Post by maggiesherd on Dec 4, 2007 9:59:16 GMT -5
Or at least not the worst wrong thing I've been up since 1:30 a.m. researching and trying to figure out what to do about the fact that Rosie has mastitis. I am exhausted, it's been 4 days of ups and downs. When I read Claire's post on milking her through it my husband and I decided to try that but just to be sure....I read Joann's section on mastitis in "the" book to my husband and when we got to the part that said, "Unless you are prepared to crouch beside your cow all night, you had better treat her sooner rather than later with antibiotics" my husband said, "go get antibiotics." So I did. All four quarters are flaky, some worse than others and the milk doesn't just strain slowly, after a short stream it doesn't strain at all.
I treated all four quarters with ToDay, thank you Claire, and thankyou Jeffers!
Here's the great news. We are really getting a routine here and I think Rosie is participating. I tie Maggie up and give her alfalfa pellets, then I open the stanchion. I stand by Rosie who is trying to push Maggie and take her alfalfa and I give her a nudge and tell her that is Maggie's and hers is "over there" while I nudge her in that direction. She's walking right in to the stanchion, no fight, no chasing! Moo Hoo!!!!
It's only taking about 20 minutes to milk her out. She gave 16 1/2 cups this morning!!! 9 1/2 cups from 1 teat and the rest from the other three combined. We were really hoping for 2 gallons a day, and so far at night we are only getting 1/2 a gallon so we have decided that it is all worth it for 1 1/2 gallons a day! Now, we have to wait 96 hours, four whole days! before we can drink the milk. Hopefully the other three quarters will do better once the mastitis is cleared up.
I've been thinking about all of this and my husband and I were discussing my many bouts with mastitis. I always got it when I was fatigued and/or stressed. Well, we figured that's exactly what Rose has been through. With all that she's been through, I just wanted to get this cleared up so we both could rest.
Thanks for all the great advice. I will probably try to milk her through another bout if she gets one after we've had her a while and the stress level is gone for both of us. But for now, I hope I did the right thing. It is what my husband wanted, so that's direction for me.
I'd love to hear your thoughts, even constructive criticism.
Carol
I treated all four quarters with ToDay, thank you Claire, and thankyou Jeffers!
Here's the great news. We are really getting a routine here and I think Rosie is participating. I tie Maggie up and give her alfalfa pellets, then I open the stanchion. I stand by Rosie who is trying to push Maggie and take her alfalfa and I give her a nudge and tell her that is Maggie's and hers is "over there" while I nudge her in that direction. She's walking right in to the stanchion, no fight, no chasing! Moo Hoo!!!!
It's only taking about 20 minutes to milk her out. She gave 16 1/2 cups this morning!!! 9 1/2 cups from 1 teat and the rest from the other three combined. We were really hoping for 2 gallons a day, and so far at night we are only getting 1/2 a gallon so we have decided that it is all worth it for 1 1/2 gallons a day! Now, we have to wait 96 hours, four whole days! before we can drink the milk. Hopefully the other three quarters will do better once the mastitis is cleared up.
I've been thinking about all of this and my husband and I were discussing my many bouts with mastitis. I always got it when I was fatigued and/or stressed. Well, we figured that's exactly what Rose has been through. With all that she's been through, I just wanted to get this cleared up so we both could rest.
Thanks for all the great advice. I will probably try to milk her through another bout if she gets one after we've had her a while and the stress level is gone for both of us. But for now, I hope I did the right thing. It is what my husband wanted, so that's direction for me.
I'd love to hear your thoughts, even constructive criticism.
Carol