Cattle 1853 - Lewis Family Farm

UNNATURAL PRESENTATION. 391
UNNATURAL PRESENTATION.
It will soon be evident whether the calf is in the right position.
The appearance of the feet and the situation of the head will be
satisfactory on this point ; but from fright, or violence, or some unknown
cause, the position of the foetus is sometimes strangely altered,
so as to render its extraction difficult or impossible.
In some cases, although the throes rapidly succeed each other and
are not deficient in power, nothing, or perhaps only the mere hoofs,
protrude from the vagina. This must not be suffered long to continue,
for if it does, the strength of the cow will be rapidly wasted.
The hand and arm, having been well oiled, must be introduced into
the passage, in order to ascertain the position of the foetus. The
whole of the passage being probably well occupied by the head or
fore-limbs, and the uterus and the vagina powerfully contracting, the
arm of the operator will receive very considerable and benumbing
pressure ; and sometimes to such an extent that the perfect feeling
of the limb will not be restored until some hours have passed. This
must not be regarded, but the surgeon must steadily, yet not violently,
push the arm forward, taking care that he does not wound
the cow with his nails.
If he find the fore-feet far up the passage, and the head between
them, but sunk down below the bones of the pelvis, he will immediately
perceive that the extraction of the calf is impossible while it
remains in this position. He will therefore pass a cord with a slipknot
round each of the feet, and then push them back into the womb.
Next, with the slip-knot of a third cord in his hand, he will push
back the whole of the foetus gradually, but firmly, until he is able to
get his hand under the head and elevate it and pass the noose round
the lower jaw: then, grasping the upper »jaw and endeavoring thus
to raise the muzzle above the rim of the pelvis, his assistants will
draw the three cords, and easily bring the head and the feet into the
passage in the natural position.
If the head be not depressed between the feet, but bent down on
one side below the passage, cords must be put round the fore-feet,
and they are to be returned as in the other case. The head is to be
sought out, and a»noose passed round the jaw, and then the operator
putting his hand against the chest of the fcetus and pushing it back,
his assistants are to gently draw the three cords, until the head and
the feet are properly placed. Great care should, however, be taken,
that in drawing out the fore-feet the womb is not injured by the
hoofs ; they should generally be brought forward separately, and
guarded by the hand of the operator within the womb. If there
should be insuperable difficulty in raising and bringing the head
round, and the calf be dead, the skin must be turned back from one
of the legs, beginning at the fore-arm and reaching the shoulder, as