Cut teat end

[novaman]

I had a cow that had one of her teats stepped on. The end of the teat was cut off to the meat. This happened about a month ago. I didn't know what to do with her as the quarter could not be milked. I put one of those plastic inserts into the quarter to drain it empty. Sometimes it would drain on its own while the other 3 quarters were milked but sometimes I had to work it by hand to get it emptied out completely. The teat end has since healed over and the end has softened back up. I pulled the plastic insert and have been trying to get her back on the milk machine. The problem I'm facing now is the teat doesn't seem quite right and the pulsation action of the milker isn't enough to milk the quarter out. I can strip the quarter by hand but it takes a bit more stripping action than the other quarters. So the only way I can get her to milk while the milk machine is attached is to squeeze on the quarter itself to basically push the milk out of the teat. Needless to say this is a hassle and slows me down. I'm wondering if there is something I could do to get this problem corrected. She is an older cow (8 years old) but she is an excellent milker and I hate to have to kill the quarter if I don't have to. Any help would be appreciated!

 

[bigbull338]

your cow cut the end of her teat completely off.if she wouldve just cut it.you could still milk it.that cow is a 3 teated cow now.

 

[hillsdown]

I am sorry but I don't completely understand, she has no teat at all just a stub from where it used to be?

 

[bigbull338]

from the way i read it her teat end was cut off when she stepped on her teat.so the end of her teat is gone.

 

[hillsdown]

If the teat is gone completely I do not know of any way that the quarter could possibly be milked out ,by a machine anyways, it is not like they grow back.

 

[novaman]

your cow cut the end of her teat completely off.if she wouldve just cut it.you could still milk it.that cow is a 3 teated cow now.

Not following what your saying. Yes she cut the end of her teat off. No it wasn't the entire teat just the very tip of the teat. The teat has since healed with new skin growing across the exposed portion of the teat end. The only reason I couldn't milk her was because it irritated the wound and blood would come with the milk. She is still a 4 teated cow as the quarter is fine. Its hard to explain but basically the teat is a little harder than the others and thus a bit harder to strip out. I don't know if that helps explain a bit better what's going on or not.

 

[bigbull338]

its like i said you have a 3 teated cow.that teat may heal up completelt.an mastitis may get in it.the only way you can give it time to heal is up a drain needle in it to milk the teat out.an do that every milking.you cant leave the drain needle in the teat 24/7.

 

[hillsdown]

Yes she cut the end of her teat off. No it wasn't the entire teat just the very tip of the teat. The teat has since healed with new skin growing across the exposed portion of the teat end. The only reason I couldn't milk her was because it irritated the wound and blood would come with the milk. She is still a 4 teated cow as the quarter is fine. Its hard to explain but basically the teat is a little harder than the others and thus a bit harder to strip out. I don't know if that helps explain a bit better what's going on or not.

Thanks for the clarification ,sounds like she has scar tissue in her teat from the injury. It should get better with time, keep milking that quarter out completely and you might want to massage that teat every milking and even with a cream like udder butter.
It might get better it might not but in my experience scar tissue does decrease with time.

 

[dun]

We used to have a little knife type gizzy hat you could slide into the teat canal and open it up, worked great for slow milkers. Nie time you're yacking with the vet, ask him/her if she knows about them.

 

[hillsdown]

So this brought back memories of the milking days..
Asked hubby what he used as I could barely remember but it was like a long type of metal needle thing I think that is what you are referring to also Dun.
Insert it in the teat it will open it and then you can use the machine on her ,,,,but to make sure we didn't lose it as the machine would probably suck it right off he tied a long string to the end of it and it stayed on the outside of the machine, make sense???.
Then after use it would go back into a jar of rubbing alcohol until the next milking.
think we got it from the vet clinic but maybe it was our DeLaval supplier as well,, but I am sure you can find it and it will have her milk-able again.

 

[milkmaid]

Keep in mind any time you stick something up into a teat you're inviting mastitis. I'd be inclined to leave her alone and just make sure she gets fully milked out at each milking. I know what you're talking about with manually milking the quarter while the machine is on... boss has a few that occasionally don't milk out well at the end and need a little help. If you fold the milker over so it's only on two or three quarters with most of the weight on the bad quarter, will she milk out better? tried that?

