptoms.

Causes and treatments for decreased or lack of appetite in cows

An inability to digest hay or an obstruction in the digestive tract are the main reasons a cow has no appetite. They are often caused by infectious and non-infectious diseases.

Milk fever

Hypocalcemia, or paresis, is a nervous disease that occurs due to a lack of calcium in the body and a decrease in blood sugar levels. Against the background of the condition, paralysis of the hind limbs, swallowing muscles and tongue develops, as well as tympania. Loss of appetite with paresis is only a consequence of concomitant pathologies. Paralysis occurs after childbirth if the pregnant cow has not started. The main symptoms of the condition:

• weakness, the animal has fallen down and cannot get up to eat;
• low temperature;
• wheezing breathing;
• drooling, tongue falling out of mouth.

Sometimes the cow's legs tremble after calving, the neck is bent in the shape of the letter S. The disease is accompanied by loss of consciousness. Without treatment, the animal will die on the third day. But the introduction of medicines at the initial stage alleviates the condition, and after 3 hours an appetite appears.

Paresis is treated with the following drugs:

• 10 percent calcium chloride - 400 milliliters;
• 40 percent glucose solution - 250 milliliters;
• 20% Caffeine Sodium Benzoate - 15 milliliters
• 25 percent magnesium sulfate - 40 milliliters;
• vitamin D2 - 2.5 million units.

Also, the animal is given first aid - it is warmed by rubbing from the sacrum to the withers, a heating pad is placed and covered with a blanket.

Eating the afterbirth

The digestion of ruminants is not designed to dissolve biological tissues. The shell creates a feeling of fullness in the stomach and the animal loses its appetite. But the afterbirth does not move beyond the scar and does not burp. The cow is thin and cannot eat. The afterbirth is eaten by cows that did not receive a balanced diet during pregnancy.

Signs of shell eating:

• lack of appetite;
• bloating;
• temperature increase;
• increased heart rate and breathing;
• colic;
• diarrhea;
• parts of the placenta and a lot of mucus in the manure.

The cow not only cannot eat, but also does not drink water.Eating the placenta is indicated by its absence on the litter after calving and in the uterus as a result of examination. How to help a cow:

• do not feed for a day;
• transfer to an easily digestible food with Glauber's salt, castor oil and gastric juice.

Digestion and appetite are stimulated with a solution of hydrochloric acid and pepsin - 20 grams of each substance per liter of water.

Endometritis

Inflammation of the lining of the uterus, or endometritis, is an infectious disease that is caused by coccal bacteria. The infection is accompanied by intoxication.

Symptoms of pathology occur within three to five days after calving:

• bloody vaginal discharge;
• reduction in milk yield;
• loss of appetite;
• temperature increase;
• compaction of the walls, prolapse and absence of uterine contractions.

The cow abruptly refuses food and loses weight.

In the absence of necrotic processes, the condition is alleviated by washing the uterus with a furacilin solution. For a general strengthening effect, a ten-day course of placenta-based drugs is prescribed.

Postpartum sepsis

The disease occurs after calving due to blood poisoning with streptococci or staphylococci. The infection spreads through the body from the focus in the genitals or in the uterus.

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There are three types of sepsis:

• pyemia - accompanied by the formation of secondary foci in other tissues and organs of the type of metastases;
• septicemia - the constant release of toxins into the bloodstream from one focus, rarely occurs in cows;
• septicopyemia is a mixed type, characterized by the appearance of new foci and the entry of bacteria into the blood.

Common symptoms of infection:

• heat;
• rapid breathing;
• lack of appetite;
• atony of the stomach;
• weakness;
• dryness, bleeding of the mucous membranes;
• ulcerative skin rash.

Sepsis treatment:

• treat external foci of infection with antiseptic ointments, insert a tampon soaked in an antiseptic into the uterus;
• intravenous infusion of glucose, ascorbic acid and calcium chloride once a day, urotropine twice a day;
• intramuscularly inject antibiotics "Gentamicin", "Streptomycin" or "Bicillin".

First aid to an animal is to provide rest. The cow needs to be limited in nutrition, give light food - a mixture of bran and grass flour, sprouted oats, juicy root crops.

Vestibulovaginitis

If the cow has lost appetite, fever and vaginal discharge after calving is observed, inflammation of the vestibule is suspected.

