Post by Mitra on Mar 18, 2009 12:06:20 GMT -5
For lack of better words, I am embarrassed and ashamed, to post this post but if by doing so, I can help to educate others through my mistakes then perhaps I can feel a little better about the consequences of my own ignorance on this subject.
Several weeks ago, I noticed that Helen was having an especially hard time walking. At first I rationalized that the icy paths and snow were making her walk funny in a very labored sort of way. I was also cognizant of the fact that the way she was walking reminded me of the period before her hooves were trimmed. At that time, her hooves were a bit long, not like Aladdin slippers or anything like some of the pictures we've recently seen, but they were long enough that her feet were bothering her and she was laying down a lot and as a consequence not eating enough. Getting her hooves trimmed was the best thing we could have done for her. It seemed to take years off of her 12 year old self. She was bouncy again and happy to stand for hours at her hay feeder munching away.
Back to a few weeks ago..... I noticed that she was laying down a lot and during milking she was doing a lot of shifting and moo-ing, like she was in pain. It had only been a few months since her hooves were trimmed and they didn't look like she needed that treatment again so soon. I remembered that the hoof trimmer had been surprised that a family cow, or one not in a dairy line situation, had a sole ulcer like Helen had. He treated it and said, "It's curious because I can't imagine that you feed her a lot of grain." I told him that the only time she gets grain is when she's being milked TAD. He just kind of shrugged and so did I not really making a connection between his comment and the amount of grain I was feeding or how that would affect her feet. The day that I was particularly aware that she was in pain, his comment kept replaying in my head. It did because I had increased her grain over the course of the winter. The problem was that I had no idea how many pounds of grain I was giving her. When I say grain, I'm talking about her sweet feed which is a 16% pelleted dairy ration with molasses. In addition to that I was also giving her COB.
When Helen first moved here from Coburn Farm last May, I wanted to feed her exactly as Joann had fed her so as not to upset her insides. I bought the same Dairy 16 and fed her a scoop of that during the morning milking and another scoop for the afternoon milking. I never knew how much a scoop weighed. During those first couple of months as a new milkmaid, I was very concerned about my lack of speed in milking her out. My husband is an amazing hand milker and could milk her out in 7 minutes. I on the other hand would take close to half an hour to get the same amount. Helen would shift endlessly and let it be known that she was pretty darn sick of this whole set up. She would run out of grain just as I would be getting going. I tried to slow her down by layering her grain with hay so she had to work harder to get at the grain she so desperately loved. I was still too slow so to keep her happy for longer, I increased the amount of grain I was putting in there, by one whole scoop. I did the same in the evening. I still didn't know how much, in terms of pounds I was giving her. I would give her a scoop of the Sweet Dairy 16 and a scoop of COB. This amount was perfect, layered in hay, for me to be able to milk her out without her getting agitated.
Then it was winter and in January we experienced one of the coldest Januaries in Maine's history. I rationalized that as an only cow in that barn and in minus 10 to minus 20 weather, it wouldn't hurt for me to give her even more grain. I increased her ration to three scoops in the morning and three scoops in the evening. Still didn't know how much a scoop weighed. It was in February, a few weeks ago, due to her obvious discomfort that I started to put these puzzle pieces together. The first thing I did was weigh a scoop of the sweet feed - 3 pounds! Multiply that by 6 scoops a day and I was giving her 18lbs of grain!!!!!!!
I was just mortified and literally felt sick. This was Helen and I was hurting her - literally killing her with kindness. I contacted Lee Anne and she confirmed my worst fears and explained to me about laminitis. She suggested we cut all of the grain out and if necessary have the vet out to give her a shot of banamine. We didn't cut all the grain out but reduced it to a half scoop in the morning and a half scoop in the evening for a total of 3lbs a day. We supplemented the feed with chopped apples and carrots (her favorites) to make up for the missing scoops. She was an angry cow anyway. Within three days her walking improved noticeably and she was doing a lot less laying down and lot more eating of hay. We decided that we needed to supplement her 3lbs of sweet feed with something other than apples and carrots. We introduced alfalfa cubes and beet pulp shreds. She loved both of these additions. Within a week of the introduction of the alfalfa cubes, a miracle happened - her cream line increased by a whole inch!
