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The different causes of dystocia in the cow versus the heifer is due to the differences between the two animals. A heifer is still growing, so she will be smaller than a mature cow. Also a heifer has never had a calf before, so the tissues of the birth canal (cervix, vagina, and vulva) have not ever been dilated. Thus, dystocia in heifers is often due to the birth canal not dilating or stretching sufficiently. These dystocias can often be relieved by manually dilating the vagina and vulva. When dystocia occurs in cows however, it is usually the result of a more serious problem. The size of their birth canal is less restrictive than that of a heifer so when dystocia occurs there may commonly be another disease process going on (i.e. Milk Fever), the calf is extremely large, or the calf is malformed or malpositioned. For these reasons even mild dystocia in a cow may increase the likelihood of a stillbirth and live calves may be more significantly compromised than those born to a heifer with dystocia.
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