Mastitis

Rob30 · #1 02/13/12, 07:34 PM

I have a hiefer that just calved. She has mastitis in one quadrent. I really don't want to cull her. She is my favorite cow. I am looking for ways to clear it up. I don't care if she loses function in this quarder. She can easily raise a calf on 3 teats. I have given 2 infusions on pennicillin in the teat. But it is strill hard. Very difficult to milk. Painful. I am not getting any milk at this point, just a bit of clear fluid. She is fine otherwise. Eating well.

bknthesdle · #2 02/13/12, 07:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rob30

I have a hiefer that just calved. She has mastitis in one quadrent. I really don't want to cull her. She is my favorite cow. I am looking for ways to clear it up. I don't care if she loses function in this quarder. She can easily raise a calf on 3 teats. I have given 2 infusions on pennicillin in the teat. But it is strill hard. Very difficult to milk. Painful. I am not getting any milk at this point, just a bit of clear fluid. She is fine otherwise. Eating well.

vets can remove the teat, will heal up just fine i have a couple of three quarter cows and they raise the calve just fine.

**gone-a-milkin** · #3 02/13/12, 08:02 PM

Oh gosh, you shouldnt have to REMOVE the teat.
Really, if it is not milking and you feel like it cannot be saved w/ antibiotics, just stop milking it altogether.
It will dry up on its own.
Too bad to see that in a ffheifer though.

I have treated cows twice a day every single day for a week before giving up.
2 infusions is not that many, IMO.

W/o getting a lab sample taken you dont know what bacteria you are dealing with.
Pennicillin doesnt work on some strains.

southerngurl · #4 02/13/12, 09:01 PM

I've used garlic and it works well. Take maybe 3 whole bulbs, you can just take the outer paper off and then chop the bulb up together, don't bother taking the cloves apart. After it's chopped up, mix a little molasses and ACV with it and put this on their feed. It'd be good to give about 3 times a day until the udder is better, then down to two times a day for a few more days. It should be completely better for a few days before you quit.

bknthesdle · #5 02/13/12, 09:01 PM

I have had the bags rot thru if left untreated. I have also dried them up, only to the same problem the next year.

bknthesdle · #6 02/13/12, 09:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gone-a-milkin

Oh gosh, you shouldnt have to REMOVE the teat.
Really, if it is not milking and you feel like it cannot be saved w/ antibiotics, just stop milking it altogether.
It will dry up on its own.
Too bad to see that in a ffheifer though.

I have treated cows twice a day every single day for a week before giving up.
2 infusions is not that many, IMO.

W/o getting a lab sample taken you dont know what bacteria you are dealing with.
Pennicillin doesnt work on some strains.

I have had the bags rot thru if left untreated, and I have dried them up, only to have the same problem next year. ex cel is a good medicine try.

bknthesdle · #7 02/13/12, 09:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rob30

I have a hiefer that just calved. She has mastitis in one quadrent. I really don't want to cull her. She is my favorite cow. I am looking for ways to clear it up. I don't care if she loses function in this quarder. She can easily raise a calf on 3 teats. I have given 2 infusions on pennicillin in the teat. But it is strill hard. Very difficult to milk. Painful. I am not getting any milk at this point, just a bit of clear fluid. She is fine otherwise. Eating well.

try ex cel medicine from the vets.

Callieslamb · #8 02/13/12, 09:20 PM

Take a sample of milk in a sterile container to your vet and have them test it. While there- buy the excell. When the test comes back they can tell you what you can do.

**gone-a-milkin** · #9 02/13/12, 10:24 PM

Occasionally the quarter will abcess up and drain. Not every often though.
It really depends on what strain of bacteria you are dealing with.

YES, the quarter will have the same trouble the next lactation.
It does not magically go away.

willow_girl · #10 02/14/12, 06:56 AM

That is tough. Do the teat and quarter look normal, like the others? Or odd in some way?

Sometimes a heifer will get mastitis prior to calving. Most farmers attribute it to being suckled by another calf. When this happens, they very often freshen in with a blind quarter. There is already so much scar tissue from the untreated infection that the milk-producing glands largely have been wrecked. Often in these cases, the teat and/or quarter may look funny right from the start.

The fact you're not getting ANY milk at all makes me wonder if that's what's going on here, although it's also possible a more recent case of mastitis would reduce production dramatically as well.

The watery mastitis tends to be a tough one as well, with high antibiotic resistance, at least in the herd that I milk.

If you're going to continue treating her, I'd suggest culturing the "milk" to find out what you're up against. If it's antibiotic-resistant, there's no sense throwing good money after bad by treating her.

You may need something stronger than the OTC infusions, too, such as Amoximast or Spectramast. You'll need to get these from your vet.

My general rule of thumb in treating any animal is "Go big or stay home."

In this case, I'd probably write off that teat as a blind quarter, but I can understand wanting to give her a shot, too, especially since she's your favorite.

Many cows will produce enough milk on 3 quarters to remain profitable. Heck, when I was testing, I had one farm that had an older cow who was down to 2 teats, and still made 100+ pounds upon freshening!

TroutRiver · #11 02/15/12, 11:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by willow_girl

I had one farm that had an older cow who was down to 2 teats, and still made 100+ pounds upon freshening!

is right!

You've gotten some good advice here. I also would strongly suggest having a sample cultured so you know what you are dealing with. Your vet can tell you where to send the sample to have this done, or may even be able to do it themselves. If you don't have it tested, then you're just taking shots in the dark, which may or may not work, and is generally not advised with antibiotics.

If she is leaking, be sure to keep her separated from the other cows. She could spread the infection to others.

For really hot, hard quarters, I use a topical mint cream with added essential oils (lavender and eucalyptus) to rub on the outside of the bad quarter. It seems to help quite a bit with the swelling. You will still need antibiotics, though.

I have also used garlic, with varying success. I've never had it do the trick for an infection this bad, only for minor ones. But it DEFINITELY won't do any harm, if you can get her to eat some garlic once or twice a day, it will only help. It's very important that you use RAW garlic, not garlic powder.

willow_girl · #12 02/15/12, 01:40 PM

Quote:

is right!

I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes!

They were milking three times a day, which probably helped her out a bit. And she was a mature cow ... her remaining quarters were BIG!

The farmer said he'd always sworn he wouldn't keep a two-teat cow, but he was willing to make an exception in her case.