Post by frogHOLR on May 16, 2010 20:23:09 GMT -5
This isn't exactly an emergency, but it's very worrisome to me and I'd like someone else's opinion. My Guernsey heifer who is due this week is starting to bag up a bit. Her udder has done some strange things in the last 2 weeks. My hubby keeps telling me that all's well and she'll even out after she calves. Well, today I noticed that her right side (rear and front) are quite a bit larger than the left side. Not only that, but the right front is grotesquely engorged when compared to the rest.
She seems fine - eating, acting normal, up and down like it's no big deal, but it looks awful. I haven't been able to touch it much (she kicks like the devil everytime I try to mess with her udder - even before this!), but it's definitely swollen and stiff. It wouldn't concern me if ALL 4 of them were like this; I would just assume she's getting ready to calve. But with the others looking deflated and this one looking explosive, I'm worried. Yesterday I was SURE she was self-sucking on the left half because they were so much smaller than the right half. Now, I think the right half is out of control!
What should I do? Should I just leave well enough alone and let her calve before I start trying to mess with it? Or if it's mastitis, should I try to treat it now by milking that one quarter out every few hours (if I CAN without getting the juice kicked out of me!) until she's in milk? I was really hoping that this heifer was going to be our next family milker for years to come, but now I'm afraid that her udder has been devastatingly compromised prior to me getting her. (I'm a bit of an over-reactor according to dh!)
I'm going to post some pictures - sorry that they are one at a time! Technology and I have had our differences in years past . . . . Thanks for any suggestions and support, I'm feeling so discouraged right now!
She seems fine - eating, acting normal, up and down like it's no big deal, but it looks awful. I haven't been able to touch it much (she kicks like the devil everytime I try to mess with her udder - even before this!), but it's definitely swollen and stiff. It wouldn't concern me if ALL 4 of them were like this; I would just assume she's getting ready to calve. But with the others looking deflated and this one looking explosive, I'm worried. Yesterday I was SURE she was self-sucking on the left half because they were so much smaller than the right half. Now, I think the right half is out of control!
What should I do? Should I just leave well enough alone and let her calve before I start trying to mess with it? Or if it's mastitis, should I try to treat it now by milking that one quarter out every few hours (if I CAN without getting the juice kicked out of me!) until she's in milk? I was really hoping that this heifer was going to be our next family milker for years to come, but now I'm afraid that her udder has been devastatingly compromised prior to me getting her. (I'm a bit of an over-reactor according to dh!)
I'm going to post some pictures - sorry that they are one at a time! Technology and I have had our differences in years past . . . . Thanks for any suggestions and support, I'm feeling so discouraged right now!