swollen teats

[pauline]

Last year we bought an old hereford beef cow from a neighbor. Last Friday, she gave birth to a baby girl. I went to work on Friday so on Saturday morning I checked on mother and baby. The mother's three teats were all swollen and tight and reddish-brown looking. The baby slept a lot. When the baby finally got up and tried to nurse, she sucked on her mother's chest hair for 3 to 5 minutes in a row, as if she didn't know where to get milk. When finally she got around her mouth around the teats, she couldn't get the gigantic teats in her mouth. I did not see her nurse once. The mother's milk bag is flabby but the teats were swollen.

I gave the baby milk replacer and milked the mother and fed the baby throughout the night. The next day, I bought and gave her colostrum powder. After that, the baby stayed with the mother nursing on the one good teat occasionally, and I fed her milk replacer on the side. She passed out reddish semi-liquid stool.

After that, we stopped feeding her milk replacer because we couldn't catch her. She stayed with mother all the time sucking on the skinny teat she can put in her mouth. Miraculously, the good teats went from one, to two, to three and then all four teats now are soft and normal size and pink. The baby now nurses more often sucking on all 4 teats and she passes out small stools of brownish semi-solid.

Questions:
1. Is it a good move on our part to feed her with milk replacer while she could suck on one good teat? I'm thinking the abrupt change of diet caused the reddish stool.
2. Did the mother have mastitis? It seems that after the baby sucking on/massaging on the teats do some good to them.

Thanks
Pauline

 

[novatech]

I would not be concerned with mastitis at this point.
I would also stop the supplement feeding. If this is an older cow she can probably handle it alright. A calf only getting 1 teat at first is pretty normal. It is when they always skip the same one that you have to worry.

 

[TexasBred]

Pauline that will happen most of the time. That "small teat" was the one the calf sucked the very first time. As he got stronger he worked his way to the others and some of the swelling may have subsided as well.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

"When in doubt" - you did right to suppliment the calf. BUT, if I read your post correctly, you purchased colostrum suppliment on Sunday. That was a waste of your money if fed to the calf after 24 hours old. Actually, they get very little benefit after 12 hours. It would be good to get another package to have on hand for the next calf - if needed.

Here's an article:
" Timing of colostrum feeding is important because the absorption of immunoglobulin from colostrum decreases linearly from birth. "Intestinal closure" occurs when very large molecules are no longer absorbed into the circulation and this occurs because the specialized absorptive cells are sloughed from the gut epithelium. In calves, "closure" is virtually complete 24 hours after birth, although efficiency of absorption declines from birth, particularly after 12 hours. Feeding may induce earlier closure, but there is little colostral absorption after 24 hours of age even if the calf is starved. This principle of timing of colostrum feeding holds true whether the colostrum is directly from the first milk of the dam, or supplied by hand feeding. "

You were lucky, the calf was able to suckle a teat on it's own. Next year, you may not be so lucky. this cow is a prime candidate for culling. Large teats are very bad, unless you plan on intervening & helping. Of course, it may not be as bad as I picture. Old Hereford = funnel teats. Modern Hereford breeders have been trying to eliminate this trait.

 

[pauline]

Thank you for all your replies.

I rushed to the store to buy colostrum powder on Sunday (the baby was born on Friday). Even the store woman told me "it's too late, honey", but I fed her anyway, just in case. I felt better to think that I did all I could for the baby.

In the article about colostrum in your reply, it says "Feeding may induce earlier closure". What does that mean?! Any kind of feeding? Last night, I had another baby calf. My husband was so traumatized by the last baby that this time, he went out in the night and fed this new born baby with milk replacer (no colostrum powder in the house)! Did this feeding intervention induce earlier intestine closure that my husband practically killed the baby's chance to survive?

thanks
Pauline

 

[pauline]

Hi,

I have one more question because I have one more baby coming. Is it a good strategy if I feed a newborn (say right after birth) colostrum powder to "help" with the baby's colostrum absorption, even though the baby might get some from the mother?

I always thought we should not interfere with nature. If the baby is with the mother and the mother is not sick, then nature/mother will take care of the baby. But after reading literature about the critical 12-hour window and not seeing the baby nurse when we check on her, I was wondering if we should safeguard the baby with some colostrum powder right from the start, or are we making it worse because of the changing diet (milk from mother and milk powder from us)?

We are very inexperienced farmers, and I have a full time city job.

Thanks for your help.
Pauline

 

[jcarkie]

