Dairy Cow Teat Cut

[6e]

Need help. Our Jersey cow decided she wanted to go for a field trip and jumped the fence, but in so doing cut her teat on the barb wire fence. The teat she cut, of course, was on one of her higher producing quarters. She will not let me milk it at all. I was trying to find teat bandages that I could put on it to help keep it from infection and maybe to help me milk it. Any ideas how to get the milk out of this cow in a way that won't endanger my life? She's generally a very very sweet cow, but at this point she wants nothing to do with milking. Two milkings have gone by now that I haven't been able to get anything out of it and that quarter is pretty tight now. She will let me wash the teat so I've kept the wound pretty clean, but I am worried about the milk she's holding in there. I suppose if I have to I'll call the vet out to drain that quarter, but I won't be able to get ahold of him till Monday.

Soo, ideas here on how to milk this cow and not get kicked over the moon. Or can I let it go until it heals a bit?

[arcticow]

You had best see if a large animal vet anywhere close will come .This needs tended NOW.Would you rather lose a quarter, or pay vet bill. FYI, I'd order a teat cannula from somewhere to use if this happens again. Then you can drain a quarter w/o skinned knuckles.

[Trisha in WA]

Do you hand milk or machine milk? I am going to assume you hand milk. You can get someone to hobble her (with a fat cotton rope or a long old towel or shirt). Also, I have found that with my cow when she had a cut on her teat, if I don't completely let go of her teat between squirts it is better. It is just that first few squirts that she was really mad.
I have also heard of tying a rope snugley (but not too tight) around their belly just in front of the udder keeps them from kicking, but I don't have any fist hand experience with that method.
Good luck.
Trisha

[Ronney]

If she will let you wash it the chances are she will allow you to insert a drain. It's a slow way of getting the milk out but I've used it on cows with cut teats that won't let me milk them.

Oops, just realised arcticow has posted the same thing but it does work.

Cheers,
Ronnie

[matt_man]

The rope around the belly does work to keep them still. I would suggest a second person being there to hold the rope and help you out. I also second the thought that if you just get to milking and don't let go, she won't mind it so much.

[Madsaw]

Do you have her in a stanchion? Another trick is to off balance her by tieing up a front leg. Just enough to take the weight off it and put her off balance.
Then with a soothing udder cream on your hand strip her out. She will be ----ed but they get better after a few milkings and put up with it. Usally right after it first happens they donot feel the pain as bad. It a day or 2 later they get mad. I had some barb wire cost me $1800 in bills. The heifer really done a number on me. She turned out to be a great cow after that.
Bob

[6e]

Originally Posted by arcticow

You had best see if a large animal vet anywhere close will come .This needs tended NOW.Would you rather lose a quarter, or pay vet bill. FYI, I'd order a teat cannula from somewhere to use if this happens again. Then you can drain a quarter w/o skinned knuckles.

It's not paying the vet bill that bothers me. It's the fact that you can't get a hold of this vet on weekends. It would have to wait till Monday.

I tried once again to milk her out and it's very tight. I'll try hobbles. I may try the rope around the belly too. I put antibiotic on the cut and she lets me do that, but she's extremely touchy. I barely touch it and she moves away. And if I insist she kicks. I can't even get a couple squeezes in before she's kicking and moving away. Sooo, tomorrow we'll tackle it again and see if we can't get it milked out.

[6e]

Originally Posted by Madsaw

Do you have her in a stanchion? Another trick is to off balance her by tieing up a front leg. Just enough to take the weight off it and put her off balance.
Then with a soothing udder cream on your hand strip her out. She will be ----ed but they get better after a few milkings and put up with it. Usally right after it first happens they donot feel the pain as bad. It a day or 2 later they get mad. I had some barb wire cost me $1800 in bills. The heifer really done a number on me. She turned out to be a great cow after that.
Bob

You're right. Right after it happened she let me milk it, but the next morning, watch out! LOL
She's an older cow and should probably be drying off soon. She only makes a little over 2 gallons a day, but this was one of her higher producing quarters. If it had been her quarter that's almost dry I wouldn't have worried so much.

[6e]

Originally Posted by Madsaw

Do you have her in a stanchion? Another trick is to off balance her by tieing up a front leg. Just enough to take the weight off it and put her off balance.
Then with a soothing udder cream on your hand strip her out. She will be ----ed but they get better after a few milkings and put up with it. Usally right after it first happens they donot feel the pain as bad. It a day or 2 later they get mad. I had some barb wire cost me $1800 in bills. The heifer really done a number on me. She turned out to be a great cow after that.
Bob

Oh, to answer your question, no we don't put her in a stanchion. We don't even tie her. She just walks in, eats and we milk her. She's a very very sweet cow and even now, she's sweet, it just hurts.

[6e]

Yay we got her milked out!!

I can't say that rope around the belly thing works very well, but a friend of mine came over and he was able to dodge the kicks and get her milked out anyway. Happy happy. He agreed to keep coming over and helping until it's healed up.

[Madsaw]

Ok just use a rope halter or somethign to tie her up near a wall to work with her. Just get a good udder cream on your hand and lay your shoulder into her just ahead of her leg. She woun't be happy but if she is not to bad you can press her against the wall and milk her. You just might have to show her who the boss is. As long as the canal is not damaged or the end she should milk out fine. She is just going to be ----ed about the cut. How deep is it?
Later
Bob

[6e]

Well, there is no milk coming out of the cut, so it didn't go all the way through to the canal which I am very grateful for! It flayed it more than cut it. But her teat was pretty swollen and that was opening it up which I'm sure made it hurt worse. She's a very very sweet cow, it was just hurting. I kept her busy with sweet feed and cow treats and petting while he milked her. He was very gentle with her and didn't open it back up. It's scabbed up, but it's just sore. Hopefully she doesn't go jumping the fence any more. But the milk came out just fine. So the canal and opening are unharmed!

[Tana Mc]

I'm glad you got this worked out with Pauline. When your hubby called, I knew that the only thing to really do was just grit your teeth and milk her. You do need to get her dried off at least by the end of July. Since she milked all but 2 weeks last year ( not my fault-- previous owner botched up recording her breeding dates) and she is well over 8 yo, she really needs a rest.
She IS without a doubt the sweetest bovine in the state of Kansas.
Tana Mc