Post by thea on Aug 18, 2005 10:50:01 GMT -5
Hi, seems like I always have some desperate need of you guys!
We're having problems milking Bella and I'm really worried mastitis will set in, or already has. Here's what's happened so far:
Tuesday am: Arrive to find calf on other side of electric fence looking pretty shaky. Some time getting her in with mom and Bella gushing colostrum from all 4 quarters, seems desperate to get calf on but Rosie doesn't get it and can't seem to latch on effectively. When she does for a bit only on 1 quarter.
Tuesday PM: Both sleep all day in hot sun, we bring Bella water as hse's not leaving calf to drink. work on taming and try to get calf to suckle, uninterested. Milk about 2 cups of colostrum in field into cup.
Wednesday early AM: DH carries calf into shed and puts her in open pen. Bella follows and gets chained and starts eating but DH can't get anything out except from teat we know calf mostly suckles.
He leaves calf in pen and lets Bella out who seems relieved to eat and drink, then snooze in peace (ie:knows where calf is)
Brings her in at 10 am when I arrive, wash and milk about 3 pints of colostrum till can't get much more. Let them out and calf suckles vigorously.
Wednesday PM: Carry calf in again, Bella follows and start to milk, Bella's agitated, moving around but still manage to get 4 pints till just can't get another drop. Let them go and calf suckling vigorously for about 2 min.
Thurday AM (exactly 12 hours after last milking): Manage to lead calf in wothout carrying (yeah!) and Bella follows, settles into grain and apples. Milking still colostrum but as soon as grain is gone she starts walking, picking up her feet and when I growl at her poos. 5 min later, pees, then poops again!! I only got one cup of colostrum and I really stripped her, waited and tried again would get one squirt, then nothing, wait and try again, same, and so on... Was very mad
This milking had been the calmest and quietest so far too, so I was really surprised. I even let the calf out with mom after, waited a bit and went into the field and tried milking onto the ground, got about 2 squirts from each front teat and 4 from each back one before it all stopped again.!
Her bag is still very firm like before freshening, only slightly bigger but I don't feel any noticable HARD areas, it's all so firm it's hard to tell though. I tried massage, bumping, everything I could think of and it didn't help. I also noticed 1 yellow clump in the milk, no white blobs though. Her milk veins are only just starting to show, small.
Could it be that her colostrum is drying up and her milk hasn't yet kicked in? Are we doing something terribly wrong?
What quantities should we be getting at this point? As near as we can figure the calf is about 53 hours old at this point. We also tried to give the colostrum we did get to the calf in a bottle and she'd seem to suck and suck, then pull away and there was no noticable drop in quantity! The calf still looks pretty good, although both of them seem to sleep all the time. Bella had mud on the side of her face this morning like she'd been lying passed out on her side, and I might be being paranoid but she seems to almost have a mild palsy in her neck and front legs? Does that sound familiar? The calf also is still wobbly, how long does that last normally? I did see her poo twice and it's bright yellow, round like a baseball and looks rubbery, bouncy almost. The second time Bella gobbled it up much to the horror of my son who happened to be watching!
Sorry for this epic letter, I'm just really worried, but don't know if it's serious or just a matter of sticking to a routine till things normalize.
For all who may not know Bella is a 3 year old Jersey, 1st time mother with a Jersey/Hereford heifer half.
Thank-you, Thank-you!
We're having problems milking Bella and I'm really worried mastitis will set in, or already has. Here's what's happened so far:
Tuesday am: Arrive to find calf on other side of electric fence looking pretty shaky. Some time getting her in with mom and Bella gushing colostrum from all 4 quarters, seems desperate to get calf on but Rosie doesn't get it and can't seem to latch on effectively. When she does for a bit only on 1 quarter.
Tuesday PM: Both sleep all day in hot sun, we bring Bella water as hse's not leaving calf to drink. work on taming and try to get calf to suckle, uninterested. Milk about 2 cups of colostrum in field into cup.
Wednesday early AM: DH carries calf into shed and puts her in open pen. Bella follows and gets chained and starts eating but DH can't get anything out except from teat we know calf mostly suckles.
He leaves calf in pen and lets Bella out who seems relieved to eat and drink, then snooze in peace (ie:knows where calf is)
Brings her in at 10 am when I arrive, wash and milk about 3 pints of colostrum till can't get much more. Let them out and calf suckles vigorously.
Wednesday PM: Carry calf in again, Bella follows and start to milk, Bella's agitated, moving around but still manage to get 4 pints till just can't get another drop. Let them go and calf suckling vigorously for about 2 min.
Thurday AM (exactly 12 hours after last milking): Manage to lead calf in wothout carrying (yeah!) and Bella follows, settles into grain and apples. Milking still colostrum but as soon as grain is gone she starts walking, picking up her feet and when I growl at her poos. 5 min later, pees, then poops again!! I only got one cup of colostrum and I really stripped her, waited and tried again would get one squirt, then nothing, wait and try again, same, and so on... Was very mad
This milking had been the calmest and quietest so far too, so I was really surprised. I even let the calf out with mom after, waited a bit and went into the field and tried milking onto the ground, got about 2 squirts from each front teat and 4 from each back one before it all stopped again.!
Her bag is still very firm like before freshening, only slightly bigger but I don't feel any noticable HARD areas, it's all so firm it's hard to tell though. I tried massage, bumping, everything I could think of and it didn't help. I also noticed 1 yellow clump in the milk, no white blobs though. Her milk veins are only just starting to show, small.
Could it be that her colostrum is drying up and her milk hasn't yet kicked in? Are we doing something terribly wrong?
What quantities should we be getting at this point? As near as we can figure the calf is about 53 hours old at this point. We also tried to give the colostrum we did get to the calf in a bottle and she'd seem to suck and suck, then pull away and there was no noticable drop in quantity! The calf still looks pretty good, although both of them seem to sleep all the time. Bella had mud on the side of her face this morning like she'd been lying passed out on her side, and I might be being paranoid but she seems to almost have a mild palsy in her neck and front legs? Does that sound familiar? The calf also is still wobbly, how long does that last normally? I did see her poo twice and it's bright yellow, round like a baseball and looks rubbery, bouncy almost. The second time Bella gobbled it up much to the horror of my son who happened to be watching!
Sorry for this epic letter, I'm just really worried, but don't know if it's serious or just a matter of sticking to a routine till things normalize.
For all who may not know Bella is a 3 year old Jersey, 1st time mother with a Jersey/Hereford heifer half.
Thank-you, Thank-you!