Udder Edema

[inyati13]

This cow is on her fourth calf. Her udder edema gets worse each calving. I have not given Salix but am considering giving her a dose tomorrow. The calf is Sired by Limestone Rimrock.

 

[dun]

If he's able to nurse and getting enough why bother. It will come down on it's own with the calve nursing and butting the udder

 

[branguscowgirl]

I have never given Salix. What is the harm if you don't Ron?

 

[sim.-ang.king]

No blown out teats, ought to be fine.

 

[Nesikep]

I had a heifer last summer with edema.. she turned out fine and raised a rather impressive heifer calf over the winter.. I haven't had many cases of it, but have never given anything for it either

 

[branguscowgirl]

No blown out teats, ought to be fine.

Is having "udder edema" what truly causes "blown out teats"??

 

[sim.-ang.king]

No blown out teats, ought to be fine.

Is having "udder edema" what truly causes "blown out teats"??

Usually from getting old or bad genetics, but if the fluid build up is enough it can in some cases settle in the teats, and blow them out. But that's extreme, and most the time it has more to do the mastitis that forms from not getting milked, because of the edema fluid build up making it harder to milk, and so on and so forth....

 

[ohiosteve]

She looks like a good milker with nice teats. I wouldn't worry about it. Her calf is obviously having no problem nursing. Why intervene?

 

[Lucky_P]

Just looks like a full udder to me - not an edematous one.

 

[inyati13]

The calf is nursing at least 3 of the teats. I turned her out with the calf today.

 

[Nesikep]

She's a good milker... I'm not sure that's edema either.

The heifer I had with some edema last summer has a perfect udder, and it wasn't causing me or the calf any grief

 

[gdale]

I'd never even heard of udder edema or experienced it in any of our cattle until about a week ago. I had a 2-yr-old red Limousin heifer that started showing a rather large bag about 2 weeks prior to calving, with her udder running halfway up her backside with rather big, firm-looking protuding nodules and overall big bag. She calved and had a beautiful little black Lim-flex heifer calf, and things looked good for the first day, and on day 2, I decided to get her and milk her out. I was getting a little worried because her bag looked so tight, and I had this funny feeling that the calf just wasn't looking as bright or as good as I knew a 2-3 day old calf should. Imagine my surprise when I felt her bag for the first time -- it was firm like stiff silly putty or a stress-reliever ball, and when I squeezed or massaged her bag, that firm mass would shift around and settle right back in place and I could leave my finger imprints when I pressed it. It didn't hurt her and she acted like she enjoyed it, but I milked her partially out at least 2 times a day for a couple days, thinking it would soften things up and make it easier for the calf to suck. My local vet wasn't really sure what to do and hadn't really dealt with this issue in beef cattle. She recommended that I give her a couple doses of Oxytocin and Zactran (antiobiotic) to help with the edema. I got the heifer in the chute for the nth time and hoped this would help. Still, after doing that, I don't think the calf was getting much milk, and about day 3-4, her heifer calf was becoming lethargic and looking dehydrated. This time, I milked the heifer out and tubed the milk into the calf because I couldn't get the calf to suck a bottle after a struggle with that. The next morning, the heifer looked like she still hadn't been sucked yet, so I milked her out again, and tubed the calf again. The calf was still lethargic, didn't attempt to get up when I got close. Multiple times I watched the calf attempt to suck the heifer, but the calf would give up after a few tries and then lay back down. Well, I knew this wasn't good, so I drove 15 miles to town, bought some electrolyte packets and rushed home to mix up a quart using 9.0 pH Kangen water. I tubed the calf again with the electrolyte mix that afternoon and hoped this was the turning point. About dark, I went back to check on the calf (and hoping I wouldn't need to milk the heifer out again or tube the calf), and I was pleasantly surprised and cautiously optimistic when I saw the calf on her feet and acting better. I decided to turn the pair out in our 40 acre pasture and check on progress in the morning. Well, that was this morning, and the calf was looking really good and had a dramatic improvement since last evening. I had one of the kids check again around noon today for me and the calf was alert, running around, and doing great. I was just sure that I was going to lose a good calf. Anyway, that's my experience with udder edema. From some of the data I've read on it, it's 'common' in first calf heifers (dairy) and/or associated with legume or increased sodium intake, or impaired lymph circulation from the lower abdomen because of fetal pressure in the pelvic area. I sure hope this isn't going to be a repeat next year!