Uterine prolapse in Bulgarian Murrah Buffaloes (Bubalus bubalis L.) and its association with pre-and post-partum dam weight and calf birthweight

An observational study was conducted to determine the association of preparturient and post-parturient dam weight and calf birthweight with the occurrence of uterine prolapse. Ninety six Bulgarian Murrah buffaloes that calved during the period of October 1999 to February 2000 were used in the study. Weight of dam was taken one week before and three days after parturition while birth weight of calf was taken immediately after parturition. Animals that calved were observed for the occurrence of uterine prolapse, that is, total eversion of uterus with or without retained using placenta. Univariate analysis on possible association between the occurrence of uterine prolapse and the weights were examined using logistic regression (NCSS and EPI-Info ver 6). The weight of dam before and after calving was found to be significantly associated with uterine prolapse with a regression coefficient of -1.47 and -1.59, respectively. T-test analysis showed that the weight before calving (543 + 80.4 kg) of dam that suffered uterine prolapse was significantly lower than the mean weight (596 + 54.4 kg) of those not affected with uterine prolapse. Similarly, the weight after calving of affected animal (498.07 + 77.2 kg) was significantly lower than those unaffected with uterine prolapse (550.61 + 41.4 kg). On the other hand, calf birth weight was not significantly associated with the occurrence of uterine prolapse. The average weight of calf from dam affected with prolapse (31.8 + 8.8 kg) was not significantly different from the 31.2 + 7.3 kg of unaffected dam. The study showed that dams with lower body weight before and after calving are more likely to suffer from uterine prolapse even if they are bearing an average-sized calf. The greater proportion of calf weight in relation to the dam weight could have caused an overdistension of the uterus of small-size dam and during the strenuous labor during calving, the animal suffered from uterine exhaustion which predisposed these animals to uterine prolapse