How to Perform Rectal Palpation in Cows and Heifers

Learn how to feel if your cow is pregnant

Co-authored by Karin Lindquist

Last Updated: October 17, 2024 Approved

Rectal palpation is a very common and highly popular method among all cattle producers in primarily performing pregnancy checks on cows and heifers, and also for checking the reproductive organs of a bull during a bull breeding soundness exam. For the purpose of this article, though, the focus is primarily on cows and heifers. "Preg-checking" or pregnancy checking female cattle often yields successful results especially if performed by an experienced technician. Rectal palpation is undoubtedly the messiest, yet cheapest and often quickest form of preg-checking that can be easily learned by all those who have a breeding herd of cattle.

1

Confine the cow.

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It’s important to restrain the animal so she cannot jump over the side of the chute or kick you. Replace broken boards in the chute that could injure the animal’s legs and check for exposed nails. If you decide to use a head-gate, make sure it has gates on either side that prevents her from moving side-to-side.^{[1]
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2

Wear protective gear and lubricate your hand.

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Put on a shoulder-length glove and apply an obstetrical lubricant all over it. The glove should go on your dominant arm, or the one you will use to do rectal palpation with. Make sure the glove and/or sleeve covers your arm and hand up to the shoulder. Once it’s on, rub a handful of OB lubricant over your hand so it gets above your hand and on the inside.^{[2]
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- Do not use soap or detergents as a lubricant, since both are irritants.
- Wear an obstetrical suit, coveralls, or any old clothes that you don’t mind getting dirty.

3

Insert your hand into the rectum.

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Push through the anus into the rectum with one continuous thrust. Grab the tail with one hand (the one not gloved up), hold up above your head (see photo above) and with the gloved one, form a kind of closed-puppet mouth configuration with your hand (thumb tip connecting with all four tips of your fingers), and with the point of the top of your fingers forming a 45 to 60 degree angle, push into the rectum of the cow.
- You will have to push hard because the cow will be straining against you to push you out. Keep your wrist rigid and in-line with the rest of your arm, and keep your elbow flexed slightly so you have enough strength to push into the cow's rectum.

4

Scoop out unwanted fecal matter.

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If the rectum is full of feces, then carefully scoop the loose fecal matter with your hand and retract your hand enough so that you can expel the feces for the cow. Expel enough of the feces that you have room enough to work, so you can reach and find the cervix.

5

Locate the cervix.

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It will be below your hand, as will the rest of the female bovine's reproductive tract. You should be able to feel a hard cylindrical shape part of the way in. If you are up to your shoulder in the cow and still can't find the cervix, you're too far in. Move back until you can feel the cylindrical object below your fingers.

6

Move further into the cow.

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Feel for the fetus, uterine tract, and fallopian tubes. If you feel anything that feels like the uterus is distended, with a small oval ball of liquid floating inside it or something that feels like a fetus, then you have found that the cow is bred. If you don't feel anything of the sort, just a uterus, then she may be open (not bred).^{[3]
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- If you have short arms, you may either need a stool to stand on, or have to go in right up to your shoulder to feel for anything.
- It takes a lot of practice to know what you're feeling for. Often, it's best to preg-check 2 to 5 months into the cow's gestation period, so that you know you are feeling for something larger than a golf-ball sized ovary. The sizes you should be feeling are according to how far along the cow is:^{[4]
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  - 2 months - size of a mouse
  - 3 months - size of a rat
  - 4 months - size of a small cat
  - 5 months - size of a large cat
  - 6 months - size of a small dog
  - 7 months - size of a Beagle
    - These size comparisons are useful if you have a dead premature calf that may have been aborted.
- A vet or bovine practitioner who has had more experience and has preg-checked more cows will be more accurate than one who has done only a few cows. Thus saying, the more practice you get or the more chances you get to preg-check cows, the more accurate you'll become.

7

Pull your arm out and release the cow.

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Once you've determined if the cow or heifer is pregnant and how far along, pull your arm out of the cow, and release her back into the herd, and repeat with another cow or heifer. Discard your used glove in the trash can.

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Question

Whenever I perform rectal palpation, I can never get my hands on uterine horns, but ovaries are palpated well by indirect approach. How can I find the uterine horns?

Karin

Top Answerer

This isn't going to be very helpful, but you won't be able to find them. The uterine horns are going to be very difficult to find, because they are as soft tissue as the rectal wall. What you're really going to be feeling for is the more harder, denser tissues like the ovaries, the cervix, and the small embryo-turned-fetus. You're doing everything right if you can feel the ovaries and, if you went more shallow, the cervix. The fetus can be felt in the uterine horns, so that's what you're really going to be feeling for, not the uterine horns themselves.

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Question

What is the treatment if a cow does not come into full heat rather than it used to be in false heat?

Karin

Top Answerer

There is no treatment available. You just have to wait it out and hope she doesn't abort and ends up keeping her calf to full term. A pregnant cow will have a false heat, but it doesn't necessarily equate to her aborting the calf.

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Do I have to go through the rectum to pregnancy check a heifer?

Cora Provencher

Community Answer

You most likely should. If it is a new mom, her vulva won't be as loose as a mom who has had a few calves. To cause the cow less pain, you should preform a rectal examination.

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Tips

Some producers, vets, and your AI instructor will prefer to change gloves in between cows to prevent the spread of reproductive diseases like Trichomoniasis. Often this is a good hygienic practice to adopt to prevent any spread of disease from one cow to another.

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The best determination of a cow's due date is from keeping good breeding records. If you know when a cow has been bred and if she did become pregnant, then you have a very good idea of when she will give birth.

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The anus of a cow is located above the vulva, which is a slit below the anus. You need to go into the anus of the cow, not the vulva, to do proper preg-checking.

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Warnings

If you get easily grossed out from things like fresh stinky cow poop or having to rectal palpate your cows, or just even the thought of having to do it, then don't do it. Get a large-animal vet to do it for you.

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Don't pull out too fast, otherwise you will end up with a pile of cow manure all over you. Pull out slow and easy, allowing the anus to naturally close on its own as you pull out.

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Spreading your fingers in the rectum may cause damage to the rectal wall which is deadly for the cow in most cases.

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Some cows may be a bit less tolerant of you sticking your arm up their rear than others. You may get kicked, or the cow may suddenly decide she wants to move around or go down with you still inside her. Try to move with her as best as you can, but there will be a risk of pulling a muscle in your arm or even breaking your arm if things really get out of hand.

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Make sure you're going in the right "hole." If you go in the vulva, you could potentially cause an abortion since you may have taken away the cervical plug, or palpated the fetus a little too much.
- Too vigorous a palpation through the rectal wall may cause abortions or the death of a fetus. You could sever the connection between the placenta and uterine wall, cutting off the fetus's life-giving connection between it and the dam. Be firm yet gentle, and do not be too aggressive with your actions.
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