I have a beef cow, she is tame and recently she lost her first baby (two days old). I can milk her, but I don't need a lot of milk - just some for the family. I'm wonder how often I can milk her and how much milk I should get from her just to keep her from losing her milk. I like to do it as minimum as it is possible.
How often to milk a cow?
- Thread starter starlinka
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bigbull338
Well-known member
you really need to milk her twice a day.that will keep her milking an keep her bagg healthy.if you want you can try to put a calf on her.an let her raise the calf.starlinka":27vtbbew said:
If I do it twice a day, how much of milk I should get from her each time? I don't really know what I can do with all extra milk... About another calf - what I do if she would not accept it? Can I force her to do it?
bigbull338
Well-known member
from a beef cow you should get 2 or 3 gal of milk a day.alot depends on if she is a heavy milker.if she is real gentle an you work with her she will prolly take the calf.be sure you can put her in a chute so the calf can suck.starlinka":2nxj0mlh said:
I'm not sure if I can use a quart a day! She is really tame. I raised her from a baby myself. What means "work with her"? If I will hold her using halter (she is halter-trained) for the first few times so a calf can suck her, she eventually will get use to it and accept it as it her own baby?
bigbull338
Well-known member
yes after a while she will take it as her own.the only thing you have to worry about is her kicking the calf as it trys to suck.starlinka":3lprodik said:
bigbull338
Well-known member
your welcome.starlinka":ubb9pgo9 said:
I just got another question. I tried to milk her, and three nipples on her udder worked fine, but I think one got a problem - at first, I hardly squeezed something out of it, but when something came out, it didn't look as milk - some kind particles, looked like small rice grains. I can feel it moving inside too. This part of her udder looked swollen too. I tried to squeeze out as much as I can. Finally, some clear milk came out. But the top part of her udder still looks like it swollen. She act like it hurts too. Is it mastitis? If so, what should I do about it?
bigbull338
Well-known member
sounds like it is mastitis.go to the vets an ask for something to treat mastitis with.oh an 1 thing to remember you cant drink anticbotic treated milk.so get the withdraw period.alot of them say to throw the milk away for 3 to 6 milkings from the last treatment.starlinka":xy2a3810 said:
bigbull338
Well-known member
that should work.just be mindful of your milk withdrawl times.it could be the swelling an cake breaking up in her bagg.thats causing the chunks an flakes in her milk.but im not there so i cant see the milk or flakes.starlinka":2ykw00jh said:
What is cake breaking? Is it normal process? Maybe I should wait to tomorrow and see if she'll get better before I put her on antibiotics? My husband always had those beef cows and seems like they never had any problems with their udders. They are wild so there is no way check it out anyway. Only this one is tame, this why I can see what going on with her. I'm a city girl myself - just learning everything about cows right now ;-)
bigbull338
Well-known member
cake is the swelling in her bagg breaking down an loosening up.most beef cows baggs are soft.they very rarely bagg up that tight an get swelling in them.starlinka":25rgqenj said:
born2run
Well-known member
I'd be a little slow to use LA200 for mastitis unless she was highly acute. A drug like IMM Pirsue works great.
starlinka":3qg36pws said:
If you have the antibiotic infusion tubes (ie, Tomorrow, Pirsue, Spectramast DC, Amoximast, etc) I'd treat her today. Generally the longer you wait to treat the longer it takes to clear up after you start treating. I wouldn't advise systemic treatment (such as oxytet IM or SC) unless you're using intramammary treatments at the same time. It's better to get the drugs up into the quarter where they need to go, rather than treating the entire cow. Besides, I have not been very impressed with LA200 for treating mastitis.
Thanks for some drug names - this will help. I just wonder what is infusion tubes - is that something that I give her shot with (like syrringe and needle)? Sorry, English isnt my first language.
Those particles that are coming out look like pieces of hard cottage cheese. I'll see if she will get better tomorrow morning, if not - I will go to Tractor Supply store and see what they got for this.
Those particles that are coming out look like pieces of hard cottage cheese. I'll see if she will get better tomorrow morning, if not - I will go to Tractor Supply store and see what they got for this.
GMN
Well-known member
Is the quarter hot to touch and hard? Cottage cheese clumps, is the milk normal looking or brown, clear or discolored? If it is just clumps infuse with Pirsue, this is a prescription drug, only from the Vet, Today can be bought at a feed store, I would put that up there. If the milk is discolored, quarter is hot, she will need a injectable antibiotic also, and maybe even an IV treatment. Sometimes these animals can get acute mastitis, and get a systemic infection which needs a very strong antibiotic. Being her calf died, this is probably just old milk that did not get milked out and turned clumpy, it might clear up on its own, after several strippings.
Gail
Gail
