Post by chaparra72 on Jan 23, 2012 16:53:53 GMT -5
Well, today marks one week since Poppy calved, and hell week is a good description of what we have both been through.
First of all, for several weeks prior to the day she calved it had been LOVELY (not normal weather for this time of year in western Wyoming for sure), and I was so thankful that the weather looked good for the time she would be calving. Well, the weather changed the night she went into labor (of course), temps got real cold, and the wind was a blowin'. The edema started in early labor, and by the time she delivered, it was really bad, especially in both her Rf and RR quarters. I also think she scaped the bottom right side of her udder on one of her many lay down/get up episodes. Anyways, after calving,edemawas horrible and she wanted no part of me messing with her udder. Tried to get something on for frostbite protection withour her kicking the $#!% out of me, but the part where the scrape was was leaking serum, so I couldn't get anything to stick to that part. I milked about a gallon out a bit later to feed the calf as well as put some colostrum into the freezer. She never showed any sign of MF, and I am VERY grateful for that. She was showing some signs of ketosis the next day, but I think it was more that her udder was really hurting her, making her not feel good at all. I drenched her for a few days with ketosis drench, as well as a few B-complex shots (which she hated, lol), and her appetite picked back up.
Well, when I went out to milk early the next morning, I could see that we were going to have some problems. The edema/engorgement was not looking good, and because of that, she was not getting good circulation to the right side of her udder, and it was cold to the touch. So, ever since I have been milking every few hours round the clock, so that the engorgement didn't get worse, and cleaning her udder and masagging as best I can, or rather, as much as she would let me! I think that she did get some frostbite on that part of the udder that was scraped, but I havebeen treating it and it is doing much better, and no more serum leaking either, yeah!!! What I thought at first was mastitis was just reall bad edema, thank the Lord.
Anyways, this morning there was finally considerable improvement, and it is not hurting her nearly as much to touch her udder or to milk. She has extrememly small rear teats, so you can imagine how hard it has been for me to milk her (I handmilk), so the receding edema is a blessing to say the least. I hope a week from now this will all just be a very bad memory!
BTW: the calf is doing great, though it took 4 days for her to figure out how to nurse
First of all, for several weeks prior to the day she calved it had been LOVELY (not normal weather for this time of year in western Wyoming for sure), and I was so thankful that the weather looked good for the time she would be calving. Well, the weather changed the night she went into labor (of course), temps got real cold, and the wind was a blowin'. The edema started in early labor, and by the time she delivered, it was really bad, especially in both her Rf and RR quarters. I also think she scaped the bottom right side of her udder on one of her many lay down/get up episodes. Anyways, after calving,edemawas horrible and she wanted no part of me messing with her udder. Tried to get something on for frostbite protection withour her kicking the $#!% out of me, but the part where the scrape was was leaking serum, so I couldn't get anything to stick to that part. I milked about a gallon out a bit later to feed the calf as well as put some colostrum into the freezer. She never showed any sign of MF, and I am VERY grateful for that. She was showing some signs of ketosis the next day, but I think it was more that her udder was really hurting her, making her not feel good at all. I drenched her for a few days with ketosis drench, as well as a few B-complex shots (which she hated, lol), and her appetite picked back up.
Well, when I went out to milk early the next morning, I could see that we were going to have some problems. The edema/engorgement was not looking good, and because of that, she was not getting good circulation to the right side of her udder, and it was cold to the touch. So, ever since I have been milking every few hours round the clock, so that the engorgement didn't get worse, and cleaning her udder and masagging as best I can, or rather, as much as she would let me! I think that she did get some frostbite on that part of the udder that was scraped, but I havebeen treating it and it is doing much better, and no more serum leaking either, yeah!!! What I thought at first was mastitis was just reall bad edema, thank the Lord.
Anyways, this morning there was finally considerable improvement, and it is not hurting her nearly as much to touch her udder or to milk. She has extrememly small rear teats, so you can imagine how hard it has been for me to milk her (I handmilk), so the receding edema is a blessing to say the least. I hope a week from now this will all just be a very bad memory!
BTW: the calf is doing great, though it took 4 days for her to figure out how to nurse