Mastitis

[charlie01]

Hi,
I have a cow that has Mastitis. We have treated her with penicillin, but that didn't work.
She has had it now for a year, does anyone have a way of treating a Mastitis case that is of age?
or should she be sent to the sale yards (if I can I would like to avoid sending her to the sales as she's a massive cow and have only got one calf out of her, which we had to bottle feed because of Mastitis.



Help Please!!

 

[regolith]

Dry cow therapy is your only real option, though if she's had it a year or isn't close to drying off it might be best to cull.

DCT has a higher cure rate on mastitis than you can get during lactation, use it the day you wean the calf or stop milking her, if she's not clear at next calving after DCT then cull her. If she's already dry it won't work.
Extending treatment or changing the drug group when she first got the infection might have been effective, too late for that now.

 

[charlie01]

Dry cow therapy is your only real option, though if she's had it a year or isn't close to drying off it might be best to cull.

DCT has a higher cure rate on mastitis than you can get during lactation, use it the day you wean the calf or stop milking her, if she's not clear at next calving after DCT then cull her. If she's already dry it won't work.
Extending treatment or changing the drug group when she first got the infection might have been effective, too late for that now.

I have heard of DCT, but what does it involve me doing??

 

[B&M Farms]

DCT involves infusion of antibiotics into the mammary. You must be extremely clean as to not introduce more bacteria. If it were me I would ship her. If she has had an infection over a year it will be hard to get rid of. If its one quarter I have heard of using silver nitrate to dry the quarter up permenantly.

 

[regolith]

I have heard of DCT, but what does it involve me doing??

It comes in intramammary tubes you get from the vet, one for each quarter. They should give you alcohol wipes too, to clean the base of the teat before insertion.
Basically - take one lactating cow, put her in the headbail or whatever restraint/help you need to fiddle with her tits and not get kicked. If her teats are reasonably clean wipe the bottom of them till the wipe comes away spotless (front teats first then back), then uncap the DCT tube, draw a bit of milk if need be to identify the exact location of the hole, insert the tip and empty the tube into the teat. Back teats first then front, don't let the tip of the tube touch anything prior to insertion. In the dairy we teatspray them too before letting them go, and apply spraypaint liberally just in case she jumps back in with the milking herd after being separated.
Don't milk her again or let any calves suckle her till she calves, and you can't cull her for meat for 30 - 45 days or whatever the tube says. DCT is a slow-release antibiotic.

It's a lot easier than it sounds, provided you've got a co-operative cow.
If you're getting a lot of mastitis ask your vet about the best treatments to use.

 

[inyati13]

I had a cow with chronic mastitis. I used DCT and a shot of LA 200. It worked and she totally recovered from a longtime case of chronic mastitis. She was a beef cow but what regolith said is just what I did. I would follow regolith instructions. My cow was not easy to handle but I have a good cattle handling facitity which made it all possible.

 

[TexasBred]

When you buy the mastitus tube ask the vet to be sure and give you an alcohol prep swab to clean the teat end. Several different dry cow meds out there but I always had my best results from a product called Quartermaster. Those tubes normally have an insert about 1 1/2 inches long. No need to insert the entire thing in the teat canal. Insert only enough to ensure that the meds go up into the canal then massage it farther up.

 

[charlie01]

Are the meds given after the cow has given birth or when she starts to milk up before birth?

 

[suzorse]

is this a beef cow or a dairy cow ? if you are using a dry cow treatment , she gets it at dry off,which means 2 to 3 months before she calves again or when you wean the calf ,or with dairy at the last milking, if she is dry now, you can strip everything out of her udder then infuse after wiping ends of teats good with alcahol ,after infusing and massaging the medicine in her udder you will dip all 4 teats in a weak iodine solution ,the meds have to be given at least 45 days before calving again
I dry treat all my cows at dry off last year when I had a case of ecoli mastitis we used Nexcell
and today infusions, I also did a lot of extra label stuff and my cow has been clear all this lactation
you need to also get a culture done to find out what it is and how to treat it ,if it is positive for Staff A cull the cow Sorry Suzanne
Suzanne