Nursing front teats only

[Tod Dague]

Have calf nursing the front two teats only. The cow is a heavy milker so the calf is getting enough. The calf is now 5 days old. Will the cow stop producing in the rear teats? Do I need to milk her out untill he figures out what to do? I had thought of taping the front teats up to force the calf to nurse the back teats. Good idea / bad idea? :?

Tod

 

[la4angus]

Have calf nursing the front two teats only. The cow is a heavy milker so the calf is getting enough. The calf is now 5 days old. Will the cow stop producing in the rear teats? Do I need to milk her out untill he figures out what to do? I had thought of taping the front teats up to force the calf to nurse the back teats. Good idea / bad idea? :?

Tod

I would milk her out for a few days. You can always use the milk for the table. If you don't want to use raw milk use it in something cooked such as pudding or any other cooked food that calls for milk. Oatmeal and many others.

 

[txag]

Have calf nursing the front two teats only. The cow is a heavy milker so the calf is getting enough. The calf is now 5 days old. Will the cow stop producing in the rear teats? Do I need to milk her out untill he figures out what to do? I had thought of taping the front teats up to force the calf to nurse the back teats. Good idea / bad idea? :?

Tod

he should eventually find the back ones. as he starts getting some size on him & gets hungrier he should start nursing all 4.

 

[Tod Dague]

Thanks for the info. I went ahead and milked her this morning. The blood clots were still present. Hopefully if he does go to the back it won't take as much to get the milk to flow.
Tod

 

[dun]

What blood clots?

dun

Thanks for the info. I went ahead and milked her this morning. The blood clots were still present. Hopefully if he does go to the back it won't take as much to get the milk to flow.
Tod

 

[Anonymous]

I'm sorry but I may have this wrong. But I understood that there was a clot or pluge that formed within the teat during pregnancy to create a barrier from infection and help retain the milk. Not to worry I did not see any blood just had some dificulty with initialy then the milk was free flowing. I assumed that it was this plug.

Tod

What blood clots?

dun

Thanks for the info. I went ahead and milked her this morning. The blood clots were still present. Hopefully if he does go to the back it won't take as much to get the milk to flow.
Tod

 

[dun]

I was kid of concerned. Yes there's a plug, and it's sometimes pretty tough to get out. The reason I was concerned is that blood is a usual sign of mastitis. Can be just a broken blood vessel, but if it's mastitis and they're freshining with it that can be amajor problem. Yes I'm a busybody, but I'm relieved to hear there isn;t a problem.
On out heavier mikers we frequently only get two teats nursed for the first week or so. Had one real heavy milker that her tiny little calf only nursed one. Within a week his little buddies were all coming ove rfo lunch and that took care of the others getting nursed.

dun

I'm sorry but I may have this wrong. But I understood that there was a clot or pluge that formed within the teat during pregnancy to create a barrier from infection and help retain the milk. Not to worry I did not see any blood just had some dificulty with initialy then the milk was free flowing. I assumed that it was this plug.

Tod

What blood clots?

dun

Thanks for the info. I went ahead and milked her this morning. The blood clots were still present. Hopefully if he does go to the back it won't take as much to get the milk to flow.
Tod

 

[Tod Dague]

Feel free to give me input anytime; I have a lot of respect for your experience.
BTW how are your Cherokee Cnyn heifers doing? So far I haven't had a heifer yet but really like the bulls he's made. I'm looking at using Cheyenne from ABS this year. I hope to keep all of the advantages of CC but with higher M calving ease and more stretch.
Thanks again
Tod

I was kid of concerned. Yes there's a plug, and it's sometimes pretty tough to get out. The reason I was concerned is that blood is a usual sign of mastitis. Can be just a broken blood vessel, but if it's mastitis and they're freshining with it that can be amajor problem. Yes I'm a busybody, but I'm relieved to hear there isn;t a problem.
On out heavier mikers we frequently only get two teats nursed for the first week or so. Had one real heavy milker that her tiny little calf only nursed one. Within a week his little buddies were all coming ove rfo lunch and that took care of the others getting nursed.

dun

I'm sorry but I may have this wrong. But I understood that there was a clot or pluge that formed within the teat during pregnancy to create a barrier from infection and help retain the milk. Not to worry I did not see any blood just had some dificulty with initialy then the milk was free flowing. I assumed that it was this plug.

Tod

What blood clots?

dun

Thanks for the info. I went ahead and milked her this morning. The blood clots were still present. Hopefully if he does go to the back it won't take as much to get the milk to flow.
Tod

 

[dun]

We sent one to the feedlot program. Mid january when she left the backgrounder hse weighed 695 lbs, not bad from a late March heifer. I just couldn't bring myself to keep her because of the calfing ease questions.
We used a lot of Chateau this year and the calves should start hitting the ground in about 2 weeks.
I'm working on this years breeding plan now but I want to wait till I see what kind of calves he throws and also the Polled Hereford bull we used this year.
I think we're going to use a blk Angus bull on a bunch of them this year so I'll know for sure that they'll be going down the road and I won;t be tempted to keep as many heifers.

dun

Feel free to give me input anytime; I have a lot of respect for your experience.
BTW how are your Cherokee Cnyn heifers doing? So far I haven't had a heifer yet but really like the bulls he's made. I'm looking at using Cheyenne from ABS this year. I hope to keep all of the advantages of CC but with higher M calving ease and more stretch.
Thanks again
Tod

I was kid of concerned. Yes there's a plug, and it's sometimes pretty tough to get out. The reason I was concerned is that blood is a usual sign of mastitis. Can be just a broken blood vessel, but if it's mastitis and they're freshining with it that can be amajor problem. Yes I'm a busybody, but I'm relieved to hear there isn;t a problem.
On out heavier mikers we frequently only get two teats nursed for the first week or so. Had one real heavy milker that her tiny little calf only nursed one. Within a week his little buddies were all coming ove rfo lunch and that took care of the others getting nursed.

dun

I'm sorry but I may have this wrong. But I understood that there was a clot or pluge that formed within the teat during pregnancy to create a barrier from infection and help retain the milk. Not to worry I did not see any blood just had some dificulty with initialy then the milk was free flowing. I assumed that it was this plug.

Tod

What blood clots?

dun

Thanks for the info. I went ahead and milked her this morning. The blood clots were still present. Hopefully if he does go to the back it won't take as much to get the milk to flow.
Tod