hiya folks we are begginers at this .last nite our cow gave birth to a stillborn calf.could you please advise on what happens to her now unwanted milk.we have nothing to suckle her and cannot do it manually.will she go dry of her own accord?milk in cow "help"
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Mark Bowles
- Site Admin
- Posts: 1290
- Joined: Mon Mar 29, 2004 6:03 pm
- Location: Leicestershire England
Would it be possible to get a dairy/beef cross calf at least 3 days old to put on her, its not too late if you do it first thing tommorrow. Wipe all the slime and smelly bits off the dead calf and onto the foster one. Also milk off some collostrom from the dexter mother and spread that on the new calf too. You may have to force feed the calf by getting the mother in a crush so she cannot kick the foster calf off.
I did this a couple of months ago with an angus/ jersey and it worked a treat, not a single sign of rejection, the only thing is, i had the foster calf with her less than an hour after she had birthed her dead calf.
If you don't want the hassle then the mother will dry up eventually, just keep a good eye on her udder and don't be tempted to open up any of the teats by removing any milk, that would open up a possible infection route to the udder.
I did this a couple of months ago with an angus/ jersey and it worked a treat, not a single sign of rejection, the only thing is, i had the foster calf with her less than an hour after she had birthed her dead calf.
If you don't want the hassle then the mother will dry up eventually, just keep a good eye on her udder and don't be tempted to open up any of the teats by removing any milk, that would open up a possible infection route to the udder.
Mark Bowles
Linford Dexters
Webmaster
Linford Dexters
Webmaster