This last Friday, while gathering the cows to move them by truck to our place, the guys ran across a calf that had just been born. It was still wet. It traveled along just great with the rest of the herd. They penned them up that night so the calves could mother up. The next morning they noticed that the calf seemed hungry and the cows bag was tight. The WHOLE bag I might add. They went ahead and moved the cattle over to our place. They seperated the tight bagged cow and her calf out from the rest and she is in a seperate pen. Don tried to milk her but only about a teaspoon came out. The calf wasn't doing so good so we gave it colosterium. The bag is still tight, no milk and now we are giving replacement milk. The cow is not sick at all so I don't think it's mastitis. Also the whole bag is involved not just a section. She has been given two shots of Oxicillon(?) to make her drop her milk but it hasn't helped? We had three calves die this sping that we attribited to the cold wet weather. Now I'm beginning to wonder. Any ideas? This is her fourth calf.

Frankly, a vetinarian would be a much better choice to talk to than we are. I am so sorry about the trouble you are experiencing, but time is of the escence in this sitution ... call the vet, it is your best choice.

As for the cow, can you manually express the milk FOR the calf? Maybe it is a suck issue?

We have called the vet but ones out of town, two at the race track and the other two I wouldn't let them treat any of my animals. The one we like the best is at the race track and he said it sounded like mastitis. I was just wondering if there was something else BESIDES that. She is NOT sick. The baby sucks just fine and when Don tried to milk her, only a teaspoon came out. He knows how to milk so somehow it's not being released.

I phoned a friend who keeps cows and he agreed that no-one can diagnose online and a vet needs to check her over. I do hope that your vet will soon be available.

He also added that there are two types of mastitis; acute, where the cow is seriously ill, or chronic, where the cow may show no outward sign of ill health. So despite her showing no signs of illness, it sounds like it could be mastitis (chronic).

Good luck and tell your vet to stop spending so much time at the race track when you need him!

There is a race track in Boise and he and another vet spend a lot of time there checking the horses and taking care of them when they are needed. He is a excellent vet and we really trust him. We will get a vet out but I think you are right. I think it's chronic and not much hope for her. I hate to see that in a young cow. Another vet said that she could have come down with it last fall when her calf from last year was weaned from her. She is one of those cows that really enjoys her calf and seems to spend a lot of time talking to it out there in the pen.