Help. Our has a huge bruise on her udder...

BarbG · #1 01/29/09, 12:31 AM

And we are milking pretty much straight blood from that one quarter. The other 3 had a tiny bit of blood the 1st morning but now are fine (only enough to turn the first 1/2 gallon pink. She is due to calve in August/sept with her 7th calf. She calved a little bull calf in April and we've been milking 2x a day since then. She is alone on our place. She got out the other night (hit the hot fence on the way out and now is staying in) and came home with her back quarter huge and leaking blood. I milked about 5 cups of blood and clots out that morning and it's slowly been going down. She eats, she looks fine, though perks up after we milk it out. She has a visable bruise on her bag above the teat and one in the back under her tail. Her teat is fine and not warm at all. Only the bruises are warm to the touch. We think she may have gotten them from stumps in the deep snow (falling thru onto the stump??) We have several feet of snow. Today is day 2 and this morning I only got about 1/2 a cup of blood yuck and tonight dh got about the same tonight. Dh says the bag is all the same temperture tonight but that quarter is still stiff. Is there anything else we can do for her quarter?? Dh is going to call the vet tomorrow but we are sure it is not Mastistis!! Will we lose that quarter?? Will her quarter come back after the bruising goes away?? Will she get it back in her next lactation?? We've been getting 3 gallons morning and night. 6 total and now are getting 2 and a bit. So 4.5 total.

Thanks!!! We love our cow!!!
BarbG

BarbG · #2 01/29/09, 12:35 AM

Oh and can she get mastitis from this injury??

BarbG · #3 01/29/09, 12:46 AM

Oh I was just reading the sticky on sick critters and her breathings fine, she's drinking and eating and all that goes with it. She is a jersey/holstein cross and we love her!!

Ronney · #4 01/29/09, 04:50 AM

Barb, don't panic about it. As you say, she has probably banged herself on something submerged in the snow. Continue to milk her because you still need to do that as no matter what else is going on in her udder, she will still keep producing milk. I think you will find that the bruising will heal as bruising does and while there may be some drop in production, it won't be monumental. Good idea to talk to the vet, and yes, mastitis may set in as a result of bacteria but that doesn't necessarily follow.

And you can continue to love her, she's not going to die on you

Cheers,
Ronnie

milkinpigs · #5 01/29/09, 09:36 AM

Keep milking her out completely

Two things you can do:use one of the peppermint oil creams, massaged on the quarter after each milking.It helps to ease any soreness and increases circulation.

Treat that quarter wth mastitis tubes, you can feed it to animals until the medicine clears her system.

Up North · #6 01/29/09, 10:08 AM

Bruises usually heal up fast. I'll second using a peppermint cream. It dulls any pain and it really knocks out the swelling. I don't bother buying the peppermint creams that the farm supply companies put out now. I like to mix up my own. Right now I'm using a mixture of 1 tsp peppermint essential oil mixed with 1/2 cup castor oil. I also put some tea tree in that too. I think any oil would do you just need to dilute the essential oil. Castor is nice because it's really thick and massages into the udder nicely. I've also mixed my essential oils in with a cheap lotion you can buy at the store. Anyways, as a cattle owner bruising is a problem I really worry about the least. It freaks you out to see the blood and clots coming out but it usually heals up fast and I don't think I personally have ever had a case of bruising lead to mastitis. Heather

BarbG · #7 01/29/09, 12:02 PM

Thanks!! That's great. This morning I got about 5 cups of nasty stuff out of her. But when I was finished her quarter felt nice and loose. I probably could have gotten more but she was DONE!! LOL. I'm hoping the worst is over now.

Oakshire_Farm · #8 01/29/09, 05:59 PM

CALL YOUR VET ASAP!!!!! It sounds like Gangreen Mastits! I lost my holstein cow to that! I brought her in for milking she had brusing on the left side of her udder, we milked her and got the stinkiest, bloodiest, grosest looking stuff! I called the vet and he told us to put her down right away

It was gangreen mastitis. As time went by the brusing was spreading through her body, the vet said that if we didn't put her down she would go toxic and die as a result. I may be wrong, but I would have her checkedx out right away.

