Cut teat on a cow

Jdunn55

Member
Sorry for the slightly graphic photos, let me preface this by saying I'm looking for advice not criticism please, I can usually take criticism on the chin but I'm really upset about this. I've been trying not to post this on here but she reduced me to tears tonight whilst milking (probably not helped as my gran died last night) and I need some advice on what to do.
Anyway 7 days ago I had a cow come into the parlour with a cut teat, she's one of my absolute best (10,000 litres, 5% fat, 4% protein, 100scc, in-calf first service on contract to cogent and is stunning to look at) so am gutted to say the least. She's gone from doing 25 litres down to 12ish if she let's it down.
I don't know how it happened, I'm assuming a cow must have stood on her teat, they're not overstocked and at the time there was 80 cows with access to 136 cubicles, I'm religious about putting sand in the cubicles every other Friday, I rake cubicles 3 times a day and push sh!t off 5 times a day minimum so I'm not sure this can be put down as my fault.
I also don't know what to do, i have to pick the scab off in order to get milk out which isn't ideal as it doesn't help the teat heal itself, but at the same time I don't want her to get mastitis from not being milked out properly, even then I have to spend 5 minutes milking her by hand. Needless to say the teat is very sore for her and she spends all the time kicking and trying to get me/the cluster off which upsets every other cow in the parlour and causes the normally spotless pit to look like the slurry pit. Any suggestions?
My ideas:
A) Do I stop milking this quarter and carry on milking the other 3? If I do this will this quarter heal for her next lactation?
B) do I carry on as I am, milking by machine and then by hand (she stomped on my hand and caught it between her hoof and the kick bar tonight and yes it bloody hurt)
C) do I phone the vet? I haven't until now because I'm not sure there's anything they can do and the last thing I want is for them to come out, look at her and tell me there's nothing they can do and then charge me £50 for the privilege
D) do I dry her off completely? She's due at the beginning of April so would be a couple of months early but I'm not fussed about losing the milk now if it will sort her out for when she calves. The only thing with this option is I'm not sure how well she would take to being tubed, given how sore it is for her?

Any other suggestions?
The first pic is from tonight and the other 2 from 4 days ago

Thanks all
 

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Sorry for the slightly graphic photos, let me preface this by saying I'm looking for advice not criticism please, I can usually take criticism on the chin but I'm really upset about this. I've been trying not to post this on here but she reduced me to tears tonight whilst milking (probably not helped as my gran died last night) and I need some advice on what to do.
Anyway 7 days ago I had a cow come into the parlour with a cut teat, she's one of my absolute best (10,000 litres, 5% fat, 4% protein, 100scc, in-calf first service on contract to cogent and is stunning to look at) so am gutted to say the least. She's gone from doing 25 litres down to 12ish if she let's it down.
I don't know how it happened, I'm assuming a cow must have stood on her teat, they're not overstocked and at the time there was 80 cows with access to 136 cubicles, I'm religious about putting sand in the cubicles every other Friday, I rake cubicles 3 times a day and push sh!t off 5 times a day minimum so I'm not sure this can be put down as my fault.
I also don't know what to do, i have to pick the scab off in order to get milk out which isn't ideal as it doesn't help the teat heal itself, but at the same time I don't want her to get mastitis from not being milked out properly, even then I have to spend 5 minutes milking her by hand. Needless to say the teat is very sore for her and she spends all the time kicking and trying to get me/the cluster off which upsets every other cow in the parlour and causes the normally spotless pit to look like the slurry pit. Any suggestions?
My ideas:
A) Do I stop milking this quarter and carry on milking the other 3? If I do this will this quarter heal for her next lactation?
B) do I carry on as I am, milking by machine and then by hand (she stomped on my hand and caught it between her hoof and the kick bar tonight and yes it bloody hurt)
C) do I phone the vet? I haven't until now because I'm not sure there's anything they can do and the last thing I want is for them to come out, look at her and tell me there's nothing they can do and then charge me £50 for the privilege
D) do I dry her off completely? She's due at the beginning of April so would be a couple of months early but I'm not fussed about losing the milk now if it will sort her out for when she calves. The only thing with this option is I'm not sure how well she would take to being tubed, given how sore it is for her?

Any other suggestions?
The first pic is from tonight and the other 2 from 4 days ago

Thanks all
I'd dry her off, but you might find the teat end seal's and so she comes three quarter'd next time.
 

westwards

Member
Why does it always happen to the best cows !! I would dry her off and fill the teat with sealant, there was a tape on the market I think called something like Lokapor, it lets the skin breath if you can
get some, tape the teat to keep the dirt away from it. Good luck , hope she comes ok next time round.
 

Surface Tension

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Scotland
I'd dry her off now and give the teat a chance to heal, definitely wouldn't continue milking on that quarter as if you're at the stage that you have to peel the scab off each milking it'll just get worse.

The more time you give the teat to heal the better.
 

Jd68

Member
Mixed Farmer
Sorry about your gran. I would get your vet out , many years ago had one much worse than yours ,after getting kicked for a few days and getting nowhere vet suggested putting a cannula in the teat to let the milk drain out. The teat won’t heal if you keep putting cluster on it.If she doesn’t get mastitis the skin will soon heal up and hopefully next lactation be good again.lf above no good dry off early your health and hers the most important.
 

