[farmy]

The vet has our jersey on 30 cc of Penicillin two times a day for five days after a dog attack left her without ears, and lots of wounds. Poor girl is going to be healing for a while. We're not happy to be giving her antibiotics but seems with so much skin ripped off, she needs it. How long would you guys wait before drinking the milk again? Would you feed it to pigs, as we're doing? Vet says the big dairies only wait 92 hours before using the milk for humans. Would love to hear your opinions.

Thanks,
Kristin

 

[SHELBY]

I don't feel that you would have any problems with giving it to the pigs. As for when you can drink it look on the bottle and it should tell you what the withdrawl time is. I'd look on mine for you but I don't know what type of pen.. you are using I believe they are different. I know alot of people don't like to use meds and prefer natural remedies but sometimes meds are the only way to go

 

[wr]

Shelby covered it well, I always go a bit longer than the bottle indicates because I figure it's a minimum standard but that is a matter of opinion. Please watch the little cow closely for any signs of stress. An attack that severe can cause a lot of problems. I was very glad to read that the offending dogs have been put down so you don't have to worry about them coming back and finishing her off.

 

[farmy]

Thanks as always for the good advice.

She's been incredibly calm so far. She's a really sweet natured cow. My biggest problem so far is keeping her eating and drinking. Her ear wounds drip blood and goo into her food and water and she won't touch them once they're contaminated. I've been holding buckets for her...I'm going to build a manger or a hay net today to keep her hay clean.

Wr, what should I watch for as far as signs of stress go? What should I do if I see them?

 

[wr]

I know she's trying to heal so her behavior is going to indicate just that but watch her carefully to be sure she doesn't become listless or dull. It sounds like you're doing all the right things and you're giving her plenty of your time and the more time you spend with her, the more chance you have of noticing any odd behavior which could indicate secondary infection or complications. I'm not trying to cause you unneccesary worry, she's just had a terrible amount of stress and animals react in different ways to stress.

 

[marytx]

With the goats, I like to withdraw the milk for a week after they are off the antibiotics. The reason, I think, that they figure they can use the milk sooner in the dairies is because so much milk is mixed together they figure that particular cow's milk is very dilute.