LORI.bovine

Uterus, 20 days postpartum

Keywords: bovine, uterus, caruncles, palpation, involution, postpartum, follicles

During transrectal palpation, one can place a hand over the cranial margin of the uterus by about 10 to 12 days after calving. By 20 days (as in this case) one can usually retract the uterus for palpation. Although tissue from the caruncles has been shed down to the capillary layer by 10 to 14 days postpartum, the bases of the caruncles (white arrows) are still palpable at this time. If the endometrium is exposed, they are obvious, even at 30 to 35 days, when the uterus is fully involuted. Incidentally, lochial discharge is almost complete in normal cows (suckled or non-sucked) by this stage of involution.

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Note that there is substantial ovarian activity in the form of follicle growth (yellow arrows) serving to remind one that FSH is not a limiting factor in the return to cyclicity in cattle. Follicles may ovulate as early as 10 to 14 days in non-suckled (dairy) cows but even though follicles such as these are present early in the postpartum period in almost all cattle, suckled cattle ovulate much later, LH being the limiting factor in those animals.