So now we are a few weeks into her new feeding program. She walks a lot better, her milk production is up by a quart, the cream line is gorgeous, and in general she seems like a content cow. I can only hope that there is not permanent damage caused by my ignorance. She still walks stiffly, especially first thing in the morning so we are not done with this yet. I do wonder if she developed sole ulcers. If that's the case, we need to get that treated. How can we detect if that's the case without having to put her in one of those chutes that tips them on their sides? The vet does not have one of those. I know that the hoof trimmer guy scraped the hoof and then packed it with sulfur and bandaged up her foot (while she was tipped on her side). Is there something we could do, like soak her feet in buckets of Epsom salt that might help?
Here is a paragraph from a paper from the University of Kentucky about laminitis in dairy cows. Also a link to the whole paper.
It is generally agreed that laminitis often starts with disturbance of digestion, and that excess amounts of readily fermentable carbohydrates predispose a cow to laminitis. Sudden increases in carbohydrate intake or the continued intake of high amounts of carbohydrates or starch may result in excessive accumulation of lactic acid leading to a disturbance in the microbial environment of the rumen, and a decrease of the ruminal pH. The resulting acidosis is associated with the production of lactic acid, histamine and endotoxins, and damage to the rumen’s lining, allowing bacteria and their toxic products to escape into the bloodstream. Theseproductst are assumed to affect the microvasculature of the digital corium. If cows stand for prolonged periods, the blood pressure in the claws will rise. The horn producing tissues will lose their viability and the toxic products will not be removed.
www.uky.edu/Ag/AnimalSciences/dairy/extension/nut00075.pdf
Like I said, I am ashamed to be responsible for Helen being in pain. We were well intentioned but ignorant. I hope that our mistake can help prevent someone else's cow form being "loved" too much in this way.
Several weeks ago, I noticed that Helen was having an especially hard time walking. At first I rationalized that the icy paths and snow were making her walk funny in a very labored sort of way. I was also cognizant of the fact that the way she was walking reminded me of the period before her hooves were trimmed. At that time, her hooves were a bit long, not like Aladdin slippers or anything like some of the pictures we've recently seen, but they were long enough that her feet were bothering her and she was laying down a lot and as a consequence not eating enough. Getting her hooves trimmed was the best thing we could have done for her. It seemed to take years off of her 12 year old self. She was bouncy again and happy to stand for hours at her hay feeder munching away.
Back to a few weeks ago..... I noticed that she was laying down a lot and during milking she was doing a lot of shifting and moo-ing, like she was in pain. It had only been a few months since her hooves were trimmed and they didn't look like she needed that treatment again so soon. I remembered that the hoof trimmer had been surprised that a family cow, or one not in a dairy line situation, had a sole ulcer like Helen had. He treated it and said, "It's curious because I can't imagine that you feed her a lot of grain." I told him that the only time she gets grain is when she's being milked TAD. He just kind of shrugged and so did I not really making a connection between his comment and the amount of grain I was feeding or how that would affect her feet. The day that I was particularly aware that she was in pain, his comment kept replaying in my head. It did because I had increased her grain over the course of the winter. The problem was that I had no idea how many pounds of grain I was giving her. When I say grain, I'm talking about her sweet feed which is a 16% pelleted dairy ration with molasses. In addition to that I was also giving her COB.
