It's also important to get the cow or heifer up right after she calves, so the uterus will drop back down into the abdominal cavity. Some will lie there and keep straining. If the uterine horns have started to turn inside out, this gives her something to push against and she'll keep straining and push the uterus out.

What causes hiplock and how can I avoid it?

Sometimes, a calf makes it partway through the birth canal, then hangs up at the hips or stifles on the cow's pelvic bones. In a hiplock, the calf's hip bones will be caught on the cow's pelvis, with the calf halfway out — and its ribcage isn't yet free of the birth canal, making it difficult to begin breathing.

“Its chest is still inside; the calf is just out past his shoulders. It must come out farther before it can breathe. With a stifle lock, the calf is farther along when he hangs up on the cow's pelvis and its chest will be out of the birth canal,” Skinner says. In these instances, the ribcage can expand and the calf can start breathing, which gives you a lot more time to resolve the problem.

“The hips are actually inside the pelvis, in the birth canal, but the stifles are caught. Sometimes this may be due to the hind legs not being straight out behind the calf; the stifles are a little forward and thus wider. In these instances, the easiest way to free the stifles is to roll the cow onto her back and press on her udder area to straighten the calf's hind legs out behind it — and it will come through easier,” he says.

Other things to try are pulling the calf straight down (once the ribcage is out), which raises his hindquarters in the cow's pelvis to where the pelvis is wider, or twisting it sideways so its hindquarters can come through the pelvis at a 45° angle, which may free one side and then the other. As long as the calf's chest is out past the vulva and it can breathe, you have time to manipulate the calf and get it out alive.

“Get him breathing, then take time to put more lubricant around the calf and try to work it out,” Skinner says.

What are other critical situations?

One instance in which you need to hurry is when the placenta comes out ahead of the calf. If the placenta is detaching prematurely, the calf will lose his “lifeline” and die before birth. Pulling the calf immediately will often save the calf.

Another critical time is the last stages of a backward delivery, as the calf's head is still in the uterus when its umbilical cord is pinched off. Pull slowly and give the cow time to stretch as the calf's hind legs and rump are coming through the cervix; pulling too fast at this stage may injure the cow or calf (hurting its back or crushing its ribcage as it starts through the pelvis).

But once the calf's rump is emerging from the vulva, get it out as quickly as possible because the umbilical cord is being broken or pinched off and the calf needs to start breathing.

Heather Thomas is a rancher and freelance writer based in Salmon, ID.