Blood in the milk!

[chicken chix]

Hi folks! Been lurking for a while,and learnd alot! First time posting cause my spelling is not the best,so here goes. A little history on this cow.First calf heifer,calved on Oct 3 2011. She will be 3 in july.Nice big gentle holstien,milking her by hand without kickers. Right now she is pastured with 1 jursey/holstien cross cow with horns, 1 angus very preg heifer, and 1 2 1/2 yr old bull. Anyway now to get to the point, she gives me 5 gallns a day,she has a high bag,her teats are not large about 3 finger size. Tonight, one back quarter has blood in the milk.Some chunks,looks like tissue,no bad smell other than blood. Got it all milked out,fed it to the cats. No fever in the bag,she didnt act like it hurt her,I didnt even get a tail swat. The color is about like a strawberry milkshake,maybe pepto bismal. Now the queston. Do you think it could be an ingury, or is this the start of something bigger,like mastitis? What do you think?Any advice would be apriceated!

[gone-a-milkin]

It sounds to me like she has suffered some trauma to that quarter.
For the next few days watch real careful and be extra sure to milk her out all the way.

They dont automatically get mastitis from a trauna, but sometimes the quarter will swell up and not get milked out all the way.

Just keep milking her the same. Dont pussyfoot around and try to be 'careful' of her boo-boo.
When you do that, you end up not milking her out all the way and that is what gets you into higher risk for infection.

Good luck with her. Most cows are very tolerant of painful udders. I have been amazed repeatedly.

ps: I cannot drink strawberry milk. It turns my stomach after so many years of dairy work. LOL

[linn]

It sounds like an injury to me. Here are some things I do when one of my cows has udder trouble. I try rubbing that quarter with a salve that will stimulate circulation. Milk that quarter out more than two times a day. If you don't see an improvement right away, call the vet.

[chicken chix]

Thanks for your advice! This morning about the same.Not quite as red at first,but by the time I got done it was pretty red,a few more clumps,but still no bad smell. The cow didnt act any different,so dont think there was any pain. She did look back at me once as if to say,"Whats taking you so long?" She gives about 2 1/2 gal per milking, and I got a coffee can full of milk out of that qtr,so I dont think production is down.No fever or lumps,nice soft bag. I was to pick up some calves tis weekend but havent got the call.Can I feed that milk to baby calves if it is deluted with the rest of the milk? In other words,if I just milked her all in one pail,feed to calves,will it make them sick?

[gone-a-milkin]

The calves will be fine with strawberry milk.