Metritis is a common disease in cattle that producers need to keep an eye out for. Dr. Eric Moore, director of technical services with Norbrook, said Metritis is one of the more common cattle diseases, especially in dairy cattle.

“We talk about Metritis, it’s a common disease. We’ll have incidents of Metritis up to 30% in cows, and so Metritis is that infection immediately after calving in the uterus. It leads to decreased milk production, decreased fertility, increased risk of mortality, and culling the herd. Estimates have costs of $358 per diagnosed case of Metritis per head, so it has a substantial economic impact on your profitability in your dairy herd.”

Moore said there are several warning signs you should not ignore.

“So, we talk about diagnosing Metritis in cattle, we often see that with a fever, anorexia, or off-feed, decreased milk production, but the most common trait we see is that foul-smelling brown-reddish watery discharge from the vulva in that first 20 days of milk, and when we see that, we know we're dealing with Metritis. You increase the risk of mortality, i.e.., cattle dying, and they're more likely to be culled after a case of Metritis. The long-term effect though, and the one that really hits your pocketbook, is the negative effect that has on fertility in that cow. Any cattle that experience dystocia, i.e., difficulty in calving or retained placenta, are at a higher probability for also developing Metritis.”

What does treatment look like?

“Common treatments include evacuation of the uterus, i.e., trying to remove the infected material, use of nonsteroidals, flushing of the uterus, but one of the common and most effective treatments is systemic treatment with antibiotics, and one of the most effective antibiotics that we use today is Cefenil RTU, a Cephalosporin label to treat Metritis in dairy cows, looking at that first 20 days in milk after calving. We want to be sure we have a cost-effective, efficacious, systemic treatment to address the Metritis problem.”

For more information on addressing Metritis visit Norbrook's Website.

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