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Post by wanette on Jun 21, 2011 7:57:29 GMT -5
We have a heifer this morning, she looks great and is doing well except as I feared she can't nurse. Have been trying for about an hour and she is worn out so is taking a nap. I was able to milk out a small amout from three teats and put it in a bottle so will try bottle feeding in about an hour. I have some powdered colostrx plus from the vet so if all else fails I'll use it sooner than later.
Trying to milk out a new mom, in the field with no feed, what nice girls these Dexters are!
We did watch the clouds trying to form funnels last night, so if this girl gives me much trouble her name might be Twisted.
Wanette
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Post by otf on Jun 21, 2011 8:08:16 GMT -5
Have you any place to safely enclose the cow while you milk her out?
Put a bucket of feed down in front of her, rub some Bag Balm on your hands and unplug those teats. Once opened, try to maneuver the calf over to it, get it sucking on your fingers and transfer to the teat. Believe me, as soon as that calf has any success nursing, she will wake up and go at it! It may help to have another person with you.
Don't delay on getting colostrum into the calf. It's vital. The sooner, the better.
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Post by dexterfarm on Jun 21, 2011 8:46:19 GMT -5
you need to milk out all you can at least 2 times a day until you get her flowing. Save it and keep it clean. make sure if you have to bottle feed to warm it to 100 degrees first. if the calf will not suck or take the bottle. I have used a large syringe they make plastic tips for syringes that are used to give oral medicine. They work well for getting milk into a calf that will not suck. He needs it very soon.
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Post by wanette on Jun 21, 2011 13:14:07 GMT -5
Calf is trying so hard to nurse, just can't get those big teats in far enough to get suction action going. I try to help her by squirting from the top while she sucks on the bottom, that's how big these teats are! I tried to milk the cow out, that ended up being a rodeo of sorts and my helper couldn't stand it , hubby, so I only had 2 pints to give to calf, which she took from a bottle quite well. So now everybody is taking a nap and I had to have a shower.
Even after the rodeo my cow would still let me milk some as long as calf was trying to nurse, but I haven't been able to get near all the milk out.
I'm headed back to the vet for milk replacement so she can gain some strength and keep trying to nurse, I think in 2 or 3 days if I can milk some and encourage her to nurse she will be able to tame those teats. I'm also contacting a couple of dairies to see if they might have a calf, maybe a big holstein could help out, looks like she'd have plenty for an extra calf.
If push comes to shove, I can load up cow and take to vet and use his equipment to milk her out really well, she loads easy and he's just a mile away.
Thanks for letting me share here and for the feed back.
I really don't want to lose this calf but I didn't want a bottle baby either. Thinking I will continue trying to get this cow to milk easier and then sell her as a milk cow because I think this will happen with all her calves, and since it took me 45 min. to milk out 2 pints, I'm thinking I'm not the milkmaid I used to be.
Wanette
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Post by Star Creek Dexters on Jun 21, 2011 14:10:23 GMT -5
Wanette, if you have any way to bring the cow up and lock her, you can flank rope her and milk her out easily. Don't give up yet. Once you get her milked out the first time, baby should be able to keep her drained, at least on a couple sides. You may need to milk the teats the calf rejects for awhile, until they adjust to milk production. I had to flank rope and milk the cow I am milking consistenly now. The day she calves she was super engored and the claf could not suckle off the front teats. They were swollen and huge! Madi, my cow, kicked like crasy everytime I tried to squeeze the teats, because I'm sure it hurt! Put the flank rope on her an she faught for a min, then quickly learned that she was just going to fall over if she tried to kick. I milked her out, and after the first couple squeezes she was calm as can be. I had to milk her twice more because of swelling, but then the calf was able to take care of the teat on her own.
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Post by wanette on Jun 21, 2011 15:09:48 GMT -5
Kimberly, can you tell me how to flank rope her? We had a rope halter tied to one post, a rope around her horns and a rope on her back ankle, too tramatic for all of us.
My vet is going to drain her at 8 am if I can't get'er done before that.