Masseymad

Member
We had one like this got the removeable part of a dry cow tube and used to put it in the teat end every milking so the milk would drain out, and the teat could heal but cant remeber if she milked on it in the next lactation
 

JohnnyO

Member
Livestock Farmer
Teisen or Kerbl both manufacture teat bandages that you can leave on whilst milking. your local farm shop or vets should have one or other
 
Sorry to hear about your Gran, please try not to let the stresses of the farm stop you from taking some time with your family.

In my experience a canular is the fastest route to mastitis. As others have said, dry her off early. By chance I saw in mole valley a special medicated test bandage/plaster made by Teisan who do the udder wipes etc which may be of some help??

Cows are incredible healers so don’t give up hope.
 

Yonlass

Member
If you're having to pick at it, and pull on it to get any milk, I'd be inclined to give it up as a bad job this lactation. Give it time to heal, and she may well come back on it. No point stressing her and you each milking.....just milk her on three quarters. If that quarter starts swelling with mastitis, you may be best getting the vet to cut the end of the teat off, to let the pus out.

Teisen or Kerbl both manufacture teat bandages that you can leave on whilst milking. your local farm shop or vets should have one or other
This is the stuff.......
51RgYpD7UJL._AC_SY780_.jpg


Probably too late this time, but I have a box outside to try and save any 'mash ups'. About £7 on Amazon.

Sorry about your gran @Jdunn55
 

fgc325j

Member
Sorry for the slightly graphic photos, let me preface this by saying I'm looking for advice not criticism please, I can usually take criticism on the chin but I'm really upset about this. I've been trying not to post this on here but she reduced me to tears tonight whilst milking (probably not helped as my gran died last night) and I need some advice on what to do.
Anyway 7 days ago I had a cow come into the parlour with a cut teat, she's one of my absolute best (10,000 litres, 5% fat, 4% protein, 100scc, in-calf first service on contract to cogent and is stunning to look at) so am gutted to say the least. She's gone from doing 25 litres down to 12ish if she let's it down.
I don't know how it happened, I'm assuming a cow must have stood on her teat, they're not overstocked and at the time there was 80 cows with access to 136 cubicles, I'm religious about putting sand in the cubicles every other Friday, I rake cubicles 3 times a day and push sh!t off 5 times a day minimum so I'm not sure this can be put down as my fault.
I also don't know what to do, i have to pick the scab off in order to get milk out which isn't ideal as it doesn't help the teat heal itself, but at the same time I don't want her to get mastitis from not being milked out properly, even then I have to spend 5 minutes milking her by hand. Needless to say the teat is very sore for her and she spends all the time kicking and trying to get me/the cluster off which upsets every other cow in the parlour and causes the normally spotless pit to look like the slurry pit. Any suggestions?
My ideas:
A) Do I stop milking this quarter and carry on milking the other 3? If I do this will this quarter heal for her next lactation?
B) do I carry on as I am, milking by machine and then by hand (she stomped on my hand and caught it between her hoof and the kick bar tonight and yes it bloody hurt)
C) do I phone the vet? I haven't until now because I'm not sure there's anything they can do and the last thing I want is for them to come out, look at her and tell me there's nothing they can do and then charge me £50 for the privilege
D) do I dry her off completely? She's due at the beginning of April so would be a couple of months early but I'm not fussed about losing the milk now if it will sort her out for when she calves. The only thing with this option is I'm not sure how well she would take to being tubed, given how sore it is for her?

Any other suggestions?
The first pic is from tonight and the other 2 from 4 days ago

Thanks all
30+years ago i managed to slice the tip of my finger off whilst closing the rear window of the tractor cab. Luckily - when i went down to the house
to get some Dettol/ Elastoplast on it, the District nurse was there, attending to my gran. She had a look at it, cleaned it up, wrapped some gauze, impregnated with iodine, then some micropore tape around it to keep the gauze on, and advised me that i could get the gauze - named "INADINE" from the chemist, and the micropore. I then changed the dressing daily with the result that the wound stayed clean, and after about 3 weeks, it had healed up nicely. So next time a cow got a cut up teat i used Inadine/micropore tape, changed daily to help the healing. I found that if
you wound the tape up to the top of the teat, you could usually milk the cow with the cluster. I also used it succesfully with a canula fitted with the red plug. Wish you success.
 

Jdunn55

Member
Thanks all, I'll dry her off, I'll give her antibiotics anyway as a just in case precaution
Couple more questions,
If I dry her off do you reckon the sealant will actually stay in the teat? Any tips on finding a way for her to not try kicking my teeth out whilst I do it?!
Lastly, if I dry her off, is it worth still bringing her into the parlour daily and applying some of the tape above? Looks like it won't do her any harm that's for sure?
 

Jdunn55

Member
Have you a foot trimming crush? If so, lift a back foot up. If not, get someone to hold her tail in the parlour for you. Your new relief is in today, perfect timing.
I do, that's a good idea, thankyou 👍
She's still on 4kg of cake so I'll cut that out before this evenings milking and then dry her off in a day or two once her milk comes back a bit
 

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