A26—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, May 31,1980
COLLEGE PARK, Md. -
Although experts disagree
on what causes cows to
retain their placenta (af
terbirth) after calving, two
University of Maryland
researchers feel reasonably
sure that they have ruled out
one frequently proposed
cause of this costly and
sometimes deadly dairy
farm problem: lack of
contractions in the uterus.
Walter F. Williams, a
dairy science professor at
the university, and Larry
Martin, a graduate
student,have spent two
years examining the
relationship between uterine
contractions at calving time
and the incidence of retained
placentas in dairy cows.
The problem is that some
dairy cows do not release
Stewart trial
postponed again
WASHINGTON, D.C. -
The Wolcott Stewart trial
has once again been post
poned m order to grant the
defense additional time to
prepare their case, ac
cording to Postal Inspector
Donald Warren.
This is the second time the
trial was delayed since
Stewart was indicted on
Tuesday, January 8, 1980 on
14 counts of mail fraud.
The original indictment
charged that during a three
month period, March, 1978
through June, 1973, Stewart
contracted with farmers in
Maryland and Pennsylvania
to provide their gram to
gramenes in Baltimore and
Salisbury, Md. and
McGaheysville and
Harrisonburg, Va.
The defendent instructed
the grameries to make
payment directly to him for
the delivered gram. Stewart,
upon receiving the payment
for the grain, approximately
$182,000, deposited it in his
own personal bank account
and used the money for his
own personal gain.
Stewart was arrested by
postal inspectors on January
17 pursuant to a Federal
Lack of contractions doesn 9 t
cause retained placenta
their placenta within the
normal period of tune. The
retaining placenta may rot,
leading to uterine infection
and possible subsequent
losses in milk production and
fertility, the two researchers
say.
Their conclusion - that the
lack of contractions is not
involved in placenta
retention suggests that
scientists should search
elsewhere for the cause of
the problem, which can
affect up to 60 per-cent of a
dairy herd (although usually
much less) and mean sub
stantial financial losses for
farmers.
Martin and Williams will
present their findings in a
paper entitled “Uterine
Motility Measurements in
Cows Retaining Fetal
warrant issued by the
District Court, Baltimore,
Md.
The original trial date was
set for March 5, and was
later postponed until May 12.
Now, the trail is slated to
begin on June 11, said In
spector Warren.
“Everything is ready for
the trial, which will probably
last several weeks,” he said.
“We plan to call several
Pennsylvania Farmers’
Association members to help
out.
“There’s a lot of interest in
this case, particularly in
Pennsylvania, primarily
because people there lost
money.”—SM
Membranes,” to be
delivered at the 75th annual
meeting of the American
Dairy Science Association on
June 15 to 18 at Virginia Tech
in Blacksburg, Va.
The retaining placenta
problem may interfere with
the farmer’s goal of a 12-
month calving interval,
Martin says. In order to
maintain a cow on a 12-
month schedule, the farmer
would have to breed her
within 90 days of calving.
Retention of fetal mem
branes placentas may
delay this.
Although he could not cite
an over-all figure, Martin
surmised that a dairy far
mer could lose on the
average of $1.50 per cow for
every day she remains
“open” (not pregnant)
beyond 90 days of calving
“It’s a very considerable
loss to the fanner,” he said.
“At this stage,” Williams
says, “there aren’t any
known causes for retained
placentas, although there is
a lot of scientific
speculation” ran the subject.
It is this lack of consensus
that led to the research
project.
The researchers examined
the notion that lack of
contractions was the cause
of retained placentas, that
the cow had too few con
tractions to expel the
placenta at the time of
calving.
In this expenement, they
wanted to find out whether
the number and strength of
contractions were different
between cows that released
their placenta and those that
did not. Fifteen cows were
involved in the research.
To have enough cows with
retained placentas to
examine at the same tune as
normal cows, Martin and
Williams had to ex
perimentally induce the
retention of placentas in half
of the animals. To do this,
they used a chemical
dexamethasone which
acts to induce calving and
results in a high incidence of
retained placenta.
First, they checked the
effects of dexamethasone on
uterine motility (con
tractions) after calving, then
the difference in uterine
motility between cows that
retained their placenta and
those that did not.
To do that, they measured
the number and strength of
contractions in each cow at
one hour, six hours and at 48
hours after calving.
They found no significant
differences in uterine
motility between cows that
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retained their placenta and
those that did not at one hour
and at six hours after
calving. They did find a
significant difference at 48
hours, when those still
retaining the placenta were
contracting more.
“There is really no effect
from contractions on
retention of placentas,”
Martin concluded.
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Both scientists noted that
their conclusions could af
fect veterinary practice.
Based on the premise that
lack of contraction is a cause
of retained placentas, some
veterinarians use a drug
oxytocin to induce con
tractions in afflicted cows.
“This research suggests that
their method probably
doesn’t help,” Martin said.
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