Post by buxombeefcowdairy on Oct 15, 2008 10:31:28 GMT -5
I drove forty minutes to the cowshare/small commercial dairy in a neighboring town yesterday to get myself some milk.
(I don't have spare time or corrals right now to separate Chloe from her two foster calves. The calves are eating spent brew barley, too, from Chloe's feed, and that gets into her udder and sours the milk within a day. So until our bull sale is over, I'm just going to go buy some raw milk.)
The owner had a sick cow, and I have no idea what was wrong. I am thinking displaced abomasum, but after looking up symptoms, that might not be right either. I've seen sick beef cows but have no experience with some of the typical dairy problems such as ketosis and displaced abomasum.
So here's what I found:
The cow has gone off feed and dropped in production. She IS beginning to eat again, albeit slowly.
She had bright eyes and no fever. She wanted to go in to be milked (where the grain is). She seemed to me to be uncomfortable but not in terrible pain.
She had a bump on a rib, on the third- or fourth-last rib, about halfway down her side, that was really firm and very warm to the touch. It didn't seem painful to touch her there. This hard, hot spot fit inside the palm of my hand.
She has seemed bloated, and on her left side, but her right side is hollow. Her rumen makes a normal whooshing sound, but it seems to sort of contract upwards into that 'bloat triangle'.
She seems a little sore on her front feet, but nowhere near as 'mincey' as a hardware cow. Her hind feet move forward comfortably.
Along her cheeks/jaws, there appears to be a slight lymph response like I see in recently vaccinated calves.
I didn't find any fresh poop, but she smelled like a healthy cow. I didn't smell anything 'off' near her tail, so no stinky diarrhea.
Her nose was damp and her eyes seemed bright and interested, though you can tell that something is making her uncomfortable. Her owner's main observations have been that her left side gets pretty bloated-looking, though she's eating a little and seems to be chewing her cud.
We gave her a magnet, and she has been getting probiotic.
I am wondering if that knot on her ribs is from getting somehow wedged into a fence or gate during typical cow shove-your-buddy-out-of-the-way-to-get-to-the-feed behavior, and something cracked or broke.
Anyway, I'm about stumped. Anyone have any ideas??
(I don't have spare time or corrals right now to separate Chloe from her two foster calves. The calves are eating spent brew barley, too, from Chloe's feed, and that gets into her udder and sours the milk within a day. So until our bull sale is over, I'm just going to go buy some raw milk.)
The owner had a sick cow, and I have no idea what was wrong. I am thinking displaced abomasum, but after looking up symptoms, that might not be right either. I've seen sick beef cows but have no experience with some of the typical dairy problems such as ketosis and displaced abomasum.
So here's what I found:
The cow has gone off feed and dropped in production. She IS beginning to eat again, albeit slowly.
She had bright eyes and no fever. She wanted to go in to be milked (where the grain is). She seemed to me to be uncomfortable but not in terrible pain.
She had a bump on a rib, on the third- or fourth-last rib, about halfway down her side, that was really firm and very warm to the touch. It didn't seem painful to touch her there. This hard, hot spot fit inside the palm of my hand.
She has seemed bloated, and on her left side, but her right side is hollow. Her rumen makes a normal whooshing sound, but it seems to sort of contract upwards into that 'bloat triangle'.
She seems a little sore on her front feet, but nowhere near as 'mincey' as a hardware cow. Her hind feet move forward comfortably.
Along her cheeks/jaws, there appears to be a slight lymph response like I see in recently vaccinated calves.
I didn't find any fresh poop, but she smelled like a healthy cow. I didn't smell anything 'off' near her tail, so no stinky diarrhea.
Her nose was damp and her eyes seemed bright and interested, though you can tell that something is making her uncomfortable. Her owner's main observations have been that her left side gets pretty bloated-looking, though she's eating a little and seems to be chewing her cud.
We gave her a magnet, and she has been getting probiotic.
I am wondering if that knot on her ribs is from getting somehow wedged into a fence or gate during typical cow shove-your-buddy-out-of-the-way-to-get-to-the-feed behavior, and something cracked or broke.
Anyway, I'm about stumped. Anyone have any ideas??