cow mastitis?

[trappersteve]

Ok guys picked up a very nice young Jersey cow today and got her only for raising holstien calves. Only problem I have with her is she has a touch of mastitis in her right rear quarter, I have been milking it out and I think she's starting to maybe clear up I did put 2 holstien baby calves on her today. My question is this will this mastitis pass or will it hurt that quarter? This is my first venture in raising calves on a dairy cow so any input will help and any tips to make my life easier will be greatly appreciated

 

[hillsdown]

Are u treating her with anything ?

 

[trappersteve]

Are u treating her with anything ?

No but was gonna her some la200 tonight

 

[branguscowgirl]

I have had cows clear up WITH treatment and be fine, and others loose that quarter, but still raise calves with 3 quarters just fine. But I have beef cattle. Dairy folks would have more experience with this. I would say definitely treat aggressively at this point and it should be ok either way.

 

[Aaron]

High strength long-acting oxytetracycline and lactating-cow infusions into the quarter. Don't get scotch. Don't be afraid to repeat the long-acting after 4-5 days.

 

[regolith]

My question is this will this mastitis pass or will it hurt that quarter?

I can't even answer that question for one of my own cows... those infections can do surprising things.
Self-cure rates run about 40%. Cure rates following treatment are far higher. If it's starting to clear up now it should respond well to treatment, but sometimes even mild mastitis can cause the quarter to be lighter than the other three for the remainder of the lactation.

Intramammary tubes work great but if you could hold the calves off her following treatment - I'm not sure how long, maybe 2 - 3 hours would be enough for the antibiotic to be absorbed by her and not the calves.
Anyone with veterinary experience who can answer that one? In a dairy it would be 8 - 12 hours before the quarter was milked again.

 

[Lucky_P]

The oxytet won't necessarily 'hurt' anything, but it's unlikely to be effective against most of the bacteria involved in mastitis cases. However, without a culture/sensitivity, you're just sort of 'shooting in the dark' anyway, with regard to choosing an appropriate antimicrobial.
Keeping that quarter stripped out will be helpful, and I'd certainly want to treat the affected quarter with an intramammary - but, as rego says, it'd be better if you could tape it up or do something to keep calves from sucking it right back out before it has time to do its job.

If it's a Staph mastitis, calves could potentially spread it to one or more other quarters - and, if they're heifer calves and they suck one another, they could infect their penmates' udders.

 

[trappersteve]

Ok guys do I inject directly into the quarter and how much la200

 

[TexasBred]

Ok guys do I inject directly into the quarter and how much la200

Forget the LA200. Get you a tube of mastitis medicine if you must treat her. "Today or Tomorrow" will work fine and can be bought over the counter. Insert less than a quarter inch into the teat and infuse. Use your fingers to massage it farther up the teat and into the udder. Personally I wouldn't do anything right away except observe and allow the calves to nurse. This often will help straighten out the mastitis.

 

[trappersteve]

Ok guys do I inject directly into the quarter and how much la200

Forget the LA200. Get you a tube of mastitis medicine if you must treat her. "Today or Tomorrow" will work fine and can be bought over the counter. Insert less than a quarter inch into the teat and infuse. Use your fingers to massage it farther up the teat and into the udder. Personally I wouldn't do anything right away except observe and allow the calves to nurse. This often will help straighten out the mastitis.

Thanks TB I milked her today and it seems to be clearing up some (actually getting some milk instead of clods and water) should I just keep doing what im doing or still treat her?

 

[regolith]

still treat her. Leaving it to self-cure is like playing roulette.

btw "clots and water" is not what I as a dairy farmer would call "a touch of mastitis". That's pretty bad.

 

[TexasBred]

still treat her. Leaving it to self-cure is like playing roulette.

btw "clots and water" is not what I as a dairy farmer would call "a touch of mastitis". That's pretty bad.

Rego there has actually been research concerning nursing calves ability to clear up mastitis. Cattle seldom "self cure" but with nursing calves the saliva from the calves actually trigger the cow's immune system to fight the mastitis. That said, I would still use a mastitis tube on the affected quarter.

 

[regolith]

TB, I didn't pull that 40% out of thin air.
There was research done in NZ a few years ago into the efficacies of homeopathic treatments. First time I saw the scientist's presentation I asked her how her results compared to no treatment. At the time she explained it wasn't ethical to have that 'control' group as part of the study but next time I saw her she had the answer - I presume by studying previous published research.

I've seen it for myself in cows that develop mastitis when I don't happen to have appropriate drugs on farm. I do strip the quarter out thoroughly at milking time, and have seen them clear up quickly with no treatment. What I can't say is whether the 40% self-cure rate relates to clinical symptoms or bacterial cure.
It's not near high enough. I've spoken to more than one organic farmer who is resigned to losing a lot of quarters because they can't effectively treat it without removing the cow from the herd.
The mastitis itself triggers the cow's immune system. Some of the more bizarre organic 'treatments' seem to be based on that theory. They'd be better off with a strong suckling calf...

 

[regolith]

TB have you got a researcher name or anything that could help me look up that research? All I'm getting by google is vet articles that mention both mastitis and woody tongue...

 

[TexasBred]

I'm not aware of any published research papers on it but School of Vet Medicine at Texas A&M was researching it when I was doing undergrad worth there long ago. I had good luck doing it with dairy cattle but also had to resort to mastitis tubes at times.

 

[trappersteve]

Ok guys gave her a mastitis shot today at 1 o'clock after the calves fed. Will it be safe to let the calves nurse from that quarter tonight at 1 o'clock? And I did milk some out of that quarter today but was pressed for time and didn't milk it as good as I should have and still had quite a bit of milk in it, will it hurt anything if she's not completely emptied out?

 

[suzorse]

she needs to be totally stripped out , infuse the quarter and separate the calves for 10 to 12 hours,
strip out some from all 4 then put the calves with her to finish up, then separate again and treat again
when she is clear then you leave the calves 24/7 but still check that they are able to empty her
Suzanne

 

[regolith]

It's best to milk her right out - that milk is the food the bacterial infection is multiplying in. I'm a great believer in starving bacteria out of existence
It's probably not going to make or break your cow missing some milk this once.

If it's an intramammary tube 8 - 10 hours should be plenty of time to keep the calves off. Follow the instructions on the product you used, some are to be given again every 12, 24, 48 hours depending on how long-acting the antibiotic is.

 

[trappersteve]

Ok guys update, she has cleared up some and it seems like I can empty her almost out the problem is the quarter still feeling like it has some in it about half full is this normal with the infection or does this mean she still has milk in there I feel like I have I have gotten most of it out but she still feels almost full

 

[regolith]

The half-full feeling could be from the inflammation - a good sign of recovery is when they milk out cleanly and the udder is soft after.
I don't recall how long it is since she calved without checking the first page, there could be some swelling still from calving but in that case all four quarters should be equally big after milking.