Suckler Cow too much milk

ABitofsense

I've a cow calved a week now, AAx 3rd calver and she's a huge udder. She's always being grand for milk but this year she's exploded. Calf can't keep her sucked & only sucking front 2 anyway. Cow is starting to get very sore so worried about mastitis. How do lads deal with suckler like this?

Enright

second calf?

ABitofsense

Enright wrote: »

second calf?

It would be too much work as she'd be one of my most awkward cows. Most of my other ones would let any calf suck except her

whelan2

I know you dont want to but if you got an older calf to drink her out other option is to milk her out yourself. Are you putting any cream on her?

ABitofsense

I'm going to bring her in & milk her out myself probably the easiest option.

893bet

ABitofsense wrote: »

I'm going to bring her in & milk her out myself probably the easiest option.

Will that not just drive on production?

Iodine1

893bet wrote: »

Will that not just drive on production?

I think so. Just leave her alone, and let nature take over. If cow is outside and clean she'll be fine. Dirty shed bedding is cause of mastitis.

whelan2

893bet wrote: »

Will that not just drive on production?

If she's sore with it I'd milk her out in them. Calf might drink them when they are not as swollen

wrangler

893bet wrote: »

Will that not just drive on production?

Agreed, much healthier to leave them alone.
I'd always leave them to sort it, often had calves here only sucking the front two teats for the first fortnight.

wrangler

whelan2 wrote: »

If she's sore with it I'd milk her out in them. Calf might drink them when they are not as swollen

If you milk her, she will be open to mastitis. My brother in laws are dairy farmers and they'd be always saying what you're saying. Buying in calves for the cows risks bringing in disease to your suckler herd.
My cows were simmenthal cross freisian and full of milk

Lime Tree Farm

wrangler wrote: »

Agreed, much healthier to leave them alone.
I'd always leave them to sort it, often had calves here only sucking the front two teats for the first fortnight.

Maybe milk her just enough to soften the teats for her calf.

Charolois 19

Had a cow last year like that, the bag looked like a space hopper under her and she was wild uncomfortable, milked her for a few days, a week maybe just after she calved the calf was a bit slow to get going, but when he was right he was well fit to keep it down himself.

Is she out or in and getting any hand feeding? Would putting her on ground with less grass help slow down the milk production even if you were to give her a bit of hay just to keep her happy

ABitofsense

Yeah I have her out since she calved. I'll move her to a bare paddock as her calf is starting to suck other cows which isn't helping. Pity she won't let the other calves suck her as they all just suck the nearest cow to them

patsy_mccabe

Too much or too little milk is a problem. The joys of suckling.

I normally milk them out completely, maybe every second day. Put them in crush, lift near leg with leg hoist, retract lower crush bar and milk away.
A pain but it usually works.

Who2

I just leave them alone, don’t usually have that much hassle with mastitis. I always heard once the seal wasn’t broken there would be no hassle, however true that is.

50HX

Crush her every second day, blank off 2 teats and let calf drink, rotate the teats you blank off the next day

A dose but better to have too much than too little

Calf will catch up in time

ABitofsense

Brought her in. Mastitis in one of the front, one dry & good milk in other 2. Prick of a calf must have stopped sucking her. Shes looks sick and abit of food & nuts. Rang vet so going to call out

RD10

ABitofsense wrote: »

Brought her in. Mastitis in one of the front, one dry & good milk in other 2. Prick of a calf must have stopped sucking her. Shes looks sick and abit of food & nuts. Rang vet so going to call out

Seemingly there's a fair bit of mastitis going around at the minute.
My own cow had a been on a few rounds of antibiotics and still went and developed mastitis in a second quarter yesterday.
Couldnt be up to them

Lime Tree Farm

RD10 wrote: »

Seemingly there's a fair bit of mastitis going around at the minute.
My own cow had a been on a few rounds of antibiotics and still went and developed mastitis in a second quarter yesterday.
Couldnt be up to them

Is mastitis the end of the line, or can the quarter be saved if detected early.

RD10

Lime Tree Farm wrote: »

Is mastitis the end of the line, or can the quarter be saved if detected early.

Can be saved if detected early.
Had cow last year with it, caught her early and she worked out ok.
One i have at the minute, got a bad dose of it and didnt respond to antibiotics/tubes too well.
Think ive caught the 2nd teat earlish but dont know if it will come back to milk.

Wouldnt have had a huge amount of mastitis in cattle down the years. If its bad enough does/can it spread through mammary glands to the other teats or is it just bad luck she got a double dose of it?
She was out in field when she developed it first.

ABitofsense

ABitofsense wrote: »

I've a cow calved a week now, AAx 3rd calver and she's a huge udder. She's always being grand for milk but this year she's exploded. Calf can't keep her sucked & only sucking front 2 anyway. Cow is starting to get very sore so worried about mastitis. How do lads deal with suckler like this?

I restrict the cows feed by putting them in a bare enough field for about two weeks after calving.

I find this helps the cow from producing too much milk when the calf is small and susceptible to getting too much.

Our cows are dairy crosses so can have a lot of milk.

whelan2

ABitofsense wrote: »

Brought her in. Mastitis in one of the front, one dry & good milk in other 2. Prick of a calf must have stopped sucking her. Shes looks sick and abit of food & nuts. Rang vet so going to call out

How is she now?

ABitofsense

whelan2 wrote: »

How is she now?

Shes improving the poor thing. Shes eating silage and nuts again so on the mend, just need to build her up. I've the calf nearly trained now to suck the 2 good teats which have a load of milk and is helping her and I'm stripping down the bad one every day.

I'm having awful issues with mastitis this year and the cows have ridiculous amounts of milk versus other years too.

TooOldBoots

I have a Cow that just lets anything and everything suck her. Fecken ridiculous, her own calf gets nothing as all the strong calves help themselves to extra feeds. I end up having to separate the pair from the rest of the stock every year

whelan2

Just had a suckler farmer here buying 3 Angus calves. He has a cow had a big dopey charolais calf and it will only suck one teat. Big bag of milk. The 3 calves will clean her out and he will put them on other cows when her own calf gets going

jfh

I think there's a problem with these dairy x sucklers, I've a few here and they have udders like dairy cows, too much milk

whelan2

jfh wrote: »

I think there's a problem with these dairy x sucklers, I've a few here and they have udders like dairy cows, too much milk

Rear great calves though

TooOldBoots

jfh wrote: »

I think there's a problem with these dairy x sucklers, I've a few here and they have udders like dairy cows, too much milk

If they are 50% dairy then they end up having too much milk, cows can get very thin and are often undersized for breeding with Continental bulls.
25% Dairy is optimum.
The main reason the Simmental's are popular with suckler farmers is they are a big cow have plenty room for a big calf yet they provide plenty milk.

patsy_mccabe

I milked a suckler cow there today. She calved 6 days ago and well bagged up. She did some kicking so I had to hoist up the near back leg.
One back quarter was coming fine but when I put on the hoist, the milk started to come pink. She must have burst a blood vessel with all the kicking.
Not easy on man or beast.