Post by frogHOLR on Jun 21, 2010 3:23:16 GMT -5
I'm still struggling with Abbey and her edema (or what I THINK is edema).
Here's the scoop. She calved 3.5 weeks ago now. She's doing SO well; standing for the milk machine to be put on and letting me clean and massage her udder with no complaints or kicking. The problem is that her right side is still strange compared to the left side. Especially that front teat. I bought a wide bore liner for that quarter and it will finally go on the teat, but it will not milk it out at all. When the machine comes off, that quarter is still hard and full (and that shell isn't warm like the other 3). Luckily, for now, the calf can nurse it out. She doesn't like this at all - she stamps at him often. I leave her in her stanchion and let him nurse her from behind otherwise she will not stand still and let him nurse very well. I'm using him as a stripping machine (works great!) so I like to be able to make sure he can get at and empty every quarter completely.
When I prep her udder, I wash it all down, and then squirt the fore-milk from each teat into my rag. That right front one will have nothing in it at first. The tissue is thick and tough. There is a ring of thick tissue around the base of the teat, and the teat itself has thick tissue surrounding the teat cistern. If I manipulate it and hand-milk at it for about 20 to 30 'pulls' it will start to soften up enough that I can get a decent stream out. But once the machine goes on, it's just not enough manipulation to milk it out. I worry that it's going to get injured from having the vacuum on it the whole time (she milks out SLOW - it seems to take forever!). The rear teat is similar, but not nearly as bad - it milks down to about half the size of the left rear when the machine is removed. (The left side, for the record, milks out completely and is soft and baggy when she's done.) I religously put UdderMint or UdderComfort on her after each milking and work the tough rings of thickened tissue in hopes of breaking up the edema, but it doesn't seem to be getting any better. Has anyone else dealt with this? Is there a way to get her to lay down on her right side and smash the edema out a bit on her own? (She ONLY lays on her left.)
Will I always have a cow that lets down her left side, partially lets down her right rear, and can't let down her right front? What about when I wean the calf - what's going to happen to that front right quarter then? I don't really want to be HAND milking when I have a machine sitting right there!
Another thing. She stands really well during the milking but once I cut off the vacuum to remove the machine, she starts dancing and swiping with her feet. I don't want to teach her that this is the way to get the milker off, but I don't know what to do to discourage her without making her shy to come in. She JUST started coming in on her own a few days ago. Could it be that my liners are too small? Are they causing her discomfort when they disengage? They don't just fall off like my Jersey, they seem to actually sort of pull off. They are medium bore liners (all but that front right one of course). Is this dancing something common with heifers - should I just continue and let her get used to it? I try to gently take each one off slowly (as opposed to just yanking the whole thing off) but most times she wipes them off with her feet before I can get everything under control and do it myself. I've spent a small fortune on this heifer's edema now ($60+ on udder creams, and another $60+ on new shells/liners, $250 for a vet call, $30 for Lasix, $40 for Vitamins/Homeopathics - ugh!! ); I hate to head back to the dairy supply store and buy 3 MORE shells/liners in wide bore if that's not even going to help.
All in all, as discouraged as I was 2 weeks ago, things are actually going really well. She's warming up to me a bit and is figuring out the routine. Her milk is awesome - we're totally thrilled with it! Someone PLEASE tell me that it's still the edema and that in another week or two it will all be normal. Unless you know that it's something else . . . then tell me THAT! I've tried to do Internet searches with wording like, "thick teats" or "swollen teats", and the hits I get are less than appropriate!! Eewww!
Here's the scoop. She calved 3.5 weeks ago now. She's doing SO well; standing for the milk machine to be put on and letting me clean and massage her udder with no complaints or kicking. The problem is that her right side is still strange compared to the left side. Especially that front teat. I bought a wide bore liner for that quarter and it will finally go on the teat, but it will not milk it out at all. When the machine comes off, that quarter is still hard and full (and that shell isn't warm like the other 3). Luckily, for now, the calf can nurse it out. She doesn't like this at all - she stamps at him often. I leave her in her stanchion and let him nurse her from behind otherwise she will not stand still and let him nurse very well. I'm using him as a stripping machine (works great!) so I like to be able to make sure he can get at and empty every quarter completely.
When I prep her udder, I wash it all down, and then squirt the fore-milk from each teat into my rag. That right front one will have nothing in it at first. The tissue is thick and tough. There is a ring of thick tissue around the base of the teat, and the teat itself has thick tissue surrounding the teat cistern. If I manipulate it and hand-milk at it for about 20 to 30 'pulls' it will start to soften up enough that I can get a decent stream out. But once the machine goes on, it's just not enough manipulation to milk it out. I worry that it's going to get injured from having the vacuum on it the whole time (she milks out SLOW - it seems to take forever!). The rear teat is similar, but not nearly as bad - it milks down to about half the size of the left rear when the machine is removed. (The left side, for the record, milks out completely and is soft and baggy when she's done.) I religously put UdderMint or UdderComfort on her after each milking and work the tough rings of thickened tissue in hopes of breaking up the edema, but it doesn't seem to be getting any better. Has anyone else dealt with this? Is there a way to get her to lay down on her right side and smash the edema out a bit on her own? (She ONLY lays on her left.)
Will I always have a cow that lets down her left side, partially lets down her right rear, and can't let down her right front? What about when I wean the calf - what's going to happen to that front right quarter then? I don't really want to be HAND milking when I have a machine sitting right there!
Another thing. She stands really well during the milking but once I cut off the vacuum to remove the machine, she starts dancing and swiping with her feet. I don't want to teach her that this is the way to get the milker off, but I don't know what to do to discourage her without making her shy to come in. She JUST started coming in on her own a few days ago. Could it be that my liners are too small? Are they causing her discomfort when they disengage? They don't just fall off like my Jersey, they seem to actually sort of pull off. They are medium bore liners (all but that front right one of course). Is this dancing something common with heifers - should I just continue and let her get used to it? I try to gently take each one off slowly (as opposed to just yanking the whole thing off) but most times she wipes them off with her feet before I can get everything under control and do it myself. I've spent a small fortune on this heifer's edema now ($60+ on udder creams, and another $60+ on new shells/liners, $250 for a vet call, $30 for Lasix, $40 for Vitamins/Homeopathics - ugh!! ); I hate to head back to the dairy supply store and buy 3 MORE shells/liners in wide bore if that's not even going to help.
All in all, as discouraged as I was 2 weeks ago, things are actually going really well. She's warming up to me a bit and is figuring out the routine. Her milk is awesome - we're totally thrilled with it! Someone PLEASE tell me that it's still the edema and that in another week or two it will all be normal. Unless you know that it's something else . . . then tell me THAT! I've tried to do Internet searches with wording like, "thick teats" or "swollen teats", and the hits I get are less than appropriate!! Eewww!