Should be simple.......

[Medic24]

Ok, first things first...I raise BEEF cattle, I am not a dairyman. I was raised on one, but did not pay attention obviously. Here's the situation.......

Have a 'pet cow', that I raised from a bottle some 6 years ago. She is 'our till natural death takes her from us' pet cow. She is JerseyX Holstien, and as gentle as a lamb most of the time.

She brought us a beautiful angus X calf last friday, and we immediately put on two more dairy breed calves to work the milk out of her. And she is finally starting to tolerate them on her, along with her own, Gees she has so much milk maybe I should have put a dozen on her. But anyway...... the two issues at hand.....

She came down with milk fever within a day of calving, and then after being treated, had a relapse about 5 days later....odd.... the vet said this was very rare occurance........ (Vicky are you reading this? your thoughts?) Took twice as much calcium glucanate to bring her back to par the second time.

ok, the calves are working over her front two teats, but are ignoring the two rear teats, and of course i am having to milk her out everyday. They do hang down a bit lower then the front, but are not yet ground draggers,

Any ideas on how i can easily get the calves to give some attention to the rear two cylinders as well? Short of taping the fronts up or the like?

Thanks to all. :cboy:

 

[Jake]

duct tape the front teats up for a day

 

[TheBullLady]

That is odd to have to retreat for milk fever twice. We've had it a couple of times in the past, but generally after they recover from the first treatment (or die, as was the case once) they don't have any further problems.

Try putting one of the calves behind the cow when you let them nurse. Short of holding your hand over the front two, that's all I can suggest.

 

[ranchmgr]

Grew up on a jersey farm, they are more prone to milk fever and second treatment is not that uncommon,and almost always gave two bottles of calcium with the first treatment. She will need to be watched in upcoming years as it seems that some individuals, no matter the nutrition, get it every year. Try giving a calcium gel next year after the first treatment, it is slow release and will be absorbed over a period of time rather than instantly.

 

[Beefy]

if you put all three on her at one time it seems like one would just about have to get on a back teat...

 

[Vicky the vet]

6 years ago. She is JerseyX Holstein,
She came down with milk fever within a day of calving, and then after being treated, had a relapse about 5 days later

Ok, she's a cross of two breeds which get milk fever. Jerseys can do it before they calve. She has a phenomenal amount of milk, and she's in the prime age to have milk fever...yes, this is COMMON and even expected, especially if you didn't change her feed in the dry period. She may continue to have calcium issues until even 6 weeks post calving. I would be orally supplementing her calcium intake with a calcium gel. Ask your vet.

As for the teats and being low, there is a bra for cows available--and no, I don't mean a 44DD, there is actually an appliance to strap on cows to hold up their udders.

Hope this helps...
V

 

[Medic24]

Well thanks all, and yes, thank goodness for Jeffers........ I had ordered a supply of CMPK gel for this very purpose...

Here goes nothing. will milk her out one last time to get the teats up a bit, and then tape those front bad boys, so it will leave only the backs available.
Thanks for the heads up on the lenght of time for observation there Vicky,,, will suppliment her periodicly.


Still looking for anyone else's ideas.............. :cboy:

 

[Farminlund]

Medic24,

Could you tell me what was involved in the treatment that brought your girl back from milk fever? Was she down? Was she unconscious? If not, how did you know that she had milk fever (early signs I guess)? Did you do the treatment yourself (your post says you talked to the vet but it's not clear whether or not he/she did the actual "procedure")?

thanks for any info or advice you might be able to share with me.

 

[Medic24]

Well there Farm, the long and short if it was.....
I had just brought her into the catch lot a few hours earlier, when my good buddy brought around to jersey calves to help pull her milk out, I had mentioned to him that she seemed a bit off, and was starting to stagger a bit, as well as quivering, because it was pouring a cold rain on us, I could not be sure that it was at first a real problem, but after he took a look at her, he knew right away it was milk fever, ( being a former dairyman of a HUGE herd) he knew what he was looking at better then I ever could.

We got her in a position to start treatments just as she went down, which although a very bad sign, actually made things easier for us, as we then had access to her milk vein, we put 500 cc's of Calcium glucanate in her vein, then another 500 in her via peratineal injection. she was up and walking around as if nothing had happened with less then an hour.

In the mean time this was all I had on hand, and ordered more of the same, as well as CMPK gel from Jeffers the next morning , assuming that one day I might need it, and low and behold a very few hours after i got the shipment in, she had a relapse, and once again, she got 1000 cc's total, as well as a tube of gel orally, this time it took a bit longer to get her up again.
Soooo,,,, she is getting one half of a tube each day after feeding, just to prevent any more problems. Cheap insurance!

The second time around I did call my vet to get him up here as I was rather concerned after he explained that a relapse that many days after the first was so rare , that he thought it could be something else. But he was on another call, and had a list of calls waiting on him, it was not likely he would be able to get here anytime soon, so we took the chance, and treated what seemed to be the most obvious problem, and once again, it worked.

Got to hand it to large animal vets........ they are a rare, and overworked group of great folks. I know he felt bad that he could not be here in a short time, and would have felt worse if something bad had happned to our "little pet", that he too had grown to know so well over the years.

