Post by Kerri on Jul 23, 2010 11:25:09 GMT -5
Cloverbud calved 1 week ago, and I think we are dealing with the start of mastitis. I am a total novice at this so I have been reading many of the posts on the Tree of Knowledge, but still have quite a few questions. Let me know what you all think....
Last night when I strained her milk there were 2 small chunks in the filter. That has never happened before. I thought maybe I didn't strip her out enough before I milked her, so this morning I made sure to strip her real good. There was still 1 chunk and one line of slime in the filter this morning. The milk strained slower than usual and seemed to coat the filter more. She also seemed a bit jumpier during this mornings milking. She is a very mild mannered girl...she didn't really kick the milker, but lifter her leg and knocked it a few times. She always stands perfectly still for milking so this was unusual.
I know that everyone says to increase milkings, but does that mean on all four quarters or do you just milk out the one affected? If I milk her more frequently all the way around, won't she produce alot more milk? Right now she is giving a consistent 3 gallons per milking with no drop in production. Is it even necessary to increase milkings for 1 or 2 chunks in the filter? Is that always an indicator of mastitis???
I am still trying to figure out which quarter is the culprit. I am not noticing any real difference in any of the quarters except one does seem to have a slight bit of edema where the teat meets the udder. You have to stand back and really look to even notice it. There is no heat and I can't feel any significant hard areas.
Are the chances for rapid improvement good if you catch it early or does it progress rapidly no matter what? Should we be dumping the milk? I tasted the milk from this morning after it was strained and could not notice any salty taste, but it was a full gallon that I sampled from. Would you notice the salty taste in that volume of milk, or just what comes directly from the affected quarter?
Things have been going so well with our first family dairy cow and I want to be sure to do this right. Am I over reacting to a few small chunks in the filter?
Last night when I strained her milk there were 2 small chunks in the filter. That has never happened before. I thought maybe I didn't strip her out enough before I milked her, so this morning I made sure to strip her real good. There was still 1 chunk and one line of slime in the filter this morning. The milk strained slower than usual and seemed to coat the filter more. She also seemed a bit jumpier during this mornings milking. She is a very mild mannered girl...she didn't really kick the milker, but lifter her leg and knocked it a few times. She always stands perfectly still for milking so this was unusual.
I know that everyone says to increase milkings, but does that mean on all four quarters or do you just milk out the one affected? If I milk her more frequently all the way around, won't she produce alot more milk? Right now she is giving a consistent 3 gallons per milking with no drop in production. Is it even necessary to increase milkings for 1 or 2 chunks in the filter? Is that always an indicator of mastitis???
I am still trying to figure out which quarter is the culprit. I am not noticing any real difference in any of the quarters except one does seem to have a slight bit of edema where the teat meets the udder. You have to stand back and really look to even notice it. There is no heat and I can't feel any significant hard areas.
Are the chances for rapid improvement good if you catch it early or does it progress rapidly no matter what? Should we be dumping the milk? I tasted the milk from this morning after it was strained and could not notice any salty taste, but it was a full gallon that I sampled from. Would you notice the salty taste in that volume of milk, or just what comes directly from the affected quarter?
Things have been going so well with our first family dairy cow and I want to be sure to do this right. Am I over reacting to a few small chunks in the filter?