Post by katie k on Nov 19, 2020 13:23:05 GMT -5
Jersey Sarah freshened June 2 with mastitis. Turned out to be staph a which cleared from chronic to subclinical. We have been calf-sharing and using the milk, not sharing it with others outside the family. She also freshened with udder rot, which is still with us, despite 2x daily scrubbing, honey, aluspray. She has had a rough go so its hard to say what is her situation and what is her temperment, but she is not a sweet cow. This week she has been kicking me during milking, stomping, swishing tail. No cuts on teats, no obvious changes. It's like she's decided to wean me! A slap, scolding, etc makes it worse, and I am not really interested in fighting it thru at this point. This cow purchase was a mistake, and I knew it, but ignored my gut. I have a butcher date Dec 18.
A whole lot of words to say, should I dry her off or just leave her with calf? I'm not convinced she'll let calf nurse her thouroughly. Calf is fussy about dirty teats and avoids them and Sarah is the filthiest, poop-layingest cow I've had. Calf is a porker, eating hay, mom's grain, etc., and often not all that interested in nursing (previous post). I am getting a little over 1 gal after seperating overnight, and I see calf nurse 1 in the day, then again at night with coaxing when I get Sarah in stanchion for grain and udder rot care. I am guessing she's doing 4 gal a day. She is on the skinny sde, so I if I cut grain, second cut hay, but calf still nurses that's no good. I would like to get a little weight on her before butcher, but no big hopes there, she'll mostly be ground, which we enjoy just fine.But I don't want to do dry-off abx since she's going to be butchered so soon, and my butcher said he'll keep an eye out for a sooner slot, knowing we are not having a good time. Am I correct in being leery of drying off a staph a cow? What to do?
A whole lot of words to say, should I dry her off or just leave her with calf? I'm not convinced she'll let calf nurse her thouroughly. Calf is fussy about dirty teats and avoids them and Sarah is the filthiest, poop-layingest cow I've had. Calf is a porker, eating hay, mom's grain, etc., and often not all that interested in nursing (previous post). I am getting a little over 1 gal after seperating overnight, and I see calf nurse 1 in the day, then again at night with coaxing when I get Sarah in stanchion for grain and udder rot care. I am guessing she's doing 4 gal a day. She is on the skinny sde, so I if I cut grain, second cut hay, but calf still nurses that's no good. I would like to get a little weight on her before butcher, but no big hopes there, she'll mostly be ground, which we enjoy just fine.But I don't want to do dry-off abx since she's going to be butchered so soon, and my butcher said he'll keep an eye out for a sooner slot, knowing we are not having a good time. Am I correct in being leery of drying off a staph a cow? What to do?