bad bags?

[Fred Kloppenburg]

i have a second calf cow that just had a calf , she has a nice bag but its hard as a rock the calf is a little dink what is the problem

 

[glover36]

hard as rock meaning lots of milk or mastitis?

 

[Beefy]

sounds like the calf is getting little or no milk. he may be getting a little bit to squeeze thru the rocks. bag sounds like what i call a severe case of mastitis. dont know if thats correct or not. have had a few with all four quarters hard as a rock before. could be other things besides mastitis but i dont have time to fool around with stuff like that..off to the sale she goes. check all four quarters and see if you can get any "going". if you can get two working she can raise him, you might have to showcalf which ones work though.

 

[msscamp]

i have a second calf cow that just had a calf , she has a nice bag but its hard as a rock the calf is a little dink what is the problem

Ok, you've stated that her udder is 'hard as a rock', so I'm assuming you have put this cow in the chute and determined that for a fact? Since she just calved, it may be a simple thing like edema - in which case milking and massage will usually rectify the problem. You refer to the calf as a 'little dink' so it may also be that the cow is producing milk faster than the calf can nurse - in which case a little time and growth will rectify the problem - since no newborn calf will (or can) nurse all four quarters out. I would make sure she does not have mastitis, watch the calf for signs of not getting enough milk and, (assuming the calf is prospering, full, and growing) if it's really bothering you, apply the milking and massage approach. Cows generally tend to milk more as a 3 year old than they did as a 2 year old. My .02.

 

[Beefy]

one more thought brought on by the "dink", it may be that he is unable to get the wax plug out of the teats. this happens sometimes with little and/or weak calves.

BUT it still sounds like whatever i've dealt with in the past where the entire udder is literally hard as a rock and i've never been able to do anything with one like that. i would love to know what you do if you fix her. thanks, b

 

[TheBullLady]

No doubt she's "overloaded" with milk, but you'd better determine the reason. If the calf is small, and the cow milks heavily, you may not be able to determine by looking at the cow if he's actually nursing or not. I agree with msscamp.. you need to chute her and try milking all four quarters, making sure the "plugs" are out. If they aren't you need to get the calf nursing asap.

If the calf is a newborn, the cow hasn't had time to develop mastitus. My experience with that has been 2 weeks or so after they calve before you'll see any signs.