Oops I think I pulled a Murray

[beefgirl]

I bought this poor sad looking young jersey to try as a nurse cow. She came with Hereford bull calf (cross?) and she's in pretty tough shape. One quarter blew out 4 to 5 different places so that one's dead and the other one I've been stripping stinky "cottage cheese" 2-3 times a day. Treated with LA 200 per first vet Saturday and then talked with regular vet Monday and gave much stronger antibiotics. No temp and she is eating, drinking, chewing cud and feeding calf. Getting good alfalfa hay and started her slow on lower protein sweet feed couple pounds day. Any advice on what else I could/should do with this girl? Maybe Murray mutts can send a little luck my way

 

[suzorse]

did the vet prescribe Udder infusions , for the chunky quarter ,like Spectramast LC , you will need to keep that quarter stripped out , hope she does good
Suzanne

 

[bird dog]

Vitamins, a worming and a dose of multi-min.

 

[Son of Butch]

Normal temp is a good start. How's her appetite? She looks thin and depressed to me.
I'd give her a shot of injectable Vitamin B complex as a pick me up and some grain for a week or 2 to get her going and watch her manure consistency for clues that her digestive system is working normally. Eating, drinking and chewing cud are very good signs both that she feels better than she looks and that you are on top of it.

 

[Rmc]

It's been a few years but we used to use teat infusion needles to help remove the milk from the bag especially if she has mastitis, it allows you to drain the milk to reduce infection,but also reduces the pain from trying to milk her when she has mastitis.

 

[wbvs58]

Does she have any teeth? Do you know how young she is? Mastitis like that tends to be more in an older cow than a young one. She is in a pretty bad way, I hope you can turn her around. Whoever sold her to you should be ashamed to have taken money for her. They should have paid you to take her.
Ken

 

[MurraysMutts]

I have been SOOOOOO fortunate to not have to deal with mastitis! Very fortunate. It sound like u have a 2 quartered cow.

Like your doing, start her slow on feed and hay. Without prior history, who knows what she's been eating. Like was said above, watch her poop. She goes to liquid back off the feed a bit for a while.

How old is she?
Hope she was economical enough. She should've been.

And pay close attention to that calf!! He will let ya know if something is wrong too!

 

[greybeard]

You have your work cut out for sure.

Personally, I would cut the bull calf into a steer as soon as you can and as soon as he's weaned, get some more weight on momma and run her thru the sale barn while prices are up some. I just wouldn't want a 2 teat nurse cow as the whole purpose of having one is her udder plain and simple. Then either feed out the steer for your own use or sell him and take the $$ from both sales and look for a bred cow with a good udder to use as a nurse cow.

But, perhaps you have more time and patience than I have. Good luck either way.

 

[MurraysMutts]

It'll be a lil work for sure. Gotta stay on top of that one quarter as @suzorse said.

Ive never used a mastitis treatment thing. I think they are called "today" or "tomorrow" treatments. Perhaps suzorse or @farmerjan or @Buck Randall can help ya with that. I'm surprised your vet didn't talk with you about.

Maybe that 3rd quarter will come back around. That would be ideal!
Lots of 3 quartered cows around that do just fine.

Definitely worm her. An injectable is preferred. At this point u won't be drinking her milk. Consult with labels about drinking milk from fresh wormed cows. Some wormers that's a big no no.

And a better feed with more grain will really help. I really like the honey grain from Stillwater milling.
Your alfalfa should supply the protein and roughage.

 

[tex452]

I bought a pair and a bred heifer yesterday from a neighbor.
The cow is SS , the cow and calf is poor, the heifer looks ok.
The pasture they were in looked pretty sad.
We wormed them and turned them out on good grass.
$1,400.00 for all 3.
I didn't get any pictures.

 

[Son of Butch]

Whoever sold her to you should be ashamed to have taken money for her. They should have paid you to take her.
Ken

I disagree. It was beefgirl's choice, she saw what the cow and calf looked like and could've walked away. Nobody held a gun to her head. I don't give away any of my cull cows and wouldn't expect anyone else to, especially with a good slaughter market.

 

[beefgirl]

did the vet prescribe Udder infusions , for the chunky quarter ,like Spectramast LC , you will need to keep that quarter stripped out , hope she does good
Suzanne

No they talked about it and thought it would be better to just keep stripping that quarter and give shots of antibiotics leaving that open to drain out infection/mastitis. I've been stripping it two to three times a day and no longer chunky just thick. Bag is also softening up.

