House Cows

Mothman

Anyone else here have cow(s)

One of my Kerry ladies (Mead) calved on the 2nd
Didn't even see the calving. Had her in barn as I felt she was imminent, checked her at 10pm and nothing happening, and heard the maternal roar :eek: at 10.30...went out to see her eating up the afterbirth
A healthy bull calf.....probably destined for freezer when he becomes unmanageable

Will start getting into share milking routine today. I have calf (named Treacle for now) and Mead separated overnight and will milk one side when Treacle suckles the other side.

Unfortunately I have to loose a quarter because the teat is blocked, I think as a result of injury from last lactation with rough bull calf.
So far so good, the quarter is very swelled, but no sign of mastitis. I'll give a good examination this morning.

Meanwhile poor Heather is being half starved while I dry her off. She's not happy at all . She calved last January and was still giving 5 litres a day. I milked her yesterday and got 4 litres, will milk her again this morning.
She's not due till July, but I'm not milking 2 cows! She'll enjoy the rest and it'll be nice to see her put on a little weight.

reilig

Congratulations!

If one quarter is lost, its possible that she had mastitis in the past which may have gone unnoticed.

However, when you say that it is very swelled, it may not be lost. It is possibly just flagged and blocked. An idea would be to draw it for plugs or curds - be careful because it will be sore and she will be likely to kick. If there's nothing poisonous in it, then it will do no harm to let the calf suck it a little bit and he may draw milk from it in time!

Mothman

Its not lost in that sense. It is fully working but the top of teat is blocked. Had the vet out a few months ago and we discussed it then. There is something like scar tissue at the top of the teat from internal wound. It remained open till end of last lactation (over a year ago) but in meantime it has totally sealed across and I haven't got a drop out of her.

Best option is to dry the quarter off
This morning the quarter doesn't seem as tight and she was not discomforted. Treacle has already learned there is nothing in it and he had his first run in the field today

Poor Mead is demented as she watches her baby running under electric fence away down the field

eatmedrinkme

Congrats on the new arrival!

We have no cows, but will think about a house cow in the next few years. Thinking of Dexters, Kerry Blacks, or Belties.

I'm guessing the Kerry Black is a good and protective mother too?

Mothman

Mead is very strong maternally and pined for 3 weeks (I kid you not!) when I took away her 4 month old last time round. Never recovered milk volume after that as she didn't eat well and wouldn't let down milk for a week.

Heather on the other hand is easy going, chilled out and I'm sure would have got over the removal/weaning of calf quite quickly. With heifer calf, we didn't wean.

Interesting how strong instinct is...after Treacle had his freedom gallop around the field he found a cosy spot in woods out of sight in amongst brambles about 100m away from Mead. He slept there for the whole day! I had to cut the brambles to get at him at dusk. Mead was content...seems to be a bit of out of sight out of mind at moment. The bond has still some growing to do.

Mothman

Treacle spent his 2nd day asleep in the woods as well and today, his 3rd day out, he stayed in the paddock. Great weather for his first few days! I won't be concerned about him being out except for fairly harsh conditions.

They are in at night.

I am having a battle of wills getting Mead into milking stall. She is strong willed and is not responding to food treats despite her love for food

I'm expecting she'll settle into routine with time.

Absolutely no problem with milking her. She's happy to stand and hasn't kicked once...but Treacle suckles at same time.

I'm getting about 4l in morning and 2 in evening. She's not a good milker compared to Heather, and is even worse now that one quarter is dry, but its plenty for 2 families to be getting on with, though it remains to be seen how much cheese making and how many pigs will be reared. treacle will be demanding more as he gets older.

kerryted

Mothman wrote: »

Anyone else here have cow(s)

One of my Kerry ladies (Mead) calved on the 2nd
Didn't even see the calving. Had her in barn as I felt she was imminent, checked her at 10pm and nothing happening, and heard the maternal roar :eek: at 10.30...went out to see her eating up the afterbirth
A healthy bull calf.....probably destined for freezer when he becomes unmanageable

Will start getting into share milking routine today. I have calf (named Treacle for now) and Mead separated overnight and will milk one side when Treacle suckles the other side.

Unfortunately I have to loose a quarter because the teat is blocked, I think as a result of injury from last lactation with rough bull calf.
So far so good, the quarter is very swelled, but no sign of mastitis. I'll give a good examination this morning.

Meanwhile poor Heather is being half starved while I dry her off. She's not happy at all . She calved last January and was still giving 5 litres a day. I milked her yesterday and got 4 litres, will milk her again this morning.
She's not due till July, but I'm not milking 2 cows! She'll enjoy the rest and it'll be nice to see her put on a little weight.

Reading your thread Mothman brings back memories of my childhood when cows had names and a cow calving was a big event maybe an all night stay up with the old lad and checking her every half an hour, and the mother god bless her shaking holly water on the calf. all the locals helping out if there was a difficult calving, no jacks or cameras in those days. or numbers on there arse its a tradition that has died out. your kids will have happy memories when they grow up