Post by Deleted on Feb 27, 2005 18:24:18 GMT -5
Hi All! I have been away from the message board for over a year and a half. Joann was my inspiration to get a milk cow. I cannot say enough about how appreciative I am of her encouragement. Owning a cow/cows has greatly enriched our lives.
This might get a bit long....as I try to catch you up.
I have been busy with our oldest child marrying and then giving us a wonderful grandson. He is 10 1/2 months old and I am his sitter 4 half days a week so I have been busy.
While I was busy I kept two beef calves on her to keep her in milk without my 'having' to milk daily. Meanwhile we got a 4h hog for the fair last year. He had a cage inside the field which my son opened to take him out and play with. She entered his pen to eat his food, unknown to us, and ripped her teat severely. My dh was feeding her daily while I helped with the new grandbaby. She became so ill she laid down...that is when I first saw the ripped teat. It was terrible. I called the vet and got tranquilizers and numbing shots and sewed it up myself. The teat was lost and it took a long long time of constant milking the chunks and ick out and refilling the teat with penicillan until it dried out completely. I feel so bad for her. It was my fault that I was not handling her daily that it came to this. Maybe I should have had the vet do the job, but I felt I did as good a job as he could have. My border collie kept her moving every hour or so after she awoke, I feared if she stayed down too long she could suffer nerve damage. She would not stand up for me, but she HATES him. He teased her a lot when he was small and she remembers it. Funny how he plays so well with all the calves, but they cannot get along. Other than losing her teat, she regained her good health.
Back to my question. Fancy is due May 10th. She was AI'd. She is alone now in the pasture since I sold her last two adopted calves a few months ago. I feel for her since she only has chickens and ducks for company. My husband and I are deeply concerned for her size. We fear she must be going to have twins. She has never been this huge. She measures 97" at the largest around her belly. She is rubbing now when she enters the milking chute. This has never happened in her two previous pregnancies. I would be delighted at twins, but I worry about all the complications that may occur. I kept threatening to call my AI man and ask if he may have accidentally bred her to a buffalo! We keep reducing her feed, but I worry now she looks thin. It could be the large belly just pulls her hide down and she looks thinner than she is. She has a round bale of hay she eats freely from and has 4lbs grain moring and again at night.
Could it be something instead of twins? I can see the turmoil in her stomach, looks like a wresting match going on in there so I think it is not fluid.
If it is twins:
1-will they be sterile?
2-will I need a vet for delivery?
3-do bovine twins come early like human twins?
4-does this increase her chances of milk fever?
5-what should I be doing or getting prepared for?
This might get a bit long....as I try to catch you up.
I have been busy with our oldest child marrying and then giving us a wonderful grandson. He is 10 1/2 months old and I am his sitter 4 half days a week so I have been busy.
While I was busy I kept two beef calves on her to keep her in milk without my 'having' to milk daily. Meanwhile we got a 4h hog for the fair last year. He had a cage inside the field which my son opened to take him out and play with. She entered his pen to eat his food, unknown to us, and ripped her teat severely. My dh was feeding her daily while I helped with the new grandbaby. She became so ill she laid down...that is when I first saw the ripped teat. It was terrible. I called the vet and got tranquilizers and numbing shots and sewed it up myself. The teat was lost and it took a long long time of constant milking the chunks and ick out and refilling the teat with penicillan until it dried out completely. I feel so bad for her. It was my fault that I was not handling her daily that it came to this. Maybe I should have had the vet do the job, but I felt I did as good a job as he could have. My border collie kept her moving every hour or so after she awoke, I feared if she stayed down too long she could suffer nerve damage. She would not stand up for me, but she HATES him. He teased her a lot when he was small and she remembers it. Funny how he plays so well with all the calves, but they cannot get along. Other than losing her teat, she regained her good health.
Back to my question. Fancy is due May 10th. She was AI'd. She is alone now in the pasture since I sold her last two adopted calves a few months ago. I feel for her since she only has chickens and ducks for company. My husband and I are deeply concerned for her size. We fear she must be going to have twins. She has never been this huge. She measures 97" at the largest around her belly. She is rubbing now when she enters the milking chute. This has never happened in her two previous pregnancies. I would be delighted at twins, but I worry about all the complications that may occur. I kept threatening to call my AI man and ask if he may have accidentally bred her to a buffalo! We keep reducing her feed, but I worry now she looks thin. It could be the large belly just pulls her hide down and she looks thinner than she is. She has a round bale of hay she eats freely from and has 4lbs grain moring and again at night.
Could it be something instead of twins? I can see the turmoil in her stomach, looks like a wresting match going on in there so I think it is not fluid.
If it is twins:
1-will they be sterile?
2-will I need a vet for delivery?
3-do bovine twins come early like human twins?
4-does this increase her chances of milk fever?
5-what should I be doing or getting prepared for?