MIlk fever and now not producing a lot of milk

[Hunny Do Ranch]

I had a jersey cow calve last Friday (Aug 24th). She was given a bottle of cal-mag sub-q in the neck that morning. Everything was good that day she cleaned and was eating and nursing her calf.

Aug 25th she got milk fever and wasn't eating or drinking. I called the vet and he said to give her a bottle of cal-mag -IV and give her some antibiotics because he wasn't sure if it was only milk fever that we were dealing with. Well se went down in the squeeze and we had a heck of a time getting her so she could lay down. She finally sat up the next morning, drank some water and in the afternoon she was standing. I was told not to milk her out too much because she needed a chance to recuperate. She has nibbled on some hay but not enough to say she was eating.

Aug 28 I put her out in the pasture to get her to eat something. She ate at a slow pace yesterday but was eating a lot better and she is now filled out a lot more. I milked out about a gallon of milk.

Aug 29 I went out to check her and she has like no milk.

Any ideas? She is eating better now and feeling better cause she ran so I couldn't catch her this morning, it took me a bit then I just brought her calf in and she followed. She is bright eyed and pretty much back to her usual self. Any ideas on the milk? I don't want to stress her out but I also don't want her to dry up I have 3 Holstein calves to put on her that I am having to feed milk replacer to.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[milkmaid]

Sometimes when they haven't been milked for a few days they'll start to dry themself off... it's been long enough her body should have adjusted to producing milk, so put her on a 2x/day milking schedule and milk her dry every time. Maybe it'll be easier for you to put calves on than do it by hand. Were she on a dairy they might have skipped one milking after IV'ing her, but then she'd be back to a minimum of 2x/day; some dairies milk their fresh cows up to 6x/day.

Is her calf nursing? her calf may have nursed her dry... which could explain why she appeared not to have any milk.

 

[Hunny Do Ranch]

Sometimes when they haven't been milked for a few days they'll start to dry themself off... it's been long enough her body should have adjusted to producing milk, so put her on a 2x/day milking schedule and milk her dry every time. Maybe it'll be easier for you to put calves on than do it by hand. Were she on a dairy they might have skipped one milking after IV'ing her, but then she'd be back to a minimum of 2x/day; some dairies milk their fresh cows up to 6x/day.

Is her calf nursing? her calf may have nursed her dry... which could explain why she appeared not to have any milk.

Her calf is nursing but the amount of milk that I got out of her before that was at least 2 gallons each time. So I don't hink he would have eaten that much. She is being quite picky as to what she wants to eat right now, so hopefully she satrts eating and drinking better :lol:

 

[D_skro]

I am not shure about this, but my dad told me that they may not completly recover for the whole lactation period.

 

[GMN]

What comes to my mind is that she may have a uterine infection, sometimes when they clean they get infections from remainder junk in there, this would definetely make her go off feed, plus decrease her milk down to nothing and fast.

Another thing that comes to mind, when you said she is picky eating, is a displaced abomasum, or a twisted stomach. I would have a Vet out to check either of these things. If you let it go too long, she will lose her whole lactation.

Gail

 

[funky 4-Her]

Another thing that comes to mind, when you said she is picky eating, is a displaced abomasum, or a twisted stomach. I would have a Vet out to check either of these things. If you let it go too long, she will lose her whole lactation.

Yah, I forgot about this... we have had a bunch of cows who had this. I think surgery is the only way to fix it if that is what she has.

 

[GMN]

Another thing that comes to mind, when you said she is picky eating, is a displaced abomasum, or a twisted stomach. I would have a Vet out to check either of these things. If you let it go too long, she will lose her whole lactation.

Yah, I forgot about this... we have had a bunch of cows who had this. I think surgery is the only way to fix it if that is what she has.

Yes surgery is the only way to fix it, around here costs about $125 on the farm, maybe less if the animal is brought to the clinic.

I might add even with the surgery, I have had 2 done, they still lost the lactation, and never really were right again.

Gail

 

[Hunny Do Ranch]

What comes to my mind is that she may have a uterine infection, sometimes when they clean they get infections from remainder junk in there, this would definetely make her go off feed, plus decrease her milk down to nothing and fast.

Another thing that comes to mind, when you said she is picky eating, is a displaced abomasum, or a twisted stomach. I would have a Vet out to check either of these things. If you let it go too long, she will lose her whole lactation.

Gail

She is out with the other jersey and is eating fine with her now just not producing a lot of milk. But she looks so much better.