Post by Donna on Sept 8, 2010 8:52:00 GMT -5
Gracie freshened on Sunday evening, but her udder had filled in almost 2 weeks before she calved. She just kept getting bigger and bigger until we thought she would pop. Well, along with the increase, she became hard and when she freshened, she was already rock hard, but no heat. The first couple milkings were pretty difficult, to say the least. She wasn't having a let down and I couldn't get the teat cups on her back teats very well. I had to strip out a little first and even then, they kept falling off because of the hugeness of her udder and how small her rear teats are. So, I milked her front quarters and did ok, then tried her back quarters and got some out, but very little. So, I've been stripping her when she's out in the field while the calf nurses and have been trying to keep the milk moving. I knew there was a problem when I saw the strings in the milk filter.
It's so upsetting, because we had such a good milking experience last lactation and so far this one has been the pits. She's pooped and peed in the milk room everytime so far. I need to try Tabitha's trick with the bucket next time!
This morning's milking went better as far as getting milk out of the rear quarters. I took HOT water with me to the barn and put a hot rag on her, then put Dynamint on her and rubbed her real good. It kinda dulls the pain! Then, proceeded to milk and got almost 1.5 gallons from the back quarters alone!! It really improved the look of her udder too. It wasn't as tight looking. The calf seems to like to nurse from the two front quarters. . . if I could just get him on those back ones!
I guess I'm done whining for now. I just want my sweet milk cow back!! I'm seriously thinking of getting rid of the calf so she won't be having any let-down issues and we can get back to business as usual.
Will I be able to drink her milk if she still has mastitis in a couple of days?
Donna
Thought I'd go ahead and add a picture of her udder at freshening.
It's so upsetting, because we had such a good milking experience last lactation and so far this one has been the pits. She's pooped and peed in the milk room everytime so far. I need to try Tabitha's trick with the bucket next time!
This morning's milking went better as far as getting milk out of the rear quarters. I took HOT water with me to the barn and put a hot rag on her, then put Dynamint on her and rubbed her real good. It kinda dulls the pain! Then, proceeded to milk and got almost 1.5 gallons from the back quarters alone!! It really improved the look of her udder too. It wasn't as tight looking. The calf seems to like to nurse from the two front quarters. . . if I could just get him on those back ones!
I guess I'm done whining for now. I just want my sweet milk cow back!! I'm seriously thinking of getting rid of the calf so she won't be having any let-down issues and we can get back to business as usual.
Will I be able to drink her milk if she still has mastitis in a couple of days?
Donna
Thought I'd go ahead and add a picture of her udder at freshening.