Haywood Farm Vets Newsletter august 2025

TWISTED UTERUS - "she's just not getting on with it"

One of the most common calvings we get called out to is a "twisted uterus" or a uterine torsion. A recent study found that up to 22% of calvings attended by vets were torsions, and the overall incidence of torsions in UK Holstein Friesians is 0.24% (Lyons et al., 2012).

Twisting normally occurs during 1st stage or early 2nd stage labour when the heavy pregnant horn flips over the non-pregnant horn, most commonly in an anti-clockwise direction. The twist can vary between 90 degrees and 360 degrees.

We don't really know what causes a twisted uterus, or why some farms get more than their fair share (you know who you are!!) However, it has been found that cows are at greater risk than heifers, twins are less of a risk (Aubry et al., 2008) and it usually involves a large calf.

At full term the heavy uterus lies on the abdominal floor and is relatively unstable. When a cow lies down or stands up the uterus becomes suspended by the ligaments attaching to the cervix so the heavy horns of the uterus are fairly mobile. It is thought that the combination of increased calf movements during 1st stage labour and a sudden slip, fall or knock by another cow could cause the unstable uterus to twist over on itself.

Quickly spotting cows with a torsion is really important as a twisted uterus has its blood flow interrupted so it becomes fragile - this interrupted blood flow also risks the calf as the blood flow to the placenta (and calf) will drop.

What do you see?

Cows with a twist will generally be uncomfortable, shifting and have her tail up - but won't progress or start pushing. What we typically hear is "she's just not getting on with it".

Make sure you carefully examine cows like this ASAP - a clean, lubed glove early on can make all the difference. Your arm tends to follow the twisting of the vaginal tissues and rotates - if the twist is partial you may be able to feel the calf but it will feel upside down, if it has flipped 360 degrees you won't be able to feel the cervix or a calf.

Please get in touch if you've got a cow that you're not sure about - we're happy to advise over the phone or come and put a hand in.

There are several methods to correct a twisted uterus – it generally is much easier to correct the twist early on with a live calf as they tend to wriggle and help.

Manual Untwisting: we usually give the cow an epidural to stop her straining and then we get hold of a leg of the calf and rotate the calf with a pendulum like movement. Sometimes we will get you to help the pendulum motion by getting you to push from the outside on her right hand side to help flip the calf. Usually when the calf and uterus turns all the birth fluid releases and the vet gets covered!

Rolling the cow: not for the faint hearted! We only really use the rolling method if the cow is already down, or if the calf is already dead and we would prefer to get the calf out naturally rather than via a caesarean. The vet gets hold of a leg of the calf to keep the calf still then gets their head out of the way whilst the cow is carefully turned onto her back and over to her other side. This method requires a lot of extra manual help to lift and flip the cow.

C-section: if the twist is 360 degrees and we can't get hold of a leg of the calf to do the pendulum swing, or if the calf is too large to manually untwist we can do a C-section. A few things to note about a twisted uterus caesarean:

• we still have to untwist the uterus when we do a C-section by flipping the uterus over when we are operating - this isn't such a big job when you are in the abdomen but can take a bit of time
• the uterus can be really delicate as the blood supply has been compromised - these are not simple surgeries and usually require a bit more time to stitch up the uterus

If we can get the uterus untwisted without having to operate, we then have to take our time calving her as the cervix hasn't dilated fully so it's a very gentle calving approach to allow time for the cervix to open and dilate without causing damage.

For all calvings and emergencies you can use our emergency number: 01630 810016 - this will put you through to the vets that are working that day, and for out of hours will put you straight through to our on call vet.

ACORNS - ...already!

Although it's only August, there's a lot of stressed trees out there and oak trees seem to be dropping a lot of immature acorns onto grazing ground, and far earlier in the year than normal. And, given there's not much grass about, the worry is inquisitive youngstock might find and eat them.

Oak trees don't produce enormous numbers of acorns every year, but when they do it is called a Mast Year. This year is a particularly big Mast Year due to the summer we're having - record high temperatures plus low rainfall has put trees under stress - this encourages trees to produce masses of seeds just in case the tree doesn't make it, and to make sure their genetics survive.

What causes acorn poisoning?

Acorns contain gallotannin which gets broken down to gallic acid and tannic acid when eaten - both strong acids which can cause ulceration in the gut and fatal kidney damage.

There will often be a range of severity of acorn poisoning in a group as some cattle and sheep get a taste for the acorns and consume them in large quantities. Unfortunately acorn poisoning can have devastating consequences if they do get a taste for them and can lead to multiple deaths.

Early signs of acorn poisoning:

Unborn calves can suffer birth defects and fast growing suckler calves can be affected due to consumption of the toxin via the milk.

Whilst some of the effects of acorns point towards a gut problem, there is more severe damage caused by acorns in the kidneys - and kidney failure is often what causes deaths.

How do we know if it is acorn poisoning?

We can test blood or urine to help confirm a diagnosis of acorn poisoning in a live animal. In a dead animal, acorns may be found in the rumen on post mortem examination, and kidneys will be severely affected.

Can we treat acorn poisoning?

There is no treatment or antidote to acorn poisoning. Supportive therapy (large volumes of fluids) may help, and be more effective in the early stages of the disease, however it isn't practical or economical long term. Preventing vulnerable livestock accessing oak trees and acorns is the mainstay of prevention of acorn poisoning - and making sure grazing stock aren't kept too tight will be the challenge this summer/autumn.

NEWS FROM THE PHARMACY

Apologies for all these swaps and changes - the medicine supply chain seems to be under some pressure at the minute - we'll keep you updated as and when the products come back into stock.

Synulox RTU injection: is finally back in stock!

Norodine 24: there's ongoing stock issues with Norodine (and Diatrim) and we're coming to the end of our stash. We've sourced an alternative called Censutrim which comes in a 250ml bottle. The milk and meat withdrawals are the same as before (milk: 48 hours | meat: 12 days).

Just a reminder, the dose rate for Norodine 24, Diatrim and Censutrim is 1ml/16kg which means a 650kg cow with E coli mastitis needs 41ml per dose.

Heptavac P: stock is filtering through and we would like to avoid the shortages for lambing 2026 so get in touch to secure the doses you need now.

Leptospirosis vaccine: MSD have decided to pull Bovilis Leptavoid-H from their meds portfolio, and the alternative Spirovac is also currently unavailable in the UK. We've currently got stock of both in our fridge and will keep you updated with alternatives as and when we need.