Will the Cows Pass the Test?

Cows are lactating animals that sometimes get mastitis.  Mastitis can be a nagging, painful, troublesome ailment.  Some women who nurse get it.  Some cows in milk get it.  It is simply an infection of the breast or udder.  Mastitis has several telltale signs: The cow's udder is tender to the touch and she tries to kick you.  Her udder may be swollen, tight, and hard.  It may be hard to get milk out of the teat.  You may see "strings" of thick "cheese-like" substance on the strainer.

These signs are visible and/or evident.  However, your cow can have mastitis without those symptoms.  It is beneficial to catch mastitis in its early stages so that you can treat your cow or isolate the affected quarters.  So how do you catch mastitis and treat it without seeing symptoms?  A California Mastitits Test! (CMT).  We just ordered one in the mail and received it the other day.

A cow has four distinct quarters.  Just because a cow has mastitis in one of its quarters does not mean the others are affected.  If a cow gets an infection, white blood cells mobilize to fight off the infection.  These white blood cells are called leukocytes.  The California Mastitis Test works in that an ingredient in the test mixes with the leukocytes to form a gel.  The more infection your cow has, the more leukocytes are present which react with the agent in the CMT forming a thick gel.

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The CMT test kit comes with a "paddle" and some reagent.  Clean and dry the udder and teats.  Squirt out a squirt or two from each teat onto the ground.  Then, get a few squirts of milk from each teat onto the paddle.  It is important to isolate the quarter that may have infection, so it is important to keep the samples identified.  Just keep the handle to the front of the animal and get a squirt or two from each teat into each corresponding cup on the paddle.

Here is the reagent.  It has been mixed according to the directions in the box.

You'll want to tilt the paddle to get equal amounts of milk in each of the four cups.  You want around 1/2 teaspoonfuls in each of the four cups.  Then you squirt approximately 1/2 teaspoons of reagent into each cup.

Gently slosh the paddle so that the reagent has an opportunity to mix completely with the milk.

After mixing for 10 - 15 seconds, if you have infection, you should begin seeing the signs.

How to interpret the test:
If the quarter is free from infection, the milk remains liquid and flows easily,
If the quarter has moderate infection, the milk forms a gel and breaks up into clumps,
If the quarter has a serious infection, the milk forms a thick gel and will not pour.

Here is the table that scores the test:

When we tested Rosie for mastitis, she passed the test.  Milk from each quarter remained liquid and poured easily.  The California Mastitis Test will help us identify problems and treat prior to the infection intensifying.

All Creatures Great and Small (and Medium Sized, too!)

I always have loved the James Herriot book, "All Creatures Great and Small."  I highly recommend it.  It is one of those books that you must read again and again.  James Herriot was a Yorkshire country veterinarian from the 1930's.  His book is funny, interesting, and inciteful.  One of the stories I recall is from Chapter 36 in which Herriot goes to work on the dairy cow of a poor farmer.  The cow has mastitis and is very sick.  Her fever is high and it is clear that things look bleak.  Herriot compassionately tells the farmer that he doesn't think the poor cow is going to make it and that maybe he should put her down so that she doesn't suffer any more.

The farmer told Dr. Herriot that the cow was the most valuable thing he had left and he was not ready to give up on her yet. He told Dr. Herriot to come back in the morning.  The farmer got a bench and sat down and commenced to milking, massaging the swollen, hard infected udder, and stripping the black, clumpy infection out of the cow.  When Dr. Herriot arrived in the morning, he found the farmer had stayed up all night to save his cow.  The farmer was exhausted, but the cow was feeling better and survived!

I tell you that because yesterday afternoon I went to the barn to milk Luna and found this!:

As seen above her two quarters on the left side were super swollen, sensitive and hard as a rock.  This was so bizarre as I had milked her out the day before and all was fine.  Mastitis is serious and things can "go south" quickly.  Here is a front shot of the udder.  If you would touch it, it was hard and tight.  When you touched it, she would kick.  She was not happy and neither were we!  In fact, she wasn't eating her dairy ration.  That is very strange for her.

We took her rectal temperature with a thermometer and found it to be 101.4.  That is fine for a cow.  So perhaps we caught this early.  By this time it was approaching 8 o'clock, so we came in and checked the fridge where we have antibiotics.  All of them were expired except for one.  The one medicine that wasn't expired is not labeled for use in dairy animals.  We had some injections that you inject directly up into the teat, but they were all expired, too.  Not good.

"I'm hot blooded, check it and see..."

We decided to roll the dice.  We'd do what James Herriot's poor farmer did and massage and milk the infection out.  Starting at 9 pm and continuing at 10 and 11, we went out to the barn hourly, milking her out.  We also heated up water and made hot compresses to put on the udder.  We didn't stay up ALL night long, but at 5 am, Tricia was out at the barn again and all through the morning, massaging...

Rubbing and milking...  An odd, opaque liquid came out that wasn't milk.  By the morning, though, the swelling was coming down and she was starting to pick at her food.  Tricia continued to work with her throughout the day, giving her molasses and then let her out of the barn to eat grass.

By the evening, the swelling was done considerably.  Still no fever.  Her appetite wasn't back to normal, but she was eating.  She was still super-sensitive on the front quarter.  After repeated massaging and stripping, we were successful in getting streams of infected material to begin emptying.

Eliminating this nastiness, like the farmer in Herriot's book, will make Luna feel better and save her.

While she is still not 'out of the woods yet, she is making great strides.  We've contacted our veterinarian and will use penicillin if she takes a turn for the worse, but for now, the regimen described in Herriot's book is working!  Speaking of working, I'm headed back out to the barn now to check on Luna and see if I can get some more infection out of her front quarter. 

An Update on Luna

Luna, our youngest Jersey just lost her baby calf last week.  Its head was positioned in a way that made it impossible for Luna to go into labor and deliver.  Our veterinarian made a farm call and pulled the calf.  Luna was in bad shape too - just utterly exhausted.  Dr. Fontenot didn't think she was going to make it, but so far she had defied the odds.

She is eating each day, but is moving real slow.  She's also lost a lot of weight.  Last night we smelled a foul odor and we think she has an infection inside of her.  We took her temperature and it was 103.5.  101 for a cow is normal.  So the fever confirmed our suspicions that Luna has an infection.  The discharge on her tail is also evidence of this.  I would assume this is normal.  The dead calf, the invasive pulling of the calf, bacteria getting inside of her...  All of this could cause her to get sick. 

Tricia went to the vet today and got 5 syringes of antibiotic that we are to give Luna subcutaneously for the next 5 days.  Tricia also did some internet research and came up with an idea to try to help Luna out.  if successful, this procedure should help clean some of the infection out.  Tricia purchased an enema bag and mixed 1 teaspoon of salt for every liter of warm water and mixed it in the bag.  She took petroleum jelly and lubricated the end of the tubing.

Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman

Then for the uncomfortable part, she inserted the tube into Luna's vagina.  I know this is not pleasant talk, but we're trying to save poor little Luna.  I'll admit I cringed a little watching this.

Then by holding the bag over Luna (at about eye-level), you let gravity do its thing.  Pretty soon, all the contents of the bag are emptied into Luna.

After just a little while, a thick, blood tinged discharge began pouring out.  It did not look pretty.  It did not smell nice.  We'll repeat the syringe of antibiotic tomorrow evening and will repeat the vaginal enema and check Luna's temperature again.  Hopefully, we'll have a good progress report to give you in a few days.