So the lesson we learned was, keep plenty of this inexpensive item ready and waiting for use, that is the IV Calcium, and the gel, we will start giving even before calving to our suspect cows before it becomes an emergency. Prevention, is so much easier then treatment, and no doubt much better for the cow as well.

 

[Medic24]

Oh, and Jake....sorry to say.... the duct tape trick worked for like 2 minutes before they had it off of her.

Back to the drawing board! :cboy:

 

[jerry27150]

when milk fever is a problem you don't want to milk them over half out. from an old dairyman

 

[Jake]

Oh, and Jake....sorry to say.... the duct tape trick worked for like 2 minutes before they had it off of her.

Back to the drawing board! :cboy:

Well at least she had two minutes of usage... maybe electric tape would work better :lol:

 

[Farminlund]

Medic24,

Thanks so much for the detailed explanation. Sure hope that things continue to go well with ma & calf.

Agree on the large animal vets - the real ones are rare & tremendously overworked. Ours is over an hour away but worth the trip if you really have a problem - never wants you to fix something that isn't worth fixing, ie understands the economics of the cattle business.

Have lost 2 to milk fever & want not to have it happen again!

 

[preston39]

Well there Farm, the long and short if it was.....
I had just brought her into the catch lot a few hours earlier, when my good buddy brought around to jersey calves to help pull her milk out, I had mentioned to him that she seemed a bit off, and was starting to stagger a bit, as well as quivering, because it was pouring a cold rain on us, I could not be sure that it was at first a real problem, but after he took a look at her, he knew right away it was milk fever, ( being a former dairyman of a HUGE herd) he knew what he was looking at better then I ever could.

We got her in a position to start treatments just as she went down, which although a very bad sign, actually made things easier for us, as we then had access to her milk vein, we put 500 cc's of Calcium glucanate in her vein, then another 500 in her via peratineal injection. she was up and walking around as if nothing had happened with less then an hour.

In the mean time this was all I had on hand, and ordered more of the same, as well as CMPK gel from Jeffers the next morning , assuming that one day I might need it, and low and behold a very few hours after i got the shipment in, she had a relapse, and once again, she got 1000 cc's total, as well as a tube of gel orally, this time it took a bit longer to get her up again.
Soooo,,,, she is getting one half of a tube each day after feeding, just to prevent any more problems. Cheap insurance!

The second time around I did call my vet to get him up here as I was rather concerned after he explained that a relapse that many days after the first was so rare , that he thought it could be something else. But he was on another call, and had a list of calls waiting on him, it was not likely he would be able to get here anytime soon, so we took the chance, and treated what seemed to be the most obvious problem, and once again, it worked.

Got to hand it to large animal vets........ they are a rare, and overworked group of great folks. I know he felt bad that he could not be here in a short time, and would have felt worse if something bad had happned to our "little pet", that he too had grown to know so well over the years.

So the lesson we learned was, keep plenty of this inexpensive item ready and waiting for use, that is the IV Calcium, and the gel, we will start giving even before calving to our suspect cows before it becomes an emergency. Prevention, is so much easier then treatment, and no doubt much better for the cow as well.

===========
medic

apparently you lived up to your screen name. Hope mom is ok

Never had the experience..that I know of/recognized.....but with your excellent documented study some of us will feel more prepared when...not if..we know how that works... it comes.

As you look back..what might be some earlier symptoms/if any.....any thoughts?

 

[Farminlund]

So the lesson we learned was, keep plenty of this inexpensive item ready and waiting for use, that is the IV Calcium, and the gel, we will start giving even before calving to our suspect cows before it becomes an emergency. Prevention, is so much easier then treatment, and no doubt much better for the cow as well.

As I understand it, you should be doing just the opposite prior to calving (restricting not supplementing).

A low level of calcium intake a good while before calving insures that the bone tear down process is operating at max efficiency (instead of the cow relying on an abundant outside source). What causes the low calcium level during milk fever is that this process is either dormant or operating @ a very low level when the high demand is encountered (at lactation), then what was previously a more than adequate intake of calcium, falls far short of the requirement. Once in this condition, additional calcium must be administered to maintain muscle control but you should not give more than what is the least amount necessary to keep her going or maybe the bone tear down process stays low/dormant (that last thought is just IMO, all the other info is how my vet explained it to me a few years ago - nuff said).

 

[jt]

maybe milk the front 2 out completely before turning the calves in on her??

jt

 

[Beefy]

maybe milk the front 2 out completely before turning the calves in on her??

jt

wow JT. that advice is almost as simple as mine was. but a better idea.
although with a cross like that he may get carpal tunnel before he gets all the milk out...lol.

 

[Medic24]

Well thaks for all the support all!, yes I am still milking her out, the back two quarters anyway, she is a hand full in the front, and a two finger job in the rear. But the claves are slowly catching on that there is alot of milk in the rear to be had..

And Yes you are right again.......supplimental calcium before calving is counter-productive, as I am reading, that is until just the day before you expect her to calve. Then a tube of a product like CMPK gel would be good advice for prevention. So say's the vet. :cboy:

 

[jerry27150]

first you have to have calcium in their system. once had a real problem with 75% of my dairy cows getting milk fever & some died. vet had me giving phosphorus before freshening but it never helped. finally feed man figured out cows wern't getting enough calcium when they were milking from the lactation before & didn't have enough reserve to carry them through the next freshening