Big Bag

[beasleywayranch]

Had a bad day today...lost a BIG!!! bull calf that the first time momma tried to have breech...(unsuccessfully)
Momma is a brahmer/hereford mix...her bag is just about to bust with milk...being a newbie...I need to know is I should milk her down...her nips are humongous! Any suggestions?

 

[Bez]

Too late for the cut and snatch?

I am almost afraid to start in - but - why not put another calf on her? Lots of info on that can be found with a search.

Or dry her up - we use Salix and Predef 2X if memory serves me correctly.

Your vet will know.

Milking her just creates a space for more milk.

Or finally - you can just leave her and she will dry up on her own.

Bez

 

[stocky]

are you going to get another calf to put on her? if you are not, you can milk her down to give her some relief, but it isnt necessary, she will stop producing milk and will absorb it when there is nothing nursing her. if you keep her, i would definitely check her teats a week or less before she freshens next time to make sure they teats are open and havent filled and sealed

 

[jerry27150]

if you are not putting another calf on her just leave her alone, if you milk her out you open plug in the teat end & have a chance of her getting mastitis

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

I'm a strong believer in leaving them alone. She will dry up better if you don't milk her out at all. Milking just tells her body to produce MORE. I definately would never try to get milk out of a teat PRIOR to calving. The teats have a seal that protects them from getting mastitis. If you milk her even a few drops, you break that seal & everytime she lays down, she is exposing the open canal to mastitis bugs.

Next issue. You said "her nips are humongous". This is a serious issue if she is a first calf heifer. They "probably" will be bigger next year. Can a calf get ahold of the teats without assistance?? If not, I would strongly consider culling her. She now has three strikes against her. Grew "too large" a fetus (could be bull problem, but genetics come from both), she's now open & not raising you a calf, and she has what sounds like a bad udder to me. With the price of culls, easy solution to me, but every case is different. Just my thoughts.

 

[bigbull338]

the big bagg ia sign of alot of milk and the big teats arnt a good sign if they get larger shes no good mastitis she could get it either way weather you milk her out or leave her alone now if you see her with a swollen teat or teats she has mastitis its best to put a calf on her if you can scott

 

[Lngvew]

Fought that battle and lost.... Dont mean to be so blount but put wheels under her as soon as she dries up. Large teats dont get better only worse. SELL, SELL, SELL!

 

[preston39]

We have a big investment in a birth...almost 2 years for revenue off this cow.
I would get her a calf....put him in the barn...take some of her milk and rub it on his head and body...kinda like rubbng him down with a wet rag....each day..... put her in a head catch feed her some favorite dry feed for a few days to allow him to suck..once the milk comes thru his skin she will accept him....never failed with us.

Cow turns revenue alibeit reduced....but better than nothing. A friend skins the lost calf and puts the skin over the back of the adopted calf with a string around his body for a few days..with moms milk on the head...it works ...but a lot of work and smelly when weather is hot...not to practible in the heat.
Time is of essence...mom will start shutting down milk production quick...you can milk her... some.... for a few days until a calf is found if you choose to go that route.

 

[stocky]

jeanne, i wouldnt disagree with you that checking the teats a just before calving opens a slight chance of mastitis. however, it is far better for that remote chance than for the cow to go off and freshen and 2 days later you find a dead calf because it starved because it couldnt get milk when it sucked. there are very few times that you can actually tell for sure that the calf got milk when it sucked and for me, if you have a cow that you know has a chance of having stopped up teats you are better off to unseal them than to lose the calf because you noticed it didnt get milk after it was too late. i say remote chance because every dairy sale on earth milks out a stream of milk out of each teat when the cow is sold to check to see if the quarter is good. those cows dont get mastitis from this and i have never had one get it either in my dairy or beef from this practice

 

[jt]

if you are set up to do what preston said... that is what i would do too... would allow you to make a little off the calf and let her get re bred.... then turn her at the sale barn... they sell culls there every week..

jmo

jt

 

[stocky]

preston, i have put uncounted numbers of calves on cows and i have never heard of putting milk on the calf-----thanks for that thought. i have skinned the dead calf, used vanilla, all sorts of things---but that is a new idea for me.
the way that i have found most successful after all the fighting of getting a calf on a cow is to simply buy a 4-6 week old calf straight off an old beef cow that they split at the barn. put the cow and that calf in one compartment of my stock trailer, you dont have to get in there with them. if you do that in the afternoon, and also have your stock dog go in close to them and be around them, not in the compartment, then usually by morning she will have taken the calf. the dog makes her want to protect the calf and the calf is old enough that it will force her to let it suck.

i used to get 3 day old calves and work myself to death each time, but since i started getting the 4-6 week old calves i have never had a cow that didnt take the calf within 3 days and almost always by the first morning after spending the night together, they take them. i also foudn that the 4-6 week old calves will usually cost the same or less than the 3-5 day old ones because people either want bucket calves or babies to put on cows---the 4-6 week old ones are in between

 

[Ryder]

Stocky that is an interesting post. Thanks.

 

[preston39]

Jeanne,
I understand your point...but, I have often seen cows draining milk 1/ 2 days before delivery. Same exposure problem?

 

[preston39]

stocky,
Because of death.... we have put a 200 pounder on mom and do the same thing it works. Course he thinks we are crazy for giving him a daily bath with milk....but, what does he know. :roll:

 

[beasleywayranch]

Thanks for all the advice...learned quite a bit....course I learn something new all the time on here...Great place...great people...



I measured the calf...and weighed...it was 102 lbs...from tail to forehead was 38"....he was huge! from back to hoof was 29".. the first time heifer's dad was a simmetal...and her momma is brahmer/hereford...and the bull that sired the calf is Angus...I took pics to document.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Preston - good idea about the milk on the calf. If we ever have trouble with a cow accepting a calf (her own or a twin from our herd) I have always used a product called "O No Mo". But I don't think we can get it anymore - was told it contained blood meal & is off the market. Shucks. I've heard of putting molasses or sweet feed on the calf. If you can get the cow to LICK the calf, you usually have the battle won.

Preston & Stocky - good point on milking them before hand on a potential problem that is more likely to happen than mastitis.

I like the idea of an older calf. They are deffinately more aggressive.

 

[preston39]

jeanne,
I also heard of the molasses approach..tried it...the cow liked it off and butted the calf away.

She must smell herself as in her birth...or her milk. ... never had it to fail...sometimes 5-6 days rather than earlier---3or 4 days.