How can you tell if a cow has mastitis?

[OUVickie]

Her bag is full, but the baby can't/won't nurse. I'm perplexed.
It's a female calf born Friday, thought everything was okay and DH said he saw it nurse that morning. Saturday morning found the baby on the wrong side of the fence, put her back and gave her some pro-biotic paste cause it looked like she was scouring/loose. Got to the vet and got meds, but couldn't catch her that evening. Got to her Sunday morning with meds and all, but only saw her try to nurse a few times - looked like she did once, but not for sure.
Got bolus, bounce back and some milk replacer in her Sunday, but she just doesn't seem to get much when she nurses.
I can't tell if it's the calf that's sick and dehydrated - or if the Mom, who still has a full bag has mastitis and the calf can't nurse.

I have no idea how to tell if a cow has mastitis.
Anyone know?

[sammyd]

elevated temp
watery stringy clotty milk

[Ronney]

Vickie, let's start from the beginning. What breed is your cow - I'm guessing that it's a dairy or dairy cross of some sort? There is unlikely to be anything wrong with either the calf or the cow as such but if she only calved on Friday the chances are very high that she has a very full and sore udder to the point that she won't let the calf suckle. In the first few days of life it doesn't take too much booting off by the cow to stop the calf from trying and the poor little blighters give up.

Your going to have to bring this cow in and take away most of the milk to relieve the pressure on the udder and then put the calf on her. The calf may be reluctant the first time and you may have to work at it but once the pressure on the udder is relieved it should all be good.

Newborn calves have loosish, yellow stools so that is normal. Don't go giving it anymore meds of any sort until you have sorted the feeding problem out.


Cheers,
Ronnie

[Cotton Picker]

Originally Posted by Ronney

Vickie, let's start from the beginning. What breed is your cow - I'm guessing that it's a dairy or dairy cross of some sort? There is unlikely to be anything wrong with either the calf or the cow as such but if she only calved on Friday the chances are very high that she has a very full and sore udder to the point that she won't let the calf suckle. In the first few days of life it doesn't take too much booting off by the cow to stop the calf from trying and the poor little blighters give up.
Your going to have to bring this cow in and take away most of the milk to relieve the pressure on the udder and then put the calf on her. The calf may be reluctant the first time and you may have to work at it but once the pressure on the udder is relieved it should all be good.
Newborn calves have loosish, yellow stools so that is normal. Don't go giving it anymore meds of any sort until you have sorted the feeding problem out.

Cheers,
Ronnie

Hi Vickie....

I'm with Ronnie on what he said....

I would not believe that the problem is mastitis... This early in the game......

The cow may be of a breed or cross breed that produces more than adequate milk for a single calf.. The pressure on the udder is less than comfortable for the cow and she would be prone to kick at anything that exacerbates that soreness... I agree that you might wish to catch her up and attempt to relieve some of the pressure in her udder.....

Word to the wise.... Cows can kick pretty hard.... If she does... You can make a anti-kicker by looping a rope around the front of her udder and having an assistant cinch it up a little at a time.... Don't get too jiggy with it as you don't want to impede circulation.... Another method is to have an assistant to grasp the tail and pull it straight up and applying some forward pressure on the tail by grasping the tail at the base (closest to the body) and also about halfway up on the tail...... Pull it forward over her back....Kind of manually manipulate the tail into the same conformation as you would see on a Husky breed of dog...... Once restrained you can turn the calf loose on her and see if it will suckle... If not than you will manually.... Or mechanically, need to milk her out.......

You don't mention if she is a first calfer or a mature cow.... There is also the possibility of if she is a diary or dairy cross first calfer that she might have some udder edema...

http://www.admani.com/alliancedairy/...er%20edema.htm

There is also the possibility that the calf is not making enough of a dent in the turgidity of the bag to be noticeable by you.... Like Ronney said... I wouldn't administer antibiotics to the calf.... Probiotics to stimulate the gut would be acceptable.... You have done that..... I wouldn't administer any more probiotics at this time either.. Make sure that the calf is not running a fever i. e. higher than 103 degrees....

Hope this helps.....

David

[agmantoo]

Too much human interference. If you are not careful you are going to kill the calf with kindness. If possible milk the cow some to give her relief; it is common for the bag to be extended and not have a problem. Put the cow and calf together in a stall if possible. Pay no attention the consistency of the calf's BM at this point.

[Allen W]

Are the cows teats normal size or does she have balloon teats? If the calf can suck everything should be fine.

[OUVickie]

Well, it turns out she was just dehydrated and weak from the scours. After I got the meds down her yesterday and a bottle of Bounce Back and a quart of milk replacer in her, the scours quit and she rested overnite and was up and nursing this morning - PTL!!
These are Angus cows. Her Mom had a full bag and was standing for her to nurse yesterday, but I guess she was just too weak after being seperated from her Friday night. DH was home today and kept an eye on her and said once she latched on and nursed today she kept after it and was doing fine by the time I got home.
Thank goodness this one turned out well. We've only lost one calf before and it breaks my heart when it happens, so I was a worried wreck yesterday.

Thanks for the advice and suggestions everyone. It's nice to have somewhere to come for help!!

[Allen W]

If this calf got the scours as soon as it hit the ground you have a problem that you need to be finding answers for. Look at the conditions the cow calved in, a fresh clean area or a dirty area. Are your cow vaccinated for lepto, lepto can cause abortions, weak calves, and slow breeding.