would you induce? Yay or nay

I received some appreciated insight as well as sympathy on my last post, lets see what you all think of this...

Second calf Picasso, maturing out well, has the makings to be a good cow. Stellar management skills coupled with a brain fart caused her to be ai'd to HW1. Whoops. Due date is 7 days away, udder is full and milk is down, loose under the tail, looks like she could pop any minute.

Dilemna, other than my allowing her to get stuck to a hippo in the first place, is that I will be traveling most of the week coming up starting Tuesday.

I am seriously considering giving her the Lut/Dex cocktail tonight.

All in all I am not a big fan of interfering with the natural process, however I did inadvertantly cause this possible trainwreck and I sure want to make sure I am the OBGYN on call when its time.

Opinions?

i would say go for it. lord knows its better than her dying while your gone or what ever

yes, only because you are leaving


Personal insight,

I was induced with my first child, it was a horrible experience,

2nd child refused to be induced had natural labor, was sooooo much better.

I'd say yes because I have a Picasso cow that always throughs 120 lb calves every year. I have even bred her to calving ease bulls.

That settles it. MSweeney, you just gave me the push over the cliff, as well as gave me a mild heart attack. I might oil up the chainsaw just in case we need a side door to boot.

I would induce. Palpate for size of calf. If the calf is big and you are sure on the AI date, I would induce. We had a 100#er out of a calving ease bull that was 7 days over this year. We had to take her out the side. I keep thinking if I would have just palpated and induced based on size of calf, I would not have had a 550 vet bill. I am with you. For peice of mind if nothing else.

I know lots of people induce, but I have never touched one in my life. If this was a purebred bull pregnancy, and it was induced, what do you list it's BW as? Is it being honest to report a 90 lb BW when it might have been 112 lb if it is allowed to go full term. I am asking, simply because i don't know the answer. What do you think?

Also, what affects does inducing have on the dam? Are there any side affects such as delayed re breeding because of retained placenta etc?

you got anyone that can watch for you, I would hate to induce too,but with a biggun it is better to be safe than sorry

Nay

YC- our vet always had us use Oxytocin post delivery. It always helped with milk and we had no issues with retained placenta's. We have not had any issues on females induced cycling or carrying natural preg.