Doing the happy heifer dance! Pictures added.
Jul 16, 2013 22:02:25 GMT -5
kristi, Becky, and 8 more like this
Post by Carla on Jul 16, 2013 22:02:25 GMT -5
Today, the jersey my uncle gave me blessed us with a beautiful heifer. She is an angus cross and cute as a button. This little gal has lots of potential as a milk producer. If she inherited her mother's udder, holy cow. I may need to save this baby back for me just so I can see what kind of producer she will be. Sadly, I have 3 cows that will be in milk this month and have 2 heifers that will freshen sometime next year. Like I need another cow.
Okay, so for those of you that don't remember anything about this cow. This is the cow that was my uncle's. She freshened at the end of July last year and he needed help milking her so I milked her for him until he bought foster calves to put on her. She had a beautiful udder, nice, nice hand size teats that were extremely easy to milk and her personality was to die for.
Fast forward to around Oct 1 and my uncle called and said there is something wrong with the cow and he is bringing her to me. She had horrible mastitis and it had been going on for quite a while. She had multiple ruptured abscesses in the bottom of her udder that involved the right quarters. She also had an abscess that was softball size that hadn't ruptured yet when she got to my house.
Talk about one sick cow. I really thought I would loose her or have to put her down. Turns out, uncle took the foster calves off and expected her calf to be able to handle her milk supply. I would guess that she would have been an 8-10 gallon a day producer. Disaster!!!!
I dried off her left quarters because I was afraid that I would cross contaminate them. Over the next 4 months she had multiple abscesses develop, I would lance them, drain and flush them twice daily. The worst quarter is the right front. My vet recommended cutting the teat off so that the infection could drain completely. I couldn't bring myself to cut the teat off because I kept thinking we could beat this beast and then she might have a chance at having a functional quarter. So, I cut a large opening next too the teat and kept it open for quite a while. I couldn't tell you how many gallons of Dakin's solution I have flushed through these two quarters. Eventually, the abscesses stopped. I wanted to infuse her udder with Tomorrow. I wasn't able to get anything to infuse through the teat. I assume scar tissue has built up. So I decided to just leave things alone until she freshens.
Last week, I noticed that an area that had abscessed before was growing fairly rapidly and she was licking her udder a lot. I got down and looked and she had already had one abscess burst open on the bottom of her udder......I wanted to cry for her. After a couple of days the second abscess was getting pretty painful and mushy so I lance it...it was nasty. I think it helped her pain. I wanted to get pretty aggressive with trying a cannula to open the teat canal but I didn't want to do that until after she freshened incase it worked. So, tomorrow morning after milking the good quarters I will go to work aggressively to see if I can get the teat canals open. I did notice tonight that she is dripping milk from the abscess that is at the bottom of her udder. It is an occasional drip but I am sure that will complicate things.
And the freaking flys. Oh my gosh, what am I going to do about the flys.
Okay, anyone have any ideas on things to try? I am giving her MastoBlast, Vit e & c. I haven't done any antibiotic infusions yet cause she just freshened today. Her physical condition is wonderful at the moment. She actually is a little heavier than I am used to.
It is pretty amazing that through all the treatments last fall, she still is a gentle, sweet cow.
I will post pictures in the morning.
Okay, so for those of you that don't remember anything about this cow. This is the cow that was my uncle's. She freshened at the end of July last year and he needed help milking her so I milked her for him until he bought foster calves to put on her. She had a beautiful udder, nice, nice hand size teats that were extremely easy to milk and her personality was to die for.
Fast forward to around Oct 1 and my uncle called and said there is something wrong with the cow and he is bringing her to me. She had horrible mastitis and it had been going on for quite a while. She had multiple ruptured abscesses in the bottom of her udder that involved the right quarters. She also had an abscess that was softball size that hadn't ruptured yet when she got to my house.
Talk about one sick cow. I really thought I would loose her or have to put her down. Turns out, uncle took the foster calves off and expected her calf to be able to handle her milk supply. I would guess that she would have been an 8-10 gallon a day producer. Disaster!!!!
I dried off her left quarters because I was afraid that I would cross contaminate them. Over the next 4 months she had multiple abscesses develop, I would lance them, drain and flush them twice daily. The worst quarter is the right front. My vet recommended cutting the teat off so that the infection could drain completely. I couldn't bring myself to cut the teat off because I kept thinking we could beat this beast and then she might have a chance at having a functional quarter. So, I cut a large opening next too the teat and kept it open for quite a while. I couldn't tell you how many gallons of Dakin's solution I have flushed through these two quarters. Eventually, the abscesses stopped. I wanted to infuse her udder with Tomorrow. I wasn't able to get anything to infuse through the teat. I assume scar tissue has built up. So I decided to just leave things alone until she freshens.
Last week, I noticed that an area that had abscessed before was growing fairly rapidly and she was licking her udder a lot. I got down and looked and she had already had one abscess burst open on the bottom of her udder......I wanted to cry for her. After a couple of days the second abscess was getting pretty painful and mushy so I lance it...it was nasty. I think it helped her pain. I wanted to get pretty aggressive with trying a cannula to open the teat canal but I didn't want to do that until after she freshened incase it worked. So, tomorrow morning after milking the good quarters I will go to work aggressively to see if I can get the teat canals open. I did notice tonight that she is dripping milk from the abscess that is at the bottom of her udder. It is an occasional drip but I am sure that will complicate things.
And the freaking flys. Oh my gosh, what am I going to do about the flys.
Okay, anyone have any ideas on things to try? I am giving her MastoBlast, Vit e & c. I haven't done any antibiotic infusions yet cause she just freshened today. Her physical condition is wonderful at the moment. She actually is a little heavier than I am used to.
It is pretty amazing that through all the treatments last fall, she still is a gentle, sweet cow.
I will post pictures in the morning.
