Can cow have poor quality milk?

[Anonymous]

We are having a problem with a calf on a cow that seems to have adequate milk - good sized bag anyway. The problem is that the calf doesn't seem to thrive. It's about 5 days old, so I brought it in a couple of days ago and it sucks the bottle right down and perks up. I take it out for the day - mom accepts, it sucks for a while, but droops again later on. I checked my records and she lost her calf last year. My question - is it possible to have a cow that isn't able to provide adequate nutrition because of poor milk quality?

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[Anonymous]

If you can, catch the mother and try to milk her to see if she actually has any milk. I lost a calf several years ago who's mother had a large bag and the calf was sucking regularly. Come to find out she had mastitis and even though her bag was big she had no milk (or not enough) and the calf starved to death within 5 days of birth. I wonder if this is what happened to your cow's calf last year? I'd keep giving the calf a supplemental bottle until I knew for sure what was going on though.

 

[Anonymous]

I had an older cow who's calf acted the same way, when I caught her her and milked her, the milk was like water, vet said at some point she had mastitus so bad it ruined her milk for good. Ruth

> We are having a problem with a
> calf on a cow that seems to have
> adequate milk - good sized bag
> anyway. The problem is that the
> calf doesn't seem to thrive. It's
> about 5 days old, so I brought it
> in a couple of days ago and it
> sucks the bottle right down and
> perks up. I take it out for the
> day - mom accepts, it sucks for a
> while, but droops again later on.
> I checked my records and she lost
> her calf last year. My question -
> is it possible to have a cow that
> isn't able to provide adequate
> nutrition because of poor milk
> quality?



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[Anonymous]

> Try and get Mom milked out.Just had same problem.Cow lost her calf last year also.But she has no milk for her calf. Good Luck

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