Cow with blown out teats.

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Hi, cousin of mine has a (pet) cow that had a calf 2 days ago, we had to give the calf Clostrum, (milk the cow out) because the teats were to big for the calf to nurse. Only 2 of the Quarters have milk in them. Will the cow produce enough milk for the calf to live on? With help the calf is sucking on the huge teats.
 
Probably mastitis caused half the bag to be non productive. She can raise the calf on half her udder. I had an older Suffolk ewe that freshened with only half an udder and raised twins on that one usable teat. She was a gift, but I culled her after she weaned her lambs.
If they won't cull the cow, then don't bother to breed her again. If she is a pet just keep her that way without breeding her. If they have to breed her, she should be culled. Too much work, unless they need the genetics or something. If it is a heifer and they want to milk out the cow and bottle raise the calf they can raise another pet.
Against my better judgment, I kept the only heifer from my fave. Currently on her 6th calf and a perfect udder - huge sigh of relief (don't discount the bulls contribution!).
 
A friend of mine had a cow who's bag went bag after 3 calves they kept the heifer and she's had 3 calves , no problems so far. Back to this cow, the vet said to give her a special feed, to up her milk production,. It's a 7 day treatment, no clue what is in it.
 
I had one like that. She was going to the sale, but covid happened and she got bred. She had only one quarter good. Turned out the calf died at 3 days old from hemorraghic diarreah due to toxins from the mastitis getting intothe supposed to be good quarter. I also thought they would be ok after the big teats went down, but that mastitis stays there. Dairy industry has been fighting this deisease for years... Feed the calf on a bottle and get rid of that cow, or make sure she doesn't breed again. I had one nearly 60 years ago that had one quarter fall out. They were running on a farm 50 miles from home and we saw them once a week. Her quarter swelled up and split and literally fell out. I have never seen that happen again...
 
Wow that sounds miserable for the cow, I've never heard of a quarter falling out of a cow. That sounds disturbing to see... Thank you for the advice!
 
Against my better judgment, I kept the only heifer from my fave. Currently on her 6th calf and a perfect udder - huge sigh of relief (don't discount the bulls contribution!).
Had a cow that bought as heifer, she had a bad udder had evidently had an udder infection as a calf and had an awful looking udder when she calved. Culled her out after a couple of calves. Reluctantly kept a heifer from her. Was not expecting much at all and to my surprise she has a real nice udder and has raised two good calves. She calved first at 21 months old and found her standing over her calf trying to fight off about 15 black buzzards. So she has earned my respect at this point. I credit the bull with being an udder improver and with passing on some protective instincts whether the latter being right or wrong.
 
Okay, the pic didn't attach on my previous comment. BTW, this is not the cow in my earlier post. But yes, they will blow out & off. Ouch!
 

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The picture @TCRanch showed looks like gangrene mastitis. It happens in dairy cattle occasionally. Once the quarter "blows out" and then dries/heals up, the cow will milk from the other quarters. The production will usually be less (not counting the lost quarter) but the udder normally does not recover well in the other quarters. Many farmers that have had this happen will keep the cow only because she is bred and close enough to going dry that they feel that she can go on and deliver the calf. It takes a few months for it to completely dry up and heal and none of the buyers will touch them at the stockyards with it looking so gross.
It is not something that they "pass on" to their offspring. Not considered genetic. It comes from an infection that for some reason just goes toxic and creates a major infection response....and it seems to only affect one quarter although I did see one that it affected both quarters on one side....never have I seen it happen in both front quarters or both back quarters.
Have never seen any of the dairy farmers that have kept heifers out of the few that get the gangrene mastitis, to say that they have seen a daughter have more of a tendency to have it happen to them.
 
The picture @TCRanch showed looks like gangrene mastitis. It happens in dairy cattle occasionally. Once the quarter "blows out" and then dries/heals up, the cow will milk from the other quarters. The production will usually be less (not counting the lost quarter) but the udder normally does not recover well in the other quarters. Many farmers that have had this happen will keep the cow only because she is bred and close enough to going dry that they feel that she can go on and deliver the calf. It takes a few months for it to completely dry up and heal and none of the buyers will touch them at the stockyards with it looking so gross.
It is not something that they "pass on" to their offspring. Not considered genetic. It comes from an infection that for some reason just goes toxic and creates a major infection response....and it seems to only affect one quarter although I did see one that it affected both quarters on one side....never have I seen it happen in both front quarters or both back quarters.
Have never seen any of the dairy farmers that have kept heifers out of the few that get the gangrene mastitis, to say that they have seen a daughter have more of a tendency to have it happen to them.
I did sell her when she was bred, which hurt because she was a great cow. Fortunately, it healed so well you really couldn't tell except she only had 3 teats and I didn't get docked.

Thanks for pointing out it's not genetic. I have one of her daughters, currently on her 5th calf, and I watch her like a hawk.
 

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