# Cows udder hard treating mastitis



## myheaven (Apr 14, 2006)

Ok crew. I have been working with my vet. She is in the middle of a bad delivery so could only give a little advice between the grunts and digging in the cow lol. Love my vet. 
My cow has only been here 8 weeks freshened the end of April first part of may. This is round two with mastitis same quarter. This time it is rock hard. I have massaged used peppermint bag lotion. I can't get her milk out. Normally it's at least half a gallon. I maybe got a cup. Called vet she said oxytocin. Gave it to her waited for it to take affect. Massaged and milked. Brought in the calf. Still not getting the milk to come. She had prevail for swelling and discomfort per vet. Had a teat infusion last night from vet about to do another. I have food poisoning and it's affecting my ability to do things in one shot. About to go give 40 cc of oxytet to help. Any one else got any advice?
The teat infusion is prevail.
Sorry ment pirsue is the infusion meds name


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## gone-a-milkin (Mar 4, 2007)

Just keep trying. If the vet gave you prevail then keep doing that.
Massaging and milking and infusions. 
I personally do not ever encourage teat dilators in these situations.
She may not even be making much milk in that quarter with all the infection. 
2 rounds of mastitis in 8 weeks. Did you use Prevail before too? 

Sometimes they just lose the quarter anyways, no matter what you do.
You cannot save them all, I am sorry to say. 

Fingers crossed for you.


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## myheaven (Apr 14, 2006)

Yes we used prevail last time only 3 doses. Should have done the 4. She showed clear after 3. This girl has been a basket case! She was starved when I got her she was seriously skin and bones.
I ment pirsue was the teat infusion. Illness has me messed up.


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## willow_girl (Dec 7, 2002)

Did the vet culture the milk to see what pathogen you're dealing with before prescribing Pirsue?

I'd go with Spectramast, myself, unless the vet had a particular reason for choosing Pirsue. 

On the farm where I work, we treat with Spectra AM & PM for 7 days. Usually that does the trick ... good luck! 

Oh, I agree that she probably isn't making much milk in that quarter ... it's the inflammation that's making it feel like it's full.


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## myheaven (Apr 14, 2006)

We didnt culture it as it looks like the same monster as last time. She has 250 head of milk cows herself and pirsue is what she normally uses. It worked great last time I just think we didnt do it for long enough. Our new barn goes up tomorrow so she is going to have a new fresh area with an easy to clean stanchion. Help eliminate the whole "is the sleeping area causing it." Her udder is less hard after checking her and we just gave her her shots and infusion. Boy she hates me with a passion. Not even her favorite snack/treat would she accept. If she shows symptoms again we will culture her milk and see what we are dealing with. I so desperately just want to get her back to a healthy cow with some more weight on her bones.


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## myheaven (Apr 14, 2006)

Each milking her bad quarter is a little less hard. I hope I can keep her quarter in working order.


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## myheaven (Apr 14, 2006)

This morning her bag was much softer and had far more milk. I hope I can keep this quarter going in the right direction. In 8 years I have never dealt with mastitis. I guess jerseys do look for a reason to die. I have her bee to a Hereford in hopes to have a heartier milking off spring. This girl is going to make me loose my mind!


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## Chixarecute (Nov 19, 2004)

It helps a great deal to milk often - if you can - while the infection is active. Every 2-3 hours. I would ask the vet about treating her at dry-off.

Oh, and a good milking cow doesn't put on much weight - they put it into the bucket, instead. If she is already bred back, her weight may be where it needs to be. Really skinny cows generally have a harder time settling.


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## myheaven (Apr 14, 2006)

We have been pushing to put weight on her. 
My friend owned her. Bred her mother and pulled her at birth. They are more city people in the country. 
When she freshened this last time they sent her to a neighbor who has beef cows. They put her on pasture and milked 80 lbs of milk a day from her. No grain none! she was a skeleton. She puts everything into the bucket. She is an amazing milk cow. She had no vacs and has come down with so many nasty things. Pink eye, cow pox, orf mastitis. Gosh! Frustrated. I have kept her away from my other cows. 
To breed her we used a cidr, lute and gnrh to get her to breed. She was open and not cycling. I have not gotten to ultrasound her yet so she could still be open. I put 37 days of top notch feed into her before we attempted to breed her. I did get 150 lbs on her but still she needs 100 lbs more. 
I figured when I dry her off she will need a treatment.


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## francismilker (Jan 12, 2006)

If you still have her calf on the farm you can make a "bra" to hide the three other teats and let the calf keep that teat emptied out. I've done it before and it works wonders. There's nothing you can do that even imitates or comes close to a calf nursing. Problem is, if the calf has three good soft quarters he won't touch the hard one. Once she's been given the antibiotics she needs milked or nursed to help reduce the internal swelling and to help prevent scar tissue. 

In the future, I'd recommend giving her an IV with about 75-100cc's of a drug called Albon. It is NOT labeled for mastistis but I know several dairyman that have had success with it. BTW, take my medicine advice with a grain of salt because I'm not a vet. It just works for me.


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## myheaven (Apr 14, 2006)

My grammar is horrible in my other post sorry. Will fix it later. Fmilker I'm not good with iv's on cows yet. I call in my vet for that. My vet is always up for new things. She's not set in her ways.


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## Chixarecute (Nov 19, 2004)

A Jersey milking at 80# per day is quite a Jersey! I didn't catch if you said this is her first calf...but with her next one, study up on milk fever at calving, be ready. Her breed and milking ability put her at risk.


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## myheaven (Apr 14, 2006)

I am fully aware of milk fever. I keep calcium on hand. I have high producing goats too. This was her second calf. I fully believe prevention is the best route to high producing dairy animals. I use a 2 or 3 crop alfalfa in the last 4-6 weeks of pregnancy. The last week I start cmpk gel. So far cross my fingers i havent dealt with milk fever. I hope i can keep it up.


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## myheaven (Apr 14, 2006)

Her udder is much better. She is back to giving lots of wonderful milk.


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## francismilker (Jan 12, 2006)

Thanks for the update on your cow. It's always good to hear about success from hard work and a dedicated bovine owner!


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