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Post by wanette on Jun 21, 2011 15:50:55 GMT -5
Ok, I googled flank rope and found some great pics to explain how to do this so will hopefully try it tonight and maybe again in the morning.
Thanks for the info.
Wanette
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Post by otf on Jun 21, 2011 17:24:21 GMT -5
Wanette, I think your best bet will be your vet. He/she will have (I hope) a chute and headgate so that the cow can be restrained and milked out. Then the calf can be safely put on the cow to nurse. The handling facilities will eliminate any rodeos and keep you, the cow, and the calf safe.
In the meantime, give the cow powdered (mixed) colostrum to keep it going.
I think you will find trying to get an additional (orphan) calf to nurse this cow will be more of a problem than getting her natural calf on her. Once her natural calf can latch on and nurse, the edema will disappear and all will be well. Her milk supply will adjust, naturally, to the demand. I don't think you need the stress of trying to take on another calf.
This is difficult, I know (I've been there) but you need to have adequate facilities and/or a cow that can be safely handled without facilities when a situation like this arises. It makes all the difference in the world.
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Post by wanette on Jun 21, 2011 19:25:50 GMT -5
otf, I totally agree! I do not have the facility to handle this. My vet has a great facility and I will be on his doorstep in the morning, even if I were able to get this cow milked out, there has been so much drama that I would feel better if he would take a close look at them. He does agree that her udder issues is probably why she lost the calf last year since previous owner did not help her or calf.
We did try the flank rope tonight but we are doing something wrong, she was better but I pooped out, I got her about 1/4th milked out. We spent 30 min. trying to get calf to nurse and she tried and tried and I squirted and squirted and she tuckered out and I milked in the bucket some and tuckered out, as did hubby holding rope and tail, then we bottle fed calf, mama's milk and powdered stuff, so she will just have to be OK until the morning.
Thanks everyone for the input. I'm not giving up on these two, I'm just tired.
I can still smell the milk on my hands, maybe I'll keep milking this girl just so I can have some fresh milk again, it's only been 35 years.
Wanette
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Post by dexterfarm on Jun 22, 2011 8:54:27 GMT -5
Just milk out what you can. 2 times a day or more if you want With all of the swelling it is hard to get much. It will improve with the milking.
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Post by wanette on Jun 22, 2011 9:44:05 GMT -5
Just returned from vet. Why didn't I do this sooner? She loaded herself in the trailer, Ok, that was after we put baby and feed pan in there but still, in she went. 5 min. Travel to vet. 5 min. She walked right out of the trailer and followed baby into chute and vet drained utter, yes, we saved the milk. 15 min. Paid vet $25 and went home and that included showing us how to properly put on a rope halter and poured on some fly stuff.
Got them back into pasture and baby ran over to a brush pile and hid from mom, get out of there baby!
Gave them some time to settle down and tried to get baby to nurse, I'm afraid she is a bit lazy, a couple of sucks and she looks at me like, " OK, bring on the bottle." Vet advised to "let her get hungrier".
So we'll see what happens. I really want this calf to nurse, I'm not a milkmaid, at least not a good one.
Wanette
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Post by wanette on Jun 22, 2011 9:46:25 GMT -5
Forgot to add, while vet was draining udder my girl had such a look a relief, she had her eyes half closed and just sighed. Poor girl.
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Post by otf on Jun 22, 2011 9:57:07 GMT -5
Glad to read this, wanette. You want to keep a close eye on them to make sure that calf is nursing! You will be able to tell somewhat by looking at the cow's udder. Can you keep them in a smaller enclosure with shade and water?
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Post by ctownson on Jun 22, 2011 11:18:41 GMT -5
These small calves will often nurse just a little at a time. Sometimes you may think the calf is not nursing, but you may just not happen to be around when he/she does. If we are seeing poop & pee, the calf is getting milk and we let her be. In your case however, given the difficulty, a more watchful eye is recommended. I agree with the above if you have a smaller pen or paddock available to hold the pair.
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Post by otf on Jun 22, 2011 12:17:53 GMT -5
wanette, when you were at the vet's facility, did the vet get the calf to nurse while the cow was restrained? I hope so.
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