Clarabelle Update
Tomorrow marks Clarabelle's one-month anniversary at Allelon Farm. She's a friendly cow, a lot like a very large dog (with small horns that she will use if she decides to!)
When we picked her up, we were told she was due to calve in July. However, when she was here a week, her teats started leaking, sometimes in a steady stream. We called the former owners, found out she had been accidentally bred earlier (neighbor's escaped bull), but they thought she had miscarried. So they had put their bull in with her later, and things seemed normal, as if she were not already bred, supposedly confirming their diagnosis of the earlier miscarriage. But when we told them about the leaking, we were told that she must be going to calve anyday, and that she must not have miscarried.
And so mild panic set in, stalls were quickly added to the barn, and we started researching equipment needed for milking, etc. (things we'd expected to have three or four months to accumulate and learn!).
That's the history. Here's the update: She's still leaking, although not quite as much, but does stream at times. Keith emailed an experienced and very helpful blogger with questions, and he agrees that the only reason he knows of for a cow to be leaking is that calving is imminent. It's been three weeks, now! Should we be concerned??
I've researched on the internet and found little helpful information. The most helpful info actually referred to horses and foaling. I found that one horse leaked for five weeks before foaling. The vet had a colustrum replacement for the foal when it was born. Should we do this? If so, is there "clean" colostrum replacement available--i.e., hormone-free and antibiotic-free? Or, since the "real" colostrum provides great antibodies, etc., does that mean the replacement would be chock-full of antibiotics and such?
More questions I have: Is calving really going to happen soon? Even if it doesn't, do we need the colostrum replacement? One website I saw said going on and milking is an option, but not recommended, mainly because of the loss of colostrum. But if she's losing all her colostrum, anyway, should we go on and milk her?
Quite a learning experience.
Mary Susan
When we picked her up, we were told she was due to calve in July. However, when she was here a week, her teats started leaking, sometimes in a steady stream. We called the former owners, found out she had been accidentally bred earlier (neighbor's escaped bull), but they thought she had miscarried. So they had put their bull in with her later, and things seemed normal, as if she were not already bred, supposedly confirming their diagnosis of the earlier miscarriage. But when we told them about the leaking, we were told that she must be going to calve anyday, and that she must not have miscarried.
And so mild panic set in, stalls were quickly added to the barn, and we started researching equipment needed for milking, etc. (things we'd expected to have three or four months to accumulate and learn!).
That's the history. Here's the update: She's still leaking, although not quite as much, but does stream at times. Keith emailed an experienced and very helpful blogger with questions, and he agrees that the only reason he knows of for a cow to be leaking is that calving is imminent. It's been three weeks, now! Should we be concerned??
I've researched on the internet and found little helpful information. The most helpful info actually referred to horses and foaling. I found that one horse leaked for five weeks before foaling. The vet had a colustrum replacement for the foal when it was born. Should we do this? If so, is there "clean" colostrum replacement available--i.e., hormone-free and antibiotic-free? Or, since the "real" colostrum provides great antibodies, etc., does that mean the replacement would be chock-full of antibiotics and such?
More questions I have: Is calving really going to happen soon? Even if it doesn't, do we need the colostrum replacement? One website I saw said going on and milking is an option, but not recommended, mainly because of the loss of colostrum. But if she's losing all her colostrum, anyway, should we go on and milk her?
Quite a learning experience.
Mary Susan
posted by The Bradshaws at 9:02 AM
4 Comments:
Mary Susan, how big is her udder? Does it look full and tight? Could the leaking be due to her teats not sealing right or are is she so full that is their only option? If you would like to call and ask questions, Give me your email and I will send you my phone number.
Hi, Marci! Thanks for offering to help; our is email allelon@gmail.com.
Clarabelle's udder seems pretty full, although never having had a milk-cow, I can't really say for sure. It has been rather hard/tight at times, but softer at other times, it seems. The sealing question is an unknown to me. She doesn't leak all the time; not at all this morning when I was with her. But yesterday morning, she was dripping and even streaming some.
Wish we could help! We'll continue praying for y'all and Clarabelle, though.
Love,
Trish
Mary Susan,
This happened to us one time - turns out that she had her calf in the evening either in the pond or coyotes took it off - we never found it - we kept waiting for a calf to appear. By the time we realized what happened she had begun to dry up.....you might want to check to make sure she is still pregnant!
Blessings,
Cheri
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