 

[hillsdown]

If the dilator is sterilized after each use you should never have a problem ,I cannot think of a single cow of ours getting mastitis because of this procedure.
Also, the main problem now is that she is taking up valuable time and anyone who has ran a dairy operation knows that is one thing you do not have,,,,,,,,,,,extra time. ;-)

Talk to your vet the next time you see him Nova ,but it worked very well for us and Dun has used it as well.

I forgot to add that you will need to use a special teat dip on her ,the kind that almost is like a rubber consistency so nothing does get in the teat as it will stay open for at least an hour after you use the dilator, or there is a great chance that she will get mastitis.

 

[dun]

This one is a lot fancier but it does the same job:
http://www.enasco.com/product/C05587N

 

[hillsdown]

I looked through the whole link Dun and couldn't find the one we used; it was like a long stainless steel needle with a big hole through the center and it stayed in the teat while you milked the cow..thus the need to tie a string on it.
I bet it was from the vet clinic after all. If you are interested in more info Novaman I will call Dr.U on Tuesday and find all the info out for you , just let me know.

 

[novaman]

Thanks for all the info. Milkmaid, yes I've been trying to milk the quarter with more pull and sometimes that works but most of the time it doesn't. Hillsdown and Dun, I've heard about the device your talking. I'm thinking I'll have to do some searching on Tuesday to see what I come up with, assuming she hasn't improved by than. Nothing to do with this subject at all but one of the planetaries on my mixer wagon just went out last night. I can't help but think everything falls apart right at the start of a long weekend. Anyone else notice that? Maybe I'm just nutz but it really sucks. Whoohoo its labor day. Big whoop some of us have no vacation days. Anyway thanks again for all the replies.

 

[dun]

I looked through the whole link Dun and couldn't find the one we used; it was like a long stainless steel needle with a big hole through the center and it stayed in the teat while you milked the cow..thus the need to tie a string on it.
I bet it was from the vet clinic after all. If you are interested in more info Novaman I will call Dr.U on Tuesday and find all the info out for you , just let me know.

We only used them while the teat was damaged. I prefer the plastic ones with the screw on cap. Sure made milking them out easy. But you couldn;t use it with a machine.

 

[GMN]

Thanks for all the info. Milkmaid, yes I've been trying to milk the quarter with more pull and sometimes that works but most of the time it doesn't. Hillsdown and Dun, I've heard about the device your talking. I'm thinking I'll have to do some searching on Tuesday to see what I come up with, assuming she hasn't improved by than. Nothing to do with this subject at all but one of the planetaries on my mixer wagon just went out last night. I can't help but think everything falls apart right at the start of a long weekend. Anyone else notice that? Maybe I'm just nutz but it really sucks. Whoohoo its labor day. Big whoop some of us have no vacation days. Anyway thanks again for all the replies.

Yes I do know what you mean, one of my pulsators just up and quit, minus a unit all weekend, the door broke, suspended by a weight, which I was walking thru at the time clonked me in the head (easy fix-for the door that is)I do think things do go wrong in 3's at least.

I have had a simialr thing happen to at least one or 2 cows. Hate to say this but I do think this cow will become a 3 teater eventually, and there isn't anything wrong with that. These type of injuries are hard to maintain and deal with in the milking situation, day after day, and more than likely mastitis will eventually occur. There could be scar tissue in the teat canal, if you run your finger along the teat you should be able to feel it. This is what those cutting devices are usually good for to free up the canal, but I sure wouldn't use them repeatedly. Good luck!

GMN

 

[TexasBred]

GMC..right on....Teat Tumor removers...work pretty well especially on scar tissue. If they eventually got mastitis I would just milk her out, infuse 50 cc's of 7% iodine in the quarter and then apply a castrating band on the teat as close to the udder as possible....it will eventually fall off and be very neat and smooth. If she's a good cow she'll give about as much out of 3 spigots as 4. ;-)