This syndrome describes the situation where a cow fails to deliver a calf on their own within a reasonable amount of time.

When assisted the calf is pulled with minimal effort - it's as though the cow seems to lack the ability to 'push' and do the job on her own.

Prolonged calvings will cause distress to the calf which can result in death, or the birth of an oxygen deprived calf that has trouble sucking and fails to thrive.

There is a really significant increase in the demand for essential nutrients leading up to calving, and calcium is one of the more critical of these.

Calcium plays a vital role in muscle contraction and so is particularly important for good, strong uterine contractions to push the calf out.

However, at the same time, calcium output by the cow has increased as udder develop begins in preparation for lactation.

Clinical low calcium, or 'hypocalcaemia' is well known in dairy cattle as 'Milk Fever' where animals 'go down' at the point of calving.

But in beef cattle we are more likely to see subclinical hypocalcaemia, where calcium levels are not low enough for animals to 'go down', but muscle function is compromised, and weak contractions of the uterus result in 'lazy calving'.

'Lazy calving' is most likely a problem when calving on lush, green feed, particularly green cereal crops as these are known to be low in sodium, calcium and magnesium.

They are also high in potassium, which further exacerbates low calcium and magnesium by inhibiting their dietary absorption, so where possible, avoid calving on cereal crops.

During calving, offer a supplement that contains sodium, calcium and magnesium, and providing roughage in the form of hay or straw is also of benefit.

For further information, please contact your local District Vet with the Central West Local Land Services at the Forbes Office on 6850 1600.