Up North · #9 01/29/09, 08:25 PM

If the cows udder felt loose after milking I don't think there is any mastitis there. If there was an infection there would be a lot of swelling and heat in that quarter. Ganggreen mastitis is just not that common. Plus no smell was ever mentioned.

Oakshire Farm, I'm sorry you lost your Holstein. I lost a first calf heifer to that kind of mastitis once and it was pretty nasty. Heather

JKB07 · #10 01/30/09, 11:29 AM

You do need to call your vet. Just in case. The buised area will be hard and hot with infection if it is gangreen mastitis, whis is much more common than mentioned. Do you have a picture we could see?

Justin

Oakshire_Farm · #11 01/30/09, 12:09 PM

When I lost my cow it was horible to watch, it moved through her body pretty fast. She was fine the night before and when I went to get her that am for milking I noticed that her vulva looked a little prolapsed? I called the vet before I even got her up and noticed the brusing. Of course it was a stat holiday so the vet was at home and took about 2 hours to get out. By the time he got to our place we had her in the barn and had milked her. The milk was really bright red? My hubby had been working on dairy farms for years and had never seem any thing like this?

When the vet got to our place he took one look at her and said that we had to put her down. He explained what it was and that there really was not an option for treatment. He said that the treatment is to remove the udder and treat agresivly with antibiotics. It was August when we lost her, the vet said because of the time of year the flies would be really bad and we would almost certainly loose her to infection bacause of the flies

It was one on the hardest thing that I have has to do when we put her down. She was a great cow, I had her broke to harness! lol

My vet said that Gangreen Mastitis is not very common, but he also said that alot of people don't recognise the symtoms and the cow usually will die undiagnosed. I live on a island and the vet said that he usually sees between 2-5 cases/year

Oakshire_Farm · #12 01/30/09, 12:10 PM

BarbG how is your cow today??????

BarbG · #13 01/30/09, 12:57 PM

Hey I really think she's going to be fine. This morning I got more blood and clots out of her but it's watered down with milk. Not all bright red anymore. Some of it was pink. There is no smell at all. And I've been massaging her quarter and there is a hard spot on the side but it gets smaller as I massage it. Her quarter was a funny pear shape yesterday but today it looks almost back to normal. Today is day 3. Her bag is not warm to the touch and she barely minded that I was touching it today. Yesterday and the day before she kept picking up her foot when it hurt and today she only did it once.

I think the blood and clots are from the bruises as they move down and go away. I got less clots this morning then yesterday. I massage her quarter then milk some clots and milk/blood, and then the clots there are gone until I massage her again. I do this until the clots and milk/blood are gone. She's fine other then that one quarter. The quarter was loose again this morning and is almost back to normal shape. It's actually nice the shape it's in now. Her back two teats were always so close together that you had a really hard time milking them together. (we actually milk one side then the other because there isn't enough room to do backs together and fronts together) Now they are far enough apart that they don't even touch and I have no problems milking them!!

I imagine it will go back to the way it was but it's nice while it lasts.

Thanks again and God Bless.
BarbG

BarbG · #14 01/30/09, 12:59 PM

Oh and I didn't even take pictures. And now you can't hardly tell.

farmmom · #15 01/30/09, 04:50 PM

Glad to hear she's healing so quickly.

Oakshire_Farm · #16 01/30/09, 04:52 PM

Glad to hear!!! Sounds like you are in the clear

BarbG · #17 02/02/09, 01:56 PM

Hey Just an update for you. Last night Dh noticed that he was getting more milk then blood and this morning was the same. Just enough blood to make it a nice rose color!!

But when you milk the milk shooting to the pail actually looks whitish. So she is on the mend and doing great. It will be a few more days til we keep that milk but she's recovering fast now!! Thanks again for your help.