# Mastitis ??



## SCtrailrider (May 1, 2016)

I have a first time mamma, calf was born last night or early today, everything looks good but when watching them, the calf concentrates on 1 or 2 tits and it seems to be trying hard to get milk out and the 2 tits look sort of small while the other 2 tits are larger, and it looks like when the calf gets one of the larger ones the cow will gently raise her leg as if the large tits are sore..

I can't get my hands on the cow to check them closer...

If her tits are sore, is their anything I could feed her to combat mastitis, or diagnose it ?

Hopefully things will be good, I'm just thinking of what if kind of things....

Thanks, Chris


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## stack em up (Mar 7, 2013)

If you could catch her and strip out the tits, mastitis milk will come out looking like cottage cheese. Thick and lumpy.


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## Tim/South (Dec 12, 2011)

Could be the "plug" is still in the two swollen ones. They have a kind of wax stopper until milked. The calf will probably do alright on two faucets for a few days. Once he gets the hang of things he will break things loose. 
If it is indeed mastitis, it will need to be treated.
Are the two smaller ones in the back or on the side?


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## PaulN (Mar 4, 2014)

There is nothing you can add to the feed, ruminating animals cannot be given antibiotics orally. If it is mastitis, it is treated either intravenous or intramammary. But you still have to catch her to make the diagnosis.

I tend to agree with Tim/South, give her a few days and let the calf handle it.


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## SCtrailrider (May 1, 2016)

Thanks fellas, it's the two regular size ones in the back, not the small ones.. I'll watch her a few days, she doesn't seem to have much milk yet but the two front ports are getting all the action right now...


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## SCtrailrider (May 1, 2016)

Well I think all is good, calf is working all tits, cow is fine now...


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## Cowasaurus (May 31, 2020)

Tread carefully my friend. Mastitis can be hard to diagnose and if you're like us, milking our black angus cow with an attitude problem wasn't going to happen. There's not much outward signs other than showing discomfort and the calf not getting enough milk. She actually recovered completely on her own, but we watched her very closely. I usually text my vet and send photos and he's good at telling me when to take action.

We had the exact same situation but caught it way too late and lost the calf because of it. Two of her teats were overly large and the calf wasn't getting milk from either one and not enough from the other two. Definitely keep watch on your calf and make sure it's getting enough. 
Any sign of weakness or diahrrea from the calf and I would definitely bring them both in and supplement with a bottle while letting it continue to try and nurse.

Good luck!

raisingourfarm.com


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## SCtrailrider (May 1, 2016)

They both are fine, I've seen the calf on all 4 tits and the cow doesn't mind at all, I was just asking as I haven't had a case and wanted to catch it early if that's what it was...

Thanks everyone...


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## Rrueda (Jan 10, 2019)

Indeed mastitis can be subclinical. That means that there wont be any visible symptoms.

You can try using antibiotics or the one trick my dad taught me. Milk the affected nipple, put that into a syringe and inject it in the muscle. So far it has worked better than Spectramast.


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