Following on from last times blog post where a cow had given birth (calved).  We are now going to look at the next stage, the vet checks.  Just like a human woman has a well being check at eight weeks post partrum, a cow is seen by the vet at twenty one days post calving.   

The check is called a PNC (this stands for post natal check up).  Just like in humans, the womb should have reduced in size and gone back to its original shape.  The vet also body condition scores the cow to make sure she is healthy and hasn’t lost too much weight.  The vet will look for any infections that may have occurred or tears from the birth.  If a vet says the cow is ‘clean and cycling’ this is a positive and means the cow has recovered from giving birth so no treatment is required.  However if the vet was to say ‘Wash Out’ this means the cow is ‘dirty’ as in she has a UTI and the vet will then need to prescribe antibiotics and the vet will want to see the cow again the following week. 

If all is ok, the cow will rejoin the main herd and then will be seen by the vet again around fifty days to see if she cycling.  However, sometimes at forty one days post calven some cows do ‘come a bullying’ which means she’s frisky and is coming into season and may need to see the vet sooner.  It’s up to Gavin and the family to keep an eye out for signs of this.  From here on the cow will then see the vet on a weekly basis for check ups until it is AI’d (artificial inseminated) by Gavin and we then have to wait to see if the cow has fallen pregnant.  

I would just like to reiterate, what happens on our farm doesn’t always happen this way on  other farms.  All cows are different and lastly, I do hope I don’t receive any negativity for sharing this information as I have taken the time to write this, with no opinions shown, just the facts given! I look forward to sharing the next instalment of the year in a cows life.

Much love
Rebecca