Calving Dystocia Resources: Calming the Fear and Anxiety
- Mar 2
- 3 min read
Are you in the middle of or about to start calving season? If so, this post is for you!!!!
The idea of dealing with calving dystocia (difficult or obstructed labor process) strikes anxiety and even fear in every breeder’s heart. It’s one of those things where nothing teaches like experience, and you can’t get experience until it happens to you.
Perhaps after tens or hundreds of births you’ve begun to get experience with issues, but that’s not most of us. I've personally read and researched dystocia situations extensively. But I’ve only really had two minor issues. So while I understand the mechanics and process of, say, repositioning a calf. I’ve never done it.
The good news is that most calving produces live births. So don't let the anxiety and fear cause you to shy away from breeding and calving.
If calving topic makes you anxious and fearful because of the unknowns and potential issues, here's my 3 key pieces of advice and some calving dystocia resources.
Get a mentor or trusted advisor that you can call, not just message with. In addition to your vet. If that person gives you their phone number as a mentor/advisor, I promise they will answer the phone when you call.
If you want to contact me, I'm happy to help however I can. And I also have my own mentor(s) to hand you off if I can't help.
Do your research about uneventful calving. Read, look at pics, and watch videos. This will help you learn how things should go so you don’t get worried or intervene too quickly. I still set a clock when labor starts and time the steps of progression.
I love extension office calving dystocia resources for this, such as this one. If you google "calving management" or "parturition management", you'll find tons of resources. They all have their own little tips and tricks and advice, so I've found it best to start and the top and read down. You'll start being able to skim for the same-old-same-old info and find the meaningful tidbits.
For example, this link has the usual advice that stage two of labor, which is from when the water bag appears until the calf is born, can last 2-4 hours. But it ALSO presents evidence that a more typical timeframe is 30 min for mature cows and 1 hour for heifers. So now you know that if you hit 30 min you should be paying attention and not just wait for 4 hours. https://extension.okstate.edu/fact-sheets/calving-time-management-for-beef-cows-and-heifers.html
This is another good video with commentary, showing the various stages of parturition. It's a little dry and academic, but the video part is good to see if you've never seen an actual calf birth. Especially noting the "normal" presentation of hooves pointing down and nosing coming out between the hooves. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvxtgQ_k7aI
Dig a little deeper and do research about eventful calving, including when outcomes are not so good. This will help you learn about problems that could occur, including figuring out when you need to intervene and when you need to call your vet.
Search for things like "calving difficulties", "calving problems", and "calving dystocia". When I find something that I have trouble visualizing, I search for those specific problems and try to find videos. Here's two really good resources I have saved.
Excellent write-up about how to assess dystocia based on presentation, position, and posture. Also about common issues and how to address them. https://www.iowabeefcenter.org/calving/dystocia.html
Video series showing a real calf cadaver in a pelvic model, where you can see the vet reach in and reposition a calf. Graphic pictures warning: It is very informative, but they do use a real calf cadaver. https://www.youtube.com/@NBCFieldService
Continuous learning and self-education are a must in the business of breeding and taking care of cows. It gives you confidence, helps you handle problems smoothly, and makes the entire process more enjoyable.
Happy calving!
Comments