all cows are pretty swollen when they give birth,but some cows have really large teats.i don't worry about even the really large teats unless it goes past 2 weeks then it is a problem. as long as the baby is getting them even one at a time. by that time the swelling is gone and the calf is strong enough to get all it wants.
baby calves will nurse in small amounts at first and very often, as they get stronger they nurse longer and less often. they may only nurse one teat at first if the cows give alot of milk it can take a few days to get all four. i have seen them nurse only one side for several days.
best to leave them alone and let them work it out. if the calf gets up and seems strong and healthy.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Pauline,
Yes, the article meant ANYTHING that the calf drank/ate will start the closure process. This, by no means, means the calf is going to die! It lowers the calve's ability to utilize the colostrum's antibodies. The more antibodies it "collects" from the dam, means it has more "resistance" to bugs. If the calf's immune system is not greatly challenged with disease, it will start developing it's own immunites. Mom's colostrum antibodies only last til the calf is 3 months of age.
There are MANY calves still alive in this world that NEVER received any colostrum.
You are right, mother nature SHOULD take care of everything, but, calves can be born weak and don't get right up & suck. That's when you need to intervene. If calf is able to get up & seems strong, it should suck.
Now, I hope you have powdered colostrum on hand for next calf
The powdered colostrum will not hurt the calf, before or after it actually sucks mom.
If you don't have black teats, a little trick I have used:
Get some teat dip (it's real thick liquid) and ADD some household food die. Dip the teats (I get bright blue) prior to her calving (or if she's a sweetheart you can do it after she calves & you are wondering if the calf is sucking. The calf will clean off her teat. This won't work if cow is in a muddy situation because the teats will just get dirty or rubbed off on wet mud.

 

[pauline]

Thank you very much for your advice.

The baby girl sucking on the swollen teats (the teats were hard, tight, swollen and brownish on the outside) is now doing very well. The mother will definitely go to the auction, but we were wondering whether we should keep the girl as replacement.

Your advice has answered my question. I should keep some powdered colostrum at home during calving. If we get too worried or the situation doesn't look good, we can at least do a good intervention, in time.

Thanks
Pauline

 

[DavisBeefmasters]

Heather Smith-Thomas has a fabulous article in the Western Cowman (January 2008 issue) that you should read... it will help you.

The link is...

http://westerncowman.com/january08/trails.html

Go to "The Basics: Part 2" article

Good luck and happy calving!

 

[pauline]

Thank you for the article.

I'm glad to find out from the article that since "closure" will begin after feeding, it is not a good idea just to feed the calf little colostrum if he is not going to get much from the mother later on. In that case, give the calf a full meal.

Does anyone know how much is a full meal if I am going to bottle-feed the calf powdered colostrum after its birth?

Thanks
Pauline

 

[dun]

Thank you for the article.

I'm glad to find out from the article that since "closure" will begin after feeding, it is not a good idea just to feed the calf little colostrum if he is not going to get much from the mother later on. In that case, give the calf a full meal.

Does anyone know how much is a full meal if I am going to bottle-feed the calf powdered colostrum after its birth?

Thanks
Pauline

The instructions for mixing and feeding are on the package.

 

[DavisBeefmasters]

With colostrum - it's usually 1 package to 4 pints (2 quarts) of water... keep reading on this board and if we as the board could recommend a book for you it's "Storey's Guide to raising beef cattle".

You have the stamina to educate yourself and succeed -- you're on the right path so far! Good work.

 

[pauline]

Thank you. I'm still trying to learn.

I think I didn't ask the question correctly. What I meant to ask is, to give the calf a full feeding of colostrum, how much colostrum should I feed the calf and get it done? For example, do I feed two quarts of colostrum in the first two hours, and then do I need a second feeding (assuming the baby hardly gets any from mother) at about how many hours later, and when do I stop feeding colostrum?

I'm sorry for the confusion.

Thanks
Pauline

 

[novatech]

The vet can take a blood sample and tell if a calf got colostrum and approximately how much. There is also a shot that can be given as a replacement. It is nit the real thing but it saved a calf for me a couple of weeks ago.

 

[I luv herfrds]

pauline I just gotta ask.
Why do you want to feed the calf colostrum before it even has a chance to try to nurse the cow?
The stuff from Mom is the best. The cow has colostrum already. That first nursing is best.
Now it does take time for the calf to learn to nurse, ours will suck on the chest, the legs and everywhere else in between. Now a good old cow will know what to do to help the calf learn to nurse. A first year heifer maybe pretty nervous and unsure.

The only time we will interfer is when the calf has gotten cold or is too weak to nurse on it's own or the mother has rejected the calf.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

"Generally" all calves nurse on their own. BUT, if it was a long labor, hard labor, pull, thin cow, extreme cold, muddy, etc, calf may be born weak and you should get the first 2 quarts into the calf ASAP. After that, you have to decide if the calf starts sucking mom, if not, another 2 quarts in 12 hours, than milk replacer if you are still having to suppliment.
You won't learn if you don't ask, so ask away. We will TRY to help.

 

[Hippie Rancher]

With those old big teated cows, you can milk them out and have your colostrum right there. I wouldn't be in such a hurry to stuff a newborn with store-bought products when a functioning cow is right there.

Sure keep stuff around for cases of dead cows, but otherwise try to use what you are supposed to use.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

You don't need an old big teated cow to get colostrum from the natural dam. I'm just too old/tired/lazy now to bother. We used to always put the cow in the chute. The powdered "stuff" is greatly improved & works great during the middle of the night.

 

[Red Bull Breeder]

Most of the time people new to cattle, do to things over or under react. Always give nature a chance first If the calve is up and moving around good most times they will get a teat an go to work on it a little at first an then more the calve knows how to suck its just where that gives them a little trouble. I would agree with hippie no use to buy colstrum with a perfectly good cow on hand. Besides if you get the colstrum from the cow you will no if the the calve can get milk from the cow also you those big teats get milked down and flowing.