Post by camasjune on May 10, 2010 4:13:10 GMT -5
Maybe THIS is Why Former Owners Were Freaked Over me hand milking the cow......
I am covered in ringworm. It started on my hands where they are in contact with the udder during milking, and it started when we got the cow. It's on my hands, my arms, my face, in my eyes, my ear. I have never had ringworm on this property. Our first horse had ringworm and we treated it before she came home. My relief milker's face is covered in ringworm.
The former owners washed the udder with betadine surgical scrub and insisted we continue. I am allergic to iodine. I thought I had contact dermatitis. I put latex gloves on for washing but I react to latex, too. I switched to nitrile, but the betadine water still ran down my arm and into my gloves. I went to cuffed long sleeve gloves. I didn't wear gloves to milk, though. (I do now!) Then the cow went on pennicillin for those nasty abcesses in her udder. I am allergic to penicillin. I still thought I had contact dermatitis. I had long abandoned the betadine, but assumed DH was till using it and not rinsing it off. He says he quit using it long before I did. You don't get contact dermatitis in your eyes!
Looking back, I saw early signs that the cow had ringworm, but DH is always on me about my "negative" thoughts. Yeah, my thoughts are usually right. He thinks the former owners are just unknowledgeable. Okay, the older guy claims to have been a dairy vet. If so, there was no excuse for this poor cow to have been in this bad of shape when she arrived at my place, and if he was a dairy vet, then they knew darn well she had ringworm when they sent her to my place, and they knew darn well that was ringworm all over my hands and on my face when they came several times and got milk.
I am beyond mad. ringworm treatment is expensive and can take a long time to erradicate. I cannot risk visiting my friend who is going through chemotherapy because she has no immune system. It is going to be expensive to get this fungi off my cow, off my body, out of my eyes and off my property. I have kids, other livestock, dogs and cats. I can't even move this cow out to summer pasture with the other stock. I have to spray her yard with heavy chemicals.
My relief milker has several children who have snuggled the cow. Her husband hasn't worked in 2 years, she milks for me once or twice a week in exchange for milk and eggs, she can't afford ringworm either. I will be paying for her treatment, too.
Tomorrow I am going to my doctor for an official diagnosis and prescriptions, including a fungicide for my eyes. My doctor is also the bishop over my cow's former owners and a former member of my cow's fan club. He and I will be having a long talk. We still owe $300 on Silvie and I've already told DH we are not making the final payment on her, that money will be going toward fungus erradication.
So what do you all say? Am I right or wrong? We agreed to pay big bucks for this cow. She is only 7 years old and has superior genetics. We know where she is from and we know what these people paid for her 5 years ago. In spite of all her problems, she is still giving us 4 1/2-6 gallons of milk a day and she's just a little jersey. But she arrived seriously underweight by at least 150 pounds, hadn't had minerals or alfalfa in at least a year, wasn't bred like she was supposed to be,(we were glad she wasn't considering her condition) had a heavy worm load and was so covered in poop, her hair fell out when the curry comb was run over her (ringworm) and had fist size abcesses in her 2 front quarters.
I can handle everything but the fungus. This has spun me over the top!
I am covered in ringworm. It started on my hands where they are in contact with the udder during milking, and it started when we got the cow. It's on my hands, my arms, my face, in my eyes, my ear. I have never had ringworm on this property. Our first horse had ringworm and we treated it before she came home. My relief milker's face is covered in ringworm.
The former owners washed the udder with betadine surgical scrub and insisted we continue. I am allergic to iodine. I thought I had contact dermatitis. I put latex gloves on for washing but I react to latex, too. I switched to nitrile, but the betadine water still ran down my arm and into my gloves. I went to cuffed long sleeve gloves. I didn't wear gloves to milk, though. (I do now!) Then the cow went on pennicillin for those nasty abcesses in her udder. I am allergic to penicillin. I still thought I had contact dermatitis. I had long abandoned the betadine, but assumed DH was till using it and not rinsing it off. He says he quit using it long before I did. You don't get contact dermatitis in your eyes!
Looking back, I saw early signs that the cow had ringworm, but DH is always on me about my "negative" thoughts. Yeah, my thoughts are usually right. He thinks the former owners are just unknowledgeable. Okay, the older guy claims to have been a dairy vet. If so, there was no excuse for this poor cow to have been in this bad of shape when she arrived at my place, and if he was a dairy vet, then they knew darn well she had ringworm when they sent her to my place, and they knew darn well that was ringworm all over my hands and on my face when they came several times and got milk.
I am beyond mad. ringworm treatment is expensive and can take a long time to erradicate. I cannot risk visiting my friend who is going through chemotherapy because she has no immune system. It is going to be expensive to get this fungi off my cow, off my body, out of my eyes and off my property. I have kids, other livestock, dogs and cats. I can't even move this cow out to summer pasture with the other stock. I have to spray her yard with heavy chemicals.
My relief milker has several children who have snuggled the cow. Her husband hasn't worked in 2 years, she milks for me once or twice a week in exchange for milk and eggs, she can't afford ringworm either. I will be paying for her treatment, too.
Tomorrow I am going to my doctor for an official diagnosis and prescriptions, including a fungicide for my eyes. My doctor is also the bishop over my cow's former owners and a former member of my cow's fan club. He and I will be having a long talk. We still owe $300 on Silvie and I've already told DH we are not making the final payment on her, that money will be going toward fungus erradication.
So what do you all say? Am I right or wrong? We agreed to pay big bucks for this cow. She is only 7 years old and has superior genetics. We know where she is from and we know what these people paid for her 5 years ago. In spite of all her problems, she is still giving us 4 1/2-6 gallons of milk a day and she's just a little jersey. But she arrived seriously underweight by at least 150 pounds, hadn't had minerals or alfalfa in at least a year, wasn't bred like she was supposed to be,(we were glad she wasn't considering her condition) had a heavy worm load and was so covered in poop, her hair fell out when the curry comb was run over her (ringworm) and had fist size abcesses in her 2 front quarters.
I can handle everything but the fungus. This has spun me over the top!