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Post by mamatomany on Apr 26, 2014 18:55:15 GMT -5
I have a cow who is due to calve in September, but up until this week had been nursing her daughter who is 11 months. Her udder is humungous right now. No obvious knots or signs of infection at all, just packed with milk. I don't know why she has not nursed her, since all her other babies she nursed for a long long time (until I processed them at 17 months at least). I don't know if it is from her or her baby is weaning herself? At any rate, her udder is massive. I can milk her, but requires me to put a lead rope in front of her udder and sinched a lot cuz' she is a kicker. I'm fearful of her calve within and don't want to hurt the baby, cuz' I do affect nerves while I do it, I know it got it right when she leans on one side  I'm sure she will absorb the milk, but not sure how to handle this? Thanks for your help. |
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Post by hollydzie on Apr 26, 2014 21:46:40 GMT -5
I would NOT milk her unless you plan to do it religiously and on a schedule. I know her udder is huge but in a few days she will start to absorb the milk. If you mess with it you run the risk of actually causing mastitis. It is best to let nature take its course. I hate weaning and I just keep reminding myself that it will resolve on its own, and it always has... If you think that you should relieve it, don't. It actually confuses the natural process and can lead to problems.
I am sure others will give you good advise as well...
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Post by mamatomany on Apr 27, 2014 7:15:06 GMT -5
Thank you Holly When my goats are dryed off I go down to once a day milking, then every third day, etc. With goats I have to be concerned about overly strutted udder and blown teats on heavy milkers. She is not leaking, if she were I would probably relieve her. |
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Post by hollydzie on Apr 27, 2014 8:44:58 GMT -5
Linda, I know it is tempting to want to relieve them because they look like they must hurt. I was told by a breeder who has been in Dexters for 20 years just leave them alone. If you are feeding her grain stop that until she is dried off. That will help quicken the process. Best of luck to you.
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Post by mamatomany on Apr 28, 2014 9:49:23 GMT -5
Well, I put her in the shoot and just wanted to test her milk and get a good feel of her udder. What a mess...she has mastitis in 1/2 her udder. I infused her with pursue and supported her immune system with bose...so discoureged right now...
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Post by hollydzie on Apr 28, 2014 10:25:06 GMT -5
Oh that is just awful so sorry to hear that. Check with zephyrhillsusan she just went through this with one of her cows. She has so much information that I am sure she will share with you.
I wonder if she had the mastitis already going on and that is why she would not nurse her calf. Maybe she was painful. Just a guess. Again so sorry.
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zephyrhillsusan
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Caught Dexteritis in Dec. 2009. Member of this forum since Oct. 2013.
Posts: 1,502 
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Post by zephyrhillsusan on Apr 28, 2014 12:45:12 GMT -5
What a bummer! I'm SO sorry! It's also possible the calf quit nursing because the mastitis made the milk taste bad. That can happen, too, and if she was so big and didn't really need it, she might have weaned herself. One question first, what are the indications of mastitis? Positive CMT? Clumps? Heat and inflammation and pain? My cow never had any pain, but that's because the quarter wasn't full. Are you a member of KFC, Keeping a Family Cow? It's ProBoards, too, so you can join with the same profile here, if you want. A lot of people on there have dairy breeds, but there are some very experienced milkers of Dexters who know tons more than me. I can share my experience, but it was a bit different because my vet and I believe my cow got her mastitis from self-sucking and actually keeping the teat open and the quarter almost empty, so little milk was moving through and formed a good environment to breed trouble with the germs getting in the open teat. If you go to my blog, listed on my post, you can look for the posts on mastitis in the archives or do a search for mastitis in the search box. It would have been good if you could have gotten a milk test done for the particular organism before you put the Pirsue in. It wouldn't show anything now, but just for future reference, that helps to know what it is and what it's sensitive to antibiotic-wise. I tried to get on your website to see where you are, but it won't load. Bad internet here.  I'm in NW Georgia and use the TQML (Tennessee Quality Milk Lab in Knoxville at UT) for testing. If you have a food-testing lab they can probably check for staph and e-coli, but not much else and can't do sensitivity tests to tell you which antibiotic to use. A question on the Pirsue? Did your vet get it for you? Because it's prescription only, so I assume he/she did. Did they tell you to give the full 8-day treatment? You pre-clean like you've been doing, milk out the quarter completely, clean the teat thoroughly using the nice big alcohol wipe included in the box of Pirsue (one for each tube), paying special attention to the orifice as the directions say. Insert the tip of the tube ONLY, just the first little bit, and infuse the medication. Then massage thoroughly up into the quarter. Leave it in for 24 hours and repeat. Some reading I have done indicates that for Staph A mastitis (the bugger we had), the best hope to clear it up is to do it with a dry cow treatment, Spectramast being one. There's another one I'm not sure of. If you have a good vet who knows about these things, they can advise you. However, not knowing what organism you're dealing with a big disadvantage because they aren't all sensitive to the same antibiotic. If you read my blog, you'll see that I did the full 8 days of Pirsue, waited for the withdrawal time, and re-tested the milk. Nothing grew. We had to wait for the Spectramast to come in, so my vet had me do a dry cow treatment with Tomorrow while we waited, just to be sure. When the Spectramast came, I put it in and now I'm hoping and praying she freshens clean. I'm getting ready to head out of town on Wed. so I probably won't be on here much after that, but I'll try to check in and see how things are going. Believe me, you have ALL my deepest sympathy! A good vet who understands dairy will be your biggest asset right now. Good luck! |
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zephyrhillsusan
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Caught Dexteritis in Dec. 2009. Member of this forum since Oct. 2013.
Posts: 1,502
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Post by zephyrhillsusan on Apr 28, 2014 12:48:22 GMT -5
P.S. marion and Olga, do you have any suggestions? I don't know if Nonesuch Farm (Melissa) is on here much, but she has a lot of experience with milking Dexters, too, and you can find her on KFC. I can't think off-hand who else does or might have had experience with mastitis. I hope the people I tagged see this and can help you. |
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I'm sure she will absorb the milk, but not sure how to handle this? Thanks for your help.
I'm in NW Georgia and use the TQML (Tennessee Quality Milk Lab in Knoxville at UT) for testing. If you have a food-testing lab they can probably check for staph and e-coli, but not much else and can't do sensitivity tests to tell you which antibiotic to use.