Farminlund
Well-known member
First off – my problem is somewhat self inflicted (should have grown wheels on the cow last yr). She has always raised excellent calves without any intervention, however, her front teats were very very large (& I guess must have gotten larger). She calved this past Wednesday & by the time I got involved it was obvious the calf could not get the nursing thing mastered. To make a long story short, we had to milk the cow some (slow for us) & give her some store bought colostrum via bottle to get her to day 2. On day 2 we got her on one of the normal sized rear teats, & on day 3 we helped her get hooked up with both rear teats. Day 4 saw one of the rear teats nursed without aid, but still hungry for more milk, so we aided again for the other rear teat. We thought it best to work with normal teats as that seemed the most likely for her to get on her own. Day 5 – looks like maybe both rear quarters were nursed (one seemed more that the other) & the calf had no interest in assisted nursing (just wasn't hungry). So things look pretty good but - we got milk from all teats on day 1, did nothing with the front teats on days 2-3 & on day 4 tried to get milk from the front teats – nothing then. Tried again on day 5, still nothing – huge teats, swollen but no milk anymore.
Should I leave well enough alone? Do I need to take some action? I would assume that these were the last to be sucked in past yrs but the fact that we started milk flow on day 1 & did not take anymore for a few days cause a problem? :?:
Should I leave well enough alone? Do I need to take some action? I would assume that these were the last to be sucked in past yrs but the fact that we started milk flow on day 1 & did not take anymore for a few days cause a problem? :?: