Dexter With Follicular Cysts

[cairnhill]

While looking at our cows that have not calved yet we have a strange one. A nine year old cow in very good condition however it shows bull like behaviour (including not getting in calf although I can see from its history that is has calved before). It appears most likely that it is a follicular cyst and can be burst and may help it get in calf. I was interested to know if anyone else has had this and if they have had them treated and if it was a success. It also appears to be hereditary so am I better sending her to slaughter?

Thanks

Andrew

[Saffy]

Hello Andrew,

I assume that is a "posh" name for cystic ovary?

I've never had it with a dexter, although I know Beryl did and the cow got in calf again no problem. It happened from time to time with my dairy herd and the vet treated it successfully, I can't remember ever failing to get one in calf afterwards.

Stephanie

[Broomcroft]

We've had one that behaved like a bull and missed calving one year. Vet injected her and she's calved every year since.

[fallowfield-dexters]

We had some Irish Moiled cattle with this problem, one of our best show heifers in fact. She had problems getting in calf and so the vet came out and diagnosed cysts. Something was injected and we prid her she managed to get in calf, however then had to have a caesarean and in fact had a fully formed dead calf. Since then we have not been able to get her in calf. We have since had the vet out again after running her with a bull for 15 months including having 3 different bulls. Long story short she is now 5 years old with no calves and the vet has just reprid her!

[Duncan MacIntyre]

Follicular cysts are not unusual in dairy cattle, and generally treated by injection of "Receptal" nowadays, though in times past vets had to manually rupture the cyst per rectum. These are thin walled cysts, whereas "luteal cysts" have some thickness to the wall and contain some luteal tissue, and may need slightly different treatment. The treatment with Receptal is often very successful, but as has been said in an earlier post the condition is to a certain extent hereditary - so the best thing to do, If you are keen to avoid passing on the characteristic, is treat the cow, but do not keep a calf or either sex from such a cow for breeding. There may be times, of course, when this is only part of the occasion and you might keep one because the cow has other important genes to pass on.

Duncan