Post by Nyomi on Dec 28, 2022 6:23:09 GMT -5
Hi everyone. I'm in Australia and my 7-year old pure Jersey cow, Maybelle, birthed just this morning, with a very full, hard udder - giving the appearance that she was going to be a big producer. I've only had her for 6-months, so this is my first pregnancy with her.
She birthed with no problems, thankfully, but her udder size isn't going down, and appears to be getting worse, even after milking her twice today. The heifer calf successfully fed from her and had a full belly within 3 hours. Yay! And is continuing to do extremely well - already running around and is very strong.
I milked Maybelle on the machine two times today.
I use the German made 'Dairy Maid' milking machine, which uses 4 cups/teat suctions at once.
She birthed at 5am this morning, and I was able to get her into the dairy and stanchion at 11am, and again this afternoon at 6pm. I put her on the machine (after cleaning her massive teats), and she had an instant rush of let down, but after a couple of minutes, it started to only 'pull' broken segments up the line, as though she was nearing empty! She was getting antsy as she couldn't see her calf, so I let her out, and as soon as she was reunited with the calf, she instantly calmed.
This first milking session I got just under 2 litres (half a gallon). I was shocked that's all she had/gave. I wondered if she'd held it back - and want to know if cows can do this when machine milked << let me know!
Her udder after the first milking was relaxed, but FAR from soft and floppy, so she must have some serious edema (I'm assuming).
The afternoon milking session, I got 2.5L (.6 gallon) and also hand milked/stripped her teats afterwards, which had gone wrinkly and thin again, as though she was seriously empty.
When I'm milking, I'm sweet talking her as normal, gently stroking the side of her udder as normal, as she chows down about 1 gallon size container of lucerne/alfalfa chaff and a half gallon bucket of mixed grain.
Both times, if it wasn't for the size of her udder, her behavior and the session went just as pre-drying off milking.
During the afternoon milking - ugh! - she freaked out that she couldn't see the calf which was right behind her outside, but because she couldn't twist her head & see, she started bashing against the sides of the stall, so I let her out again quickly. I wasn't going to force her.
Instead, I rushed to rearrange my dairy shed (which is 12 foot x 12 foot), to allow the calf to lie or stand &/or turn right beside Maybell's head/feed bin. It worked - in that Maybelle ate & allowed me to milk - but she was still anxious for the calf, and the calf kept pushing at the 3 feed bins I used as a temporary barricade. The calf also urinated, probably due to stress, as she didn't like the milking machine. Having a calf in the dairy isn't going to work long term, and I can't build a 'calf pen' on the other side of her stanchion wall either (for variety of reasons). The clean-up this afternoon was horrible and not a routine I'd like to continue doing (for long). I don't want to bring hay onto the cement floor dairy for the calf's bed, as I wash it all down after each milking.
I also can't separate the calf and bottle feed, as I don't have a separate shelter or pen set up yet (was going to have this built in a few weeks time when the calf started taking more milk than needed, and separate the calf off at night only), but considering how obsessed Maybelle is with her calf, and not being able to bear being away from it for a couple of minutes, makes me highly doubt she's going to leave the calf in a pen and come in for milking (and have a good let down). She's very different to my other cow, who was no where near this calf-obsessed.
After milking this afternoon - Maybelle's udder was still very firm. I swear the milk she gave didn't soften her udder even a little, though her teats were shriveled and thin.
I am desperate to know what I should do in the morning.
Please help! At this stage, I'm considering selling the calf (in 2-5 days time), and I'm at a loss as to how to get her udder size under control, so would love some help!
I'll put photos up next.
Thanks so much!
She birthed with no problems, thankfully, but her udder size isn't going down, and appears to be getting worse, even after milking her twice today. The heifer calf successfully fed from her and had a full belly within 3 hours. Yay! And is continuing to do extremely well - already running around and is very strong.
I milked Maybelle on the machine two times today.
I use the German made 'Dairy Maid' milking machine, which uses 4 cups/teat suctions at once.
She birthed at 5am this morning, and I was able to get her into the dairy and stanchion at 11am, and again this afternoon at 6pm. I put her on the machine (after cleaning her massive teats), and she had an instant rush of let down, but after a couple of minutes, it started to only 'pull' broken segments up the line, as though she was nearing empty! She was getting antsy as she couldn't see her calf, so I let her out, and as soon as she was reunited with the calf, she instantly calmed.
This first milking session I got just under 2 litres (half a gallon). I was shocked that's all she had/gave. I wondered if she'd held it back - and want to know if cows can do this when machine milked << let me know!
Her udder after the first milking was relaxed, but FAR from soft and floppy, so she must have some serious edema (I'm assuming).
The afternoon milking session, I got 2.5L (.6 gallon) and also hand milked/stripped her teats afterwards, which had gone wrinkly and thin again, as though she was seriously empty.
When I'm milking, I'm sweet talking her as normal, gently stroking the side of her udder as normal, as she chows down about 1 gallon size container of lucerne/alfalfa chaff and a half gallon bucket of mixed grain.
Both times, if it wasn't for the size of her udder, her behavior and the session went just as pre-drying off milking.
During the afternoon milking - ugh! - she freaked out that she couldn't see the calf which was right behind her outside, but because she couldn't twist her head & see, she started bashing against the sides of the stall, so I let her out again quickly. I wasn't going to force her.
Instead, I rushed to rearrange my dairy shed (which is 12 foot x 12 foot), to allow the calf to lie or stand &/or turn right beside Maybell's head/feed bin. It worked - in that Maybelle ate & allowed me to milk - but she was still anxious for the calf, and the calf kept pushing at the 3 feed bins I used as a temporary barricade. The calf also urinated, probably due to stress, as she didn't like the milking machine. Having a calf in the dairy isn't going to work long term, and I can't build a 'calf pen' on the other side of her stanchion wall either (for variety of reasons). The clean-up this afternoon was horrible and not a routine I'd like to continue doing (for long). I don't want to bring hay onto the cement floor dairy for the calf's bed, as I wash it all down after each milking.
I also can't separate the calf and bottle feed, as I don't have a separate shelter or pen set up yet (was going to have this built in a few weeks time when the calf started taking more milk than needed, and separate the calf off at night only), but considering how obsessed Maybelle is with her calf, and not being able to bear being away from it for a couple of minutes, makes me highly doubt she's going to leave the calf in a pen and come in for milking (and have a good let down). She's very different to my other cow, who was no where near this calf-obsessed.
After milking this afternoon - Maybelle's udder was still very firm. I swear the milk she gave didn't soften her udder even a little, though her teats were shriveled and thin.
I am desperate to know what I should do in the morning.
Please help! At this stage, I'm considering selling the calf (in 2-5 days time), and I'm at a loss as to how to get her udder size under control, so would love some help!
I'll put photos up next.
Thanks so much!