Birth of young ones is the dream of every farmer. It is a sign of wealth multiplication from several perspectives. To most farmers, it is the addition of another member of the herd or flock.
With proper care and good luck, the farmer’s wealth is multiplied by at least one more animal. Sometimes it may even be up to 18 animals with one birth.
I recall telling a farmer that and she quickly said it is not possible to get 18 animals in one birth. She was a cow farmer who was not aware that some sheep and goats can give up to four babies at once. Boer goats are the ones known best for quadruplet kidding.
When she appeared surprised, I informed her pigs actually do get up to 18 piglets in one birth. Two years later, she started rearing pigs to enjoy the sudden wealth multiplication.
By the way, the terms we use for giving birth in livestock is calving for cattle, kidding for goats, lambing for sheep and farrowing for pigs. Groups of animals are called herds for cattle, pigs and goats while the sheep are flocks.
In addition to wealth creation by additional animals, cattle, some sheep and goats also give milk for sale or consumption. Milk consumed at home generates money for the farmer by making some savings on the food expenses.
Increased manure production by the new animals also contributes to wealth by sale of manure or reducing the cost of crop production as less or no fertilizer is required when manure is available.
Most farmers ignore manure as a product from their livestock business, sometimes just giving the manure freely or failing to utilize it economically on the farm.
Giving birth by farm animals is taken for granted in most cases until a problem appears. Most birthing problems result from the baby coming out of the birth canal in an unusual way called malpresentation or abnormal presentation, fetus being large and getting stuck in the birth canal, the uterus failing to contract especially due to low blood calcium and low energy due to poor body condition of the mother; which makes the muscles unable to push the foetus out.
There are only two normal birthing positions of the foetus in livestock. The most frequent one in any species of animals is the front dorsal presentation, where the baby comes out with the head and front legs first and the belly on the floor of the birth canal.
The second most common is the posterior presentation where the tail and hind legs come out first and the belly lies on the floor of the birth canal.
Any other presentation is abnormal and may need human intervention to remove the baby. We use the word baby to represent the foetus of any of the animal species meaning calf, piglet, kid or lamb.
One of the abnormal presentations is the breech where the baby comes out with the back; and legs folded at the hip stretching forward into the birth canal. This is one of the most difficult positions to correct especially in cattle owing to the length of the calf’s legs and the little space left in the birth canal for maneuvering. Breech presentation is diagnosed when the animal is in labour but only the tail of the baby is seen protruding from the vulva.
Other malpresentations are one hind or front leg out of the vulva with or without the head. Sometimes there may just be labour without any part of the baby coming out of the vulva. This occurs when the foetus is too big and not able to engage into the birth canal, the foetus lies across the uterus or the water bags have failed to burst.
If a farmer sees any abnormal presentation, she should immediately call their animal health service provider because the birth will never complete without intervention.
If an animal stays with a non-progressive birthing for a long time, the baby dies mainly due to exhaustion and luck of oxygen. You see, during birthing, the umblical cord may get compressed and fail to deliver sufficient amount of blood to the foetus. Also, the placenta may start detaching from the uterus and hence cut the blood supply to the foetus.
I advise farmers not to attempt to assist animals in birthing difficulties because they may injure the mother and baby, cause infection to the reproductive canal or leave some foetus in the uterus if they are more than one.
Last week a farmer from Ruiru called and requested me to go and assist calving in her two cows which appeared to be having difficulties.
She told me the cows had started labour two hours ago and she thought they were having difficulties because the foetuses had not shown any part of their bodies through the vulva.
The farmer said no foetal fluid had been discharged and the water bag had not appeared on the opening of the vulva. That informed me the water bags were still intact. It was possibly slow labour. The farmer told me the cows were looking normal and active.
I concluded the cows were not in danger and needed more time to progress the birth processes. I advised the farmer to give the cows about one more hour and report to me if the birthing had not occurred.
After about 45 minutes, the farmer called me and reported both cows had calved two beautiful heifers. She thanked me for saving her the doctor’s fee.
I always advice farmers that cattle may give birth normally within two to five hours from the onset of labour. Too early intervention in the birth processes may complicate the birth process. The same applies for other livestock species.
