Post by catherine on Mar 10, 2010 2:24:15 GMT -5
Hey Guys:
Cookie (our Beltie) freshened Feb. 20 with a handsome little DevonXBeltie bull calf. He's spunky and darling. She's been struggling with some edema issues. We discovered a leak in one of our inflations and were hand milking until the new inflation arrived a few days ago. I wasn't able to thoroughly empty her (normally larger) front right quarter, and it seemed to keep an "orange" sized lump of retained milk/edema until I was able to start pumping, and could then massage the swelling to milk it out thoroughly. So, I thought we'd dodged the bullet on potential mastitis.
However, tonight, my DH and kids went out to milk while I bathed our little guy, and they came dashing back upto tell me that there was blood in the milk...kinda "flesh" colored! I kinda poopooed it, and said that though I thought it a bit late, it was probably just a ruptured capillary or something from the resolving edema. I asked them to figure out which teat had the problem (thinking it was probably that right front one), make sure there wasn't any obvious injury, and maybe hand milk that one teat separately. I wasn't prepared to see red milk in the bucket when they came back up from the barn! The red milk was from her front LEFT quarter, and isn't pink, it's flat bloody. I just went down to the barn and checked her out. She's seeming to be behaving normally. She doesn't appear to have any injury anywhere. To my hands, she doesn't seem to feel any warmer in one quarter than another. She doesn't seem to mind having any quarter milked, but she does seem touchy about massaging that front left quarter, and it's now the one with the "orange" sized swelling.
So, what do you guys recommend I do? I scanned back through the TOK, and think upping her ACV is a good idea, as is adding in Vit. C. (what dosage?). The Vit. C. helps fight infections, and also helps strengthen vascular walls to help heal the bleeding capillaries (really helped with my son's recurrent bloody noses). What else?! Should I milk that quarter more often, less often, what? Thanks for any ideas. You guys are the best!
Cookie (our Beltie) freshened Feb. 20 with a handsome little DevonXBeltie bull calf. He's spunky and darling. She's been struggling with some edema issues. We discovered a leak in one of our inflations and were hand milking until the new inflation arrived a few days ago. I wasn't able to thoroughly empty her (normally larger) front right quarter, and it seemed to keep an "orange" sized lump of retained milk/edema until I was able to start pumping, and could then massage the swelling to milk it out thoroughly. So, I thought we'd dodged the bullet on potential mastitis.
However, tonight, my DH and kids went out to milk while I bathed our little guy, and they came dashing back upto tell me that there was blood in the milk...kinda "flesh" colored! I kinda poopooed it, and said that though I thought it a bit late, it was probably just a ruptured capillary or something from the resolving edema. I asked them to figure out which teat had the problem (thinking it was probably that right front one), make sure there wasn't any obvious injury, and maybe hand milk that one teat separately. I wasn't prepared to see red milk in the bucket when they came back up from the barn! The red milk was from her front LEFT quarter, and isn't pink, it's flat bloody. I just went down to the barn and checked her out. She's seeming to be behaving normally. She doesn't appear to have any injury anywhere. To my hands, she doesn't seem to feel any warmer in one quarter than another. She doesn't seem to mind having any quarter milked, but she does seem touchy about massaging that front left quarter, and it's now the one with the "orange" sized swelling.
So, what do you guys recommend I do? I scanned back through the TOK, and think upping her ACV is a good idea, as is adding in Vit. C. (what dosage?). The Vit. C. helps fight infections, and also helps strengthen vascular walls to help heal the bleeding capillaries (really helped with my son's recurrent bloody noses). What else?! Should I milk that quarter more often, less often, what? Thanks for any ideas. You guys are the best!