Cow giving milk before freshening

McDaid36 · #1 07/31/11, 07:26 AM

We brought home our new heifer yesterday (a Dexter/Jersey cross). She's due to calve in October. She was already bagging up and has milk visibly dripping out of her teats. The farmer said to keep an eye on her and milk her out every 3 - 4 days or more if her udder gets really full. He also gave me a container of frozen colostrum for when the calf arrives since she obviously won't have any. He did milk her out a little bit while I was there and said he saw a couple of flakes. I'm going to do a CMT on her this morning and milk her out completely.

Since this is our first cow I have a couple of questions - is there anything else I need to know in order to prepare for the calving and how this will affect her after the birth? If some of the quarters test negative on the CMT and I keep the positive and negative milk separate, can the negative milk be used for our family? Anything else you think I should know? I am not giving her any feed right now other than grass and hay per the farmers advice.

Thanks so much!

linn · #2 07/31/11, 09:42 AM

I suppose it is possible for a heifer to start lactating that early, but I would be more inclined to think that she has either lost her calf or is going to calve much earlier than October. We have never had a heifer drip milk three months before calving.

McDaid36 · #3 07/31/11, 10:55 AM

The farmer did try to "bump" her but he said he didn't feel a calf yet. Not sure if that's a reliable method of not, but he's been cow farming all his life, took over his father's farm. I guess I'll get myself ready for an earlier calf though.

Ronney · #4 07/31/11, 05:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by linn

I suppose it is possible for a heifer to start lactating that early, but I would be more inclined to think that she has either lost her calf or is going to calve much earlier than October. We have never had a heifer drip milk three months before calving.

And this would be my take too. If the farmer "bumped" the cow and couldn't feel a foetus, either he's not good at it or the foetus isn't there because at 6 months along it should now be a reasonable size. Nor is is a reliable method.

If this was my problem, I would talk to my vet and depending on his thoughts, would get him out to pregnancy test properly. I would want to know what to do with that udder and when and if I could expect a calf.

Cheers,
Ronnie

haypoint · #5 07/31/11, 06:23 PM

I agree with Ronnie.
If you've got a calf on the way, you'll want to adjust your feed. If you don't have a calf, you might as well get started milking and getting her bred. If you bought a bred cow, then you need to talk to the seller about an adjustment.