 

[Buck Randall]

Ive never used a mastitis treatment thing. I think they are called "today" or "tomorrow" treatments. Perhaps suzorse or @farmerjan or @Buck Randall can help ya with that. I'm surprised your vet didn't talk with you about.

Today and Tomorrow are brand names for intramammary treatments; Today is for lactating cows and Tomorrow is for dry cows. OP should continue to stick to the advice of their vet. They could have reasonably determined that there was no need for intramammary treatment.

Intramammary treatments in general are WAY overused (another reason that they'll all be requiring a prescription soon). Most cases of mastitis are resolved by the cow's immune system without any intervention. Some are incurable no matter what drug you use. That leaves a fairly narrow category of cows that benefit from intramammary treatment. Milk culture should be used to determine if a cow needs it and what drug to use.

Remember that the visible signs of mastitis are caused by inflammation, not infection. Flakes and chunks in the milk do not necessarily mean that a cow has an active infection or that she needs treatment.

 

[beefgirl]

Vitamins, a worming and a dose of multi-min.

I will see if I can get a dose of vitamins and multi min for her. I have pour on wormer on hand so will use that. I know injectable would be better but I can pour her quicker and she's a bit swelled from the 8 injections I've already given her.

 

[beefgirl]

did the vet prescribe Udder infusions , for the chunky quarter ,like Spectramast LC , you will need to keep that quarter stripped out , hope she does good
Suzanne

No they thought it would be better to treat with antibiotics and keep stripping it.

 

[beefgirl]

Normal temp is a good start. How's her appetite? She looks thin and depressed to me.
I'd give her a shot of injectable Vitamin B complex as a pick me up and some grain for a week or 2 to get her going and watch her manure consistency for clues that her digestive system is working normally. Eating, drinking and chewing cud are very good signs both that she feels better than she looks and that you are on top of it.

Good appetite. Seems a lot perkier today. Manure looks good.

 

[beefgirl]

You have your work cut out for sure.

Personally, I would cut the bull calf into a steer as soon as you can and as soon as he's weaned, get some more weight on momma and run her thru the sale barn while prices are up some. I just wouldn't want a 2 teat nurse cow as the whole purpose of having one is her udder plain and simple. Then either feed out the steer for your own use or sell him and take the $$ from both sales and look for a bred cow with a good udder to use as a nurse cow.

But, perhaps you have more time and patience than I have. Good luck either way.

Calf will be steered and sold as feeder along with my other calves. What I do with cow will depend on how well she does at raising this calf. I can always fatten her and butcher her if she doesn't work out or sell her as a cull. I expect that calf to bring as much and then some as I paid for the pair.

 

[beefgirl]

I have been SOOOOOO fortunate to not have to deal with mastitis! Very fortunate. It sound like u have a 2 quartered cow.

Like your doing, start her slow on feed and hay. Without prior history, who knows what she's been eating. Like was said above, watch her poop. She goes to liquid back off the feed a bit for a while.

How old is she?
Hope she was economical enough. She should've been.

And pay close attention to that calf!! He will let ya know if something is wrong too!

Supposed to be young cow. I'll try and check her teeth next time I get halter on her. I should come out pretty good on this deal if all works out. I expect the calf will bring more than the pair cost this fall.

 

[beefgirl]

Does she have any teeth? Do you know how young she is? Mastitis like that tends to be more in an older cow than a young one. She is in a pretty bad way, I hope you can turn her around. Whoever sold her to you should be ashamed to have taken money for her. They should have paid you to take her.
Ken

Whoever let this cow get in this bad of shape should have been ashamed of themselves. I'm kinda thinking lack of care and poor nutrition is a lot of her problem. Time will tell. I'll do what I can for her.

 

[MurraysMutts]

Supposed to be young cow. I'll try and check her teeth next time I get halter on her. I should come out pretty good on this deal if all works out. I expect the calf will bring more than the pair cost this fall.

I just sold the calf off of my drought cow.
She brought 200 more than I gave for the pair!
And the cow brought 83 cents a lb.

More than one way to make money at it!

Hope the cow does well for you! If she will straighten up and raise a 2nd calf that's awesome too!