Well its very reassuring to know we are not the only ones to have trouble moving cows or get them to do what we want them to!
I'm not at all worried about the calf now - our other cow Bianca is awesome and she is letting him feed as well as her own calf. So keeping an eye on her to make sure she doesn't lose condition feeding two calves, but I reckon its pretty cool seeing her foster the second calf!
Meanwhile Ella's two front quarters have shrunk right back, The two back ones are still a little large but I think she'll manage to recover on her own. Her cuts have all scabbed up. A couple of times she let her calf feed and you can see the scabs have been pulled off and looking red raw underneath poor thing.
Talking about disobedient cows, we had rock dust sprayed over the paddocks on friday and the fella said they were the calmest cows he's ever seen - he said usually when he does it the cows jump around and kick and go a bit crazy, our girls hung out calmly in a tight group whilst he did his job!
Mastitis in my cow....
Re: Mastitis in my cow....
Hi Hayley,
That's such good news. When you get the yard and crush working for you, it may be well worth getting her in everyday and rubbing her teats so that she's used to it... because chances are next time the same will happen... and her teats may be able to cope better next time.
I know I'm going to ask a crazy question but do you know what to look at to see if the cow is losing condition?
Vicki
That's such good news. When you get the yard and crush working for you, it may be well worth getting her in everyday and rubbing her teats so that she's used to it... because chances are next time the same will happen... and her teats may be able to cope better next time.
I know I'm going to ask a crazy question but do you know what to look at to see if the cow is losing condition?
Vicki
Re: Mastitis in my cow....
Ha with all my cow expreience not really! Just keeping an eye on her to notice if she has any changes (stature, eating, eyes, nose, udder etc). Have it forefront in my head to watch her hips to see how bony they are but that might be nothing at all to do with good condition!
Re: Mastitis in my cow....
Hi Hayley,
A lot of people look at the big belly and think they're fine, but you'll see the belly swells up with water not food. So the back is a better spot and the spine, if the spine is smooth they have a good cover and if the hips/bum aren't bony that's good too... I sometimes compare cattle as I drive along...
I know a couple of ours are thin, I'm trying to get a lot more protein into them but on your Vic pasture you'd do better than here.
DH wasn't looking at our with the 'right eyes' when the were really hungry and dropped a lot of weight so now I think it's worth saying, because he didn't realise how poor they were... it's sooo much harder to get them back from poor than maintain at optimum.
If I can find a good couple of photos of one of our now and how she was I'll post them, to show the difference... and it's not breed related.
Vicki
A lot of people look at the big belly and think they're fine, but you'll see the belly swells up with water not food. So the back is a better spot and the spine, if the spine is smooth they have a good cover and if the hips/bum aren't bony that's good too... I sometimes compare cattle as I drive along...
I know a couple of ours are thin, I'm trying to get a lot more protein into them but on your Vic pasture you'd do better than here.
DH wasn't looking at our with the 'right eyes' when the were really hungry and dropped a lot of weight so now I think it's worth saying, because he didn't realise how poor they were... it's sooo much harder to get them back from poor than maintain at optimum.
If I can find a good couple of photos of one of our now and how she was I'll post them, to show the difference... and it's not breed related.
Vicki
Re: Mastitis in my cow....
Yeah would be good to look thanks Vicki, and thanks for the spine tip.
Yep pretty lush pastures here at the moment, plenty of feed. Also had paddocks sprayed with natural rock dust last week which is supposed to unlock and make the minerals more available as well as add to them. Our soil is very low calcium but other things aren't too low. Plus our frequent rotation should be doing the soil good, lots of earthworms and dung beetles etc
Yep pretty lush pastures here at the moment, plenty of feed. Also had paddocks sprayed with natural rock dust last week which is supposed to unlock and make the minerals more available as well as add to them. Our soil is very low calcium but other things aren't too low. Plus our frequent rotation should be doing the soil good, lots of earthworms and dung beetles etc
Re: Mastitis in my cow....
You lucky girl Hayley with that soil and pasture, I'm green with envy. 
Our soil as DH says is like concrete, when it's wet it's like wet concrete and when it's dry it's like dry concrete.
Lots of work for us and some years... oh to have been in our 20s coming here.
Vicki
Our soil as DH says is like concrete, when it's wet it's like wet concrete and when it's dry it's like dry concrete.
Lots of work for us and some years... oh to have been in our 20s coming here.
Vicki
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