Post by craftygemini on Dec 11, 2018 13:29:50 GMT -5
Hi all! Our 2 yr old heifer Gracie calved 3 days ago (Dec 8th) and everything went well with the birth. We watched it all. Her heifer calf was up walking and nursing within 45 minutes. Yesterday we moved her to a fenced in area closer to the house so I could keep an eye on her from the house. The second day she wasn't eating much and was acting like she wanted to eat but just couldn't. Her mouth was drooly so I called the Vet out. The on-call vet (who doesn't know much about cows and handles mostly horses) came out and took her temp 103.6, heart rate 120, Respiratory rate of 36. Her ears were cold to the touch. Wet nose. Still looking after her calf fine. Vet suspected mastitis and not milk fever because one rear quarter is harder and redder than the rest. Vet gave her banamine and oxytetracycline that night.
In the morning we found her chewing her cud and all the bamboo and forage we put out for her the day before was gone so, she was finally eating! Yay! She is back to her usual self, good appetite, but I can't get much milk out. Only a few streams and drops here and there. I sit out there and watch the calf nurse for 45 minutes going from one teat to the other to another, etc. She does suck on all 4 teats so that's good. I've been going out 3-4 times a day applying warm compresses to her bag, massaging with a few drops of peppermint essential oil in olive oil (being careful not to get any near the teats). The back rear quarter is still the firmest of them all but it's loosened up a bit since the night the Vet came out. First two days I milked out a quart of colostrum each day for the freezer and today I can't get anything but tiny bits here and there. I see that the teats don't actually fill up and they stay wrinkled but the bag is so firm I can't grab from it to bring milk down into the teat. The other cows I have milked were 2 and 3 time fresheners so this heifer is throwing me for a loop. I've never had any of these issues before. Any help is appreciated!
Could this be a let down issue? edema? or what else? Any ideas?
Picture is of mama and baby 2 days fresh (from yesterday afternoon.)
In the morning we found her chewing her cud and all the bamboo and forage we put out for her the day before was gone so, she was finally eating! Yay! She is back to her usual self, good appetite, but I can't get much milk out. Only a few streams and drops here and there. I sit out there and watch the calf nurse for 45 minutes going from one teat to the other to another, etc. She does suck on all 4 teats so that's good. I've been going out 3-4 times a day applying warm compresses to her bag, massaging with a few drops of peppermint essential oil in olive oil (being careful not to get any near the teats). The back rear quarter is still the firmest of them all but it's loosened up a bit since the night the Vet came out. First two days I milked out a quart of colostrum each day for the freezer and today I can't get anything but tiny bits here and there. I see that the teats don't actually fill up and they stay wrinkled but the bag is so firm I can't grab from it to bring milk down into the teat. The other cows I have milked were 2 and 3 time fresheners so this heifer is throwing me for a loop. I've never had any of these issues before. Any help is appreciated!
Could this be a let down issue? edema? or what else? Any ideas?
Picture is of mama and baby 2 days fresh (from yesterday afternoon.)