Two types of vestibulovaginitis are common in cows:

• acute phlegmonous - muscle and submucosal tissue is filled with pus, which breaks through to the surface in the form of abscesses, and necrosis develops;
• acute diphtheria - the vaginal mucosa after calving becomes gray, swells, thickens, dead tissue comes out with brown discharge, ulcers remain on the mucous membrane.

With advanced vestibulovaginitis, sepsis develops.

Help with illness:

• wash the external genitals;
• rinse the vagina with a solution of manganese, "Furacilin", "Tripoflavin" or soda;
• lubricate from the inside or insert a tampon with ichthyol, streptocidal or synthomycin ointment;
• cauterize external ulcers with iodine or lapis.

In case of necrosis, treatment is additionally prescribed with cephalosporin antibiotics - "Cefotaxime", "Ceftriaxone", "Ceftazidime".

Birth canal injuries

If the cow hunches down after calving, this is one of the signs of postpartum complications caused by trauma. The birth canal is damaged during the passage of a large fetus or improperly provided obstetric care. Often, an infection gets into the tears in the external genitals. Hotel injuries occur in primiparous animals. With vaginal ruptures, the cow gives little milk, and it will be possible to milk her only after recovery.

Causes of damage:

• increased tone of the uterus with an incorrect position of the fetus;
• post-inflammatory scars constricting the pathways;
• falling of an animal during contractions;
• active stretching of the calf with a poorly opened cervix.

The breaks are complete and incomplete. Incomplete rupture is suspected when bleeding from the external genitalia.

If the cow is hunchbacked, superficial damage to the vaginal mucosa during calving can be suspected.

A penetrating or complete rupture is accompanied by hemorrhage into the abdominal cavity. If a calving cow has dramatically lost weight, is weak and drinks a lot of water, this is a likely sign of anemia as a result of blood loss. Ruptures are rarely palpable. Most often, the injury is established when the animal hits the pathologist's table. Help is provided during childbirth - the edges of the wound are sutured by hand. For extensive ruptures, the uterus is removed.

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Udder diseases

Mastitis and edema are painful complications after parturition in which the cow refuses to eat. Inflammation of the udder begins with thickening of the teats and a decrease in milk supply. It contains clots and flakes. The pain occurs when shedding.

Mastitis starts from a bacterial infection trapped in a lesion on the skin of the udder. Acute forms are accompanied by high fever, general weakness of the cow, loss of appetite and dehydration. Helping the cow after calving:

• increase the proportion of fiber in the diet;
• milk often;
• wash the udder with nettle broth.

In acute mastitis, the animal is prescribed antibiotic treatment.

Ketosis

A metabolic disorder in which blood glucose levels go down and ketones rise is called ketosis. Lack of sugar causes loss of appetite in post-calving cows and bulls due to poor nutrition. To arouse interest in food, the animals are fed sweet foods:

• sugar beet;
• carrot;
• hay or silage.

Sugar is added to the water. They also suggest chewing tea bags. If it is not possible to increase the glucose level, and the cow or bull even refuses water, they resort to medications:

• intravenous glucose solution;
• intramuscular solution "Tetravit";

The animals are also given propylene glycol and sodium lactate to drink.

Postpartum hemoglobinuria

The disease develops in productive cows at the age of five to seven years, often after calving. The main cause of pathology is spoiled food. Rotten vegetables, hay with mold lead to a violation of the intestinal microflora and fermentation. Instead of nutrients, toxins enter the bloodstream, and anemia develops. Most of the hemoglobin is excreted in the urine. General poisoning of the body is accompanied by an increase in temperature, pathologies of internal organs. If, within two days after calving, the cow stops eating, gives little milk, and the urine becomes cherry-colored, these are symptoms of hemoglobinuria. The condition is alleviated by changes in the diet:

• exclude alfalfa and beet tops;
• add wheat bran to saturate the body with phosphorus.

To stop the loss of hemoglobin, the cow is given a baking soda solution to drink. Glucose and caffeine are injected intravenously.

Preventive measures

Loss of appetite after calving means the beginning of a pathological process in the cow's body. Therefore, prevention is aimed at preventing specific diseases:

How to increase a cow's appetite:

• banish worms twice a year;
• give 2 kilograms of hay, 1 kilogram of sprouted wheat daily;
• add energy drink propylene glycol or glycerin to food - 100 grams per day during pregnancy and 200 grams after calving.

In order for the animals to eat well and a lot, food is given 2-3 times a day. The diet should contain vegetables, concentrates and high quality hay. The balance of vitamins and minerals is selected according to the performance of the cow and according to the recommendations of the veterinarian.