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Faunsdale, AL | I have to go to 20 hours of continuing education to renew my license every year. Sometimes it ends up being about things I am unlikely to ever need to know, but I luck into some good ones every now and then.
The one that dealt with retained placenta was really neat. They had taken the uterus with retained placenta attached and measured the amount of force it takes to "pop" each "button" on that placenta loose. The normal ones (will not be a retained placenta) come apart easily, but the retains are attached by collagen fibers. That the stuff that makes a steak tough, and that's after being COOKED.
The guy doing the research decided that since it was collagen holding things together he should figure out a way to use an enzyme specific for collagen to digest the connections apart. Turns out it worked, the placenta dropped before 3 days post calving after waiting a day before treating just to make sure the cow couldn't expell it herself.
Anyway, he had a signup sheet for those wanting to participate in the trial, so I signed up. He wasn't just talking, stuff worked just like he said on all 3 that I did with the kits he sent me.
Unfortunately the product was not patentable, it was an enzyme that could be purchased by anyone with an account with a specialty chemical company, and he figured that there would be no way for a company to get it approved and bring it to market and then recoup their costs.
If a cow retains, I rarely see one getting sick before about day 4 or 5 (if they get sick at all), so getting them out on day 3 really prevented the problems.
If someone is having success with any treatment for retained placenta, it is usually one given within the first 24 hours after calving (they aren't "retained" in my book unless they are still in there after 24 hours) or given around day 6, 7 or 8 when it's getting pretty rotten anyway. | |
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Yuck!!!!
