New heifer - udder problems...

[FlowerFieldFarm]

Hi,
We brought our 3 heifers home Monday afternoon, and knew that the Guernsey/Angus was ready to pop any minute. She delivered a 95 lb bull calf at 6:00 this morning. We got the stanchion set how we needed it and got her in for her first milking.

Front left quarter had very little
Back left quarter had some.
Front right quarter had the most.
Back right quarter was plugged - got one drop. Also very firm, but not hot.

Called vet - they didn't have a dialator. They had a plastic needle thing with a hole in each end that you insert into the teat to drain it. They didn't have the metal version to sell, but they sent along theirs because it was longer than the plastic with a bigger opening. Long story short, we did the plastic one first, then the metal, and got nothing. We went ahead and put a tube of Spectramast LC into the teat and gave her 10 cc penicillin. After this we did another 10 minute massage of that quarter. It still feels very full.

Did I mention that although she stamped her foot several times, she did not kick or jump around. She is a keeper - I don't want to lose that quarter and have problems in the future.

Any ideas?

 

[regolith]

Calf had already suckled and the back right quarter is blind.

That's my interpretation of your description. If the quarter is blind I wouldn't recommend you attempt to do anything about it. She may well be just fine as a three-quartered cow.
Try the teat again for the next couple of milkings, if no success forget about it, enjoy the three that work.

 

[FlowerFieldFarm]

Thanks for the reply. This took so long to post that I did get a few responses on another board and I think you are right that the quarter is blind, but I was going try it the next few milkings to be sure. I know the calf didn't suck - he is on my front porch ;-)

 

[dun]

No pun intended but that sucks!

 

[FlowerFieldFarm]

Yes it does! Now I wish I had waited to treat her - it sounds like I caused myself more work and now I have the withdrawal time. I can see how the needle would have worked if it was mastitis.
Thanks again.

 

[bigbull338]

every1 is right sounds like she has a blind quarter.dun youve been in the milk barn to long.

 

[chippie]

I'm curious, why didn't you let the calf nurse? The colostrum is so important to it's health plus the calf's nursing will stimulate the cow contractions so that she can expel the afterbirth, plus the calf butting her udder and nursing will stimulate her to let her milk down.

We have family milk cows. We let the cow have the calf for at least 24 hours before separating them. My daughter's Jersey cow has a little heifer. My husband milks three quarters and leaves the fourth for the calf. It's funny, she knows where to go when I put her mother in the pen. I let her nurse, then turn the cow back out in the pasture.

good luck.

 

[Suzie Q]

I am kind of thinking the same as Chippie. Why did you milk her out?

 

[FlowerFieldFarm]

Sorry - I didn't really think all of those details were relevant... He was a big calf and the tendons on his back legs were a little contracted. He chilled very quickly because he hadn't yet nursed by 11:00 - even with help he wasn't strong enough. So we put her in the stanchion, got some colostrum, and brought him in about two. I fed him a little bit every hour until midnight, then slept til six. By then he was up and bawling. Got him suck good in the house, let him out to here and he sucked her dry. This is not my first rodeo or my first calving, but I've never had a heifer with a dry quarter right off the bat.

Thanks

 

[FlowerFieldFarm]

Forgot to add... she had expelled the afterbirth before we ever put here in, and we do plan to leave the calf with her during the day and lock him up at night for morning milk - Just didn't work that way right off.

 

[chippie]

Well we can only go by what you write.
And it is possible for her to be born with a blind quarter (birth defect).

 

[FlowerFieldFarm]

I have stopped all treatment other than massage and letting calf nurse, so now it's just wait and see. How much chance is there that her heifers would be the same?

 

[Suzie Q]

It sounds like they are in good hands. I have no experience with that.

 

[bigbull338]

I have stopped all treatment other than massage and letting calf nurse, so now it's just wait and see. How much chance is there that her heifers would be the same?

the chances of her heifers having the same prob are slim to none.so you have no worries.a blind or a lite quarter is something that just happens.

 

[FlowerFieldFarm]

*Update*

We have massaged it and tried to strip it and we have gotten a few squirts each time yesterday, but today it was blood tinged and less again - so it doesn't seem blind to me. I went ahead and put a little more Spectramast LC in that teat - pigs are still getting any extra milk.

Got heifer #2 into the stanchion today(she's not due till may but seems to be bagging up) and she had a wart? over her left front teat opening. Arg.

 

[GMN]

Yes it does! Now I wish I had waited to treat her - it sounds like I caused myself more work and now I have the withdrawal time. I can see how the needle would have worked if it was mastitis.
Thanks again.

I'd advise against using the teat dilator in the future, as they can do more damage than good.

If you feel along the teat canal, does it feel hard or like there is scar tissue in the teat canal? If so that quarter is probably just dead.

GMN