When Helen first moved here from Coburn Farm last May, I wanted to feed her exactly as Joann had fed her so as not to upset her insides. I bought the same Dairy 16 and fed her a scoop of that during the morning milking and another scoop for the afternoon milking. I never knew how much a scoop weighed. During those first couple of months as a new milkmaid, I was very concerned about my lack of speed in milking her out. My husband is an amazing hand milker and could milk her out in 7 minutes. I on the other hand would take close to half an hour to get the same amount. Helen would shift endlessly and let it be known that she was pretty darn sick of this whole set up. She would run out of grain just as I would be getting going. I tried to slow her down by layering her grain with hay so she had to work harder to get at the grain she so desperately loved. I was still too slow so to keep her happy for longer, I increased the amount of grain I was putting in there, by one whole scoop. I did the same in the evening. I still didn't know how much, in terms of pounds I was giving her. I would give her a scoop of the Sweet Dairy 16 and a scoop of COB. This amount was perfect, layered in hay, for me to be able to milk her out without her getting agitated.
Then it was winter and in January we experienced one of the coldest Januaries in Maine's history. I rationalized that as an only cow in that barn and in minus 10 to minus 20 weather, it wouldn't hurt for me to give her even more grain. I increased her ration to three scoops in the morning and three scoops in the evening. Still didn't know how much a scoop weighed. It was in February, a few weeks ago, due to her obvious discomfort that I started to put these puzzle pieces together. The first thing I did was weigh a scoop of the sweet feed - 3 pounds! Multiply that by 6 scoops a day and I was giving her 18lbs of grain!!!!!!!
I was just mortified and literally felt sick. This was Helen and I was hurting her - literally killing her with kindness. I contacted Lee Anne and she confirmed my worst fears and explained to me about laminitis. She suggested we cut all of the grain out and if necessary have the vet out to give her a shot of banamine. We didn't cut all the grain out but reduced it to a half scoop in the morning and a half scoop in the evening for a total of 3lbs a day. We supplemented the feed with chopped apples and carrots (her favorites) to make up for the missing scoops. She was an angry cow anyway. Within three days her walking improved noticeably and she was doing a lot less laying down and lot more eating of hay. We decided that we needed to supplement her 3lbs of sweet feed with something other than apples and carrots. We introduced alfalfa cubes and beet pulp shreds. She loved both of these additions. Within a week of the introduction of the alfalfa cubes, a miracle happened - her cream line increased by a whole inch!
So now we are a few weeks into her new feeding program. She walks a lot better, her milk production is up by a quart, the cream line is gorgeous, and in general she seems like a content cow. I can only hope that there is not permanent damage caused by my ignorance. She still walks stiffly, especially first thing in the morning so we are not done with this yet. I do wonder if she developed sole ulcers. If that's the case, we need to get that treated. How can we detect if that's the case without having to put her in one of those chutes that tips them on their sides? The vet does not have one of those. I know that the hoof trimmer guy scraped the hoof and then packed it with sulfur and bandaged up her foot (while she was tipped on her side). Is there something we could do, like soak her feet in buckets of Epsom salt that might help?
Here is a paragraph from a paper from the University of Kentucky about laminitis in dairy cows. Also a link to the whole paper.
It is generally agreed that laminitis often starts with disturbance of digestion, and that excess amounts of readily fermentable carbohydrates predispose a cow to laminitis. Sudden increases in carbohydrate intake or the continued intake of high amounts of carbohydrates or starch may result in excessive accumulation of lactic acid leading to a disturbance in the microbial environment of the rumen, and a decrease of the ruminal pH. The resulting acidosis is associated with the production of lactic acid, histamine and endotoxins, and damage to the rumen’s lining, allowing bacteria and their toxic products to escape into the bloodstream. Theseproductst are assumed to affect the microvasculature of the digital corium. If cows stand for prolonged periods, the blood pressure in the claws will rise. The horn producing tissues will lose their viability and the toxic products will not be removed.
www.uky.edu/Ag/AnimalSciences/dairy/extension/nut00075.pdf
Like I said, I am ashamed to be responsible for Helen being in pain. We were well intentioned but ignorant. I hope that our mistake can help prevent someone else's cow form being "loved" too much in this way.