Post by mamanaturale on May 24, 2011 10:25:53 GMT -5
ok so, a couple of months ago, we weaned the calves (in hindsight we waited too long). two of her teats were getting cut up and we found out after the fact that she was kicking them off that side. so when we started milking her again, she had mastitis in two quarters. we wanted to avoid antibiotics so we did the following: extra milking, hot wet rag massage before milking, lard and cayenne after and then after a week of one quarter not clearing completely we got mastoblast and it was gone within 4 days. so we did continue the mastoblast for the full recommended 8 days. everything tested fine, and tasted fine. we have a decreased production on the one quarter that took longer to clear.
fast forward 2-3 months.... we decided since we were only getting 3ish gallons per day total that we would switch her to once a day. within two days, the slow to clear quarter has mastitis again. so we start the procedures again, except this time the steer gets his nosering out and starts nursing again. took us over a week to get it back in his nose and by this time she has a cut teat again, but the mastitic quarter seems to be getting better. so two days ago we got the ring back in his nose (effectively putting her back on oad) and it looks like i have the cut teat has mastitis now.
i really don't want to go back to twice a day.... this has made our evenings so nice, but i am worried about mousse. can i leave her on once a day and just milk the affected quarters extra until it clears? was she maybe not ready for oad? that steer is a nightmare!!!
fast forward 2-3 months.... we decided since we were only getting 3ish gallons per day total that we would switch her to once a day. within two days, the slow to clear quarter has mastitis again. so we start the procedures again, except this time the steer gets his nosering out and starts nursing again. took us over a week to get it back in his nose and by this time she has a cut teat again, but the mastitic quarter seems to be getting better. so two days ago we got the ring back in his nose (effectively putting her back on oad) and it looks like i have the cut teat has mastitis now.
i really don't want to go back to twice a day.... this has made our evenings so nice, but i am worried about mousse. can i leave her on once a day and just milk the affected quarters extra until it clears? was she maybe not ready for oad? that steer is a nightmare!!!