Post by Deleted on Oct 15, 2011 2:20:33 GMT -5
I've got a cow that calved for the first time about 6 weeks ago. We have the calf with her at all times and milk by hand for us once a day. During one of the early milkings after she first calved the left rear quarter had something resembling dried stringy milk. Just saw it once.
Have seen some very tiny flecks of blood on the filter a few weeks ago, maybe for 2 days. (size of a little spider mite) Not sure which quarter.
She had gotten very kicky in milking (leg straps working well) but behavior may be a sign of something else....
Now, that left rear quarter has some hard lumps in it, including what feels to be the main vertical milk tube line (sorry, don't know what it is called). You only feel them when you empty the quarter. Our at home mastitis test showed clear. Sent sample to vet. They said the milk was soured (?? weird because it was a fresh sample) so they couldn't tell the SSC but they tried to culture it anyway and nothing grew so they said it is definitely not mastitis. Possibly bruised or blockage in udder.
The lumps seemed to clear up with a regime of milking that quarter out twice a day and/or forcing the calf onto it for us, and using hot compresses and a bit of massage. (also started homeopathic phytollaca just in case it was mastitis).
Shifted back to the normal routine today (calf always with her, we milk 1xday) and the lumps are coming back.
Has anyone ever had this happen? Is she just holding back the milk?
The calf definitely doesn't ignore that quarter. Both rear teats are hard for us to milk because they are small and she gets a bit over it by the end.... could she be pulling the milk back up?
Not sure what to do next... or what the root cause is.... Any ideas?
Thanks!!!
Have seen some very tiny flecks of blood on the filter a few weeks ago, maybe for 2 days. (size of a little spider mite) Not sure which quarter.
She had gotten very kicky in milking (leg straps working well) but behavior may be a sign of something else....
Now, that left rear quarter has some hard lumps in it, including what feels to be the main vertical milk tube line (sorry, don't know what it is called). You only feel them when you empty the quarter. Our at home mastitis test showed clear. Sent sample to vet. They said the milk was soured (?? weird because it was a fresh sample) so they couldn't tell the SSC but they tried to culture it anyway and nothing grew so they said it is definitely not mastitis. Possibly bruised or blockage in udder.
The lumps seemed to clear up with a regime of milking that quarter out twice a day and/or forcing the calf onto it for us, and using hot compresses and a bit of massage. (also started homeopathic phytollaca just in case it was mastitis).
Shifted back to the normal routine today (calf always with her, we milk 1xday) and the lumps are coming back.
Has anyone ever had this happen? Is she just holding back the milk?
The calf definitely doesn't ignore that quarter. Both rear teats are hard for us to milk because they are small and she gets a bit over it by the end.... could she be pulling the milk back up?
Not sure what to do next... or what the root cause is.... Any ideas?
Thanks!!!