Another aspect of the bovine activities at Poleshill!
Our'best' heifer, Tamhorn Wee Lass (a misnomer if ever there was one...) - well our most expensive heifer anyway, we've been unable to get in calf. She was entered up on our flushing program in July but, when the vets did the routine internal exam, they discovered she had an enormous growth on her right ovary. The description was a growth about the size of an ogen melon.
Lass has always been seen to come bulling regularly, so we were advised to pull her out of the program but try and get her in calf using AI - they thought the left ovary would be working OK and so we'd maybe have to try a few times but that she should get in calf. Well, she didn't, either to AI or when we ran her with our pedigree BB stock bull. Right form the start, I started muttering about "Could we do an ovarectomy?" but was met with some slight resistance as they'd never been asked to do this before on a bovine - it's not cheap and usually heifers that don't breed go for meat.
Well, a) Lass wasn't cheap and more importantly b) she has the nicest temperament and is a very good looking BB, so, as the alternative for her wasn't exactly good, I asked if they would do the surgery - after all, it is a pretty commonplace surgery for mares so why not a bovine? We were sending mares for ovarectomies when I was at Adstock in the early 80's....!
So yesterday was The Big Day. The prep was almost the same as for a c-section - loads of local into the wound site, all ultra-clean, heifer remains standing. The only difference being that she was able to be sedated. We had two vets and a vet student assisting and the usual combo of Phil leaning against her rear end and me against her shoulder to keep her steady. The actual op took about 45 mins, as Ali was able to confirm, much to our relief, that it was indeed an enormous cyst - the other, bad, alternative was that it could have been a cancerous type growth feeding directly off her uterus, which would have meant curtains.
Ali was able to ligature the cyst successfully and extracted a heavy, fluid-filled ball about the size of a large grapefruit - see pix below! Really fascinating. We had all theorised that this cyst could be secreting hormones that were preventing any fertilised eggs that Lass was making on her 'good' left ovary from implanting in her uterus and, when Graham vet dissected part of the cyst, it had clearly grown around her right ovary, making it impossible to function. So it was even better news that Ali had managed to remove all the infected area and that, with the right ovary now absent, as long as there is no infection and Lass recovers OK, she at least has a chance of getting pregnant.
She was ace through the op and the worst bit for her was that she's had to be starved since Monday night, so that her rumen was as empty as possible, which makes the incision area easier to work for the vet. She went straight into her 'recovery' stable and started to munch her hay. She's well covered with anti-biotics and pain killers, so all we can do now is wait until she's recovered and hope that the surgery has worked. We'll know more in a few days and, if it looks OK, we'll try getting her in calf in about two months.
The two vets were highly delighted with themselves as they were hellish worried about it all going tits up and a very good job they did too!
The Cyst!
Close up...
Ali's sewing is very good - he makes all his own clothes!
Wee Lass as she's being cleaned up afterwards - if you look closely, you can just see a very interested Maggie in the far stable !
