heifer with blood in her udder

[Bulldogg]

Wondering if anyone has seen this? What to do?

I have a heifer who is due tomorrow. When I was in the barn with her I thought I would check her for milk. When I checked a quarter - dark red blood squirted out. I put her in the chute and all four quarters have dark red blood coming out. Any ideas?

Thanks!

 

[PaFFA Proud]

Not sure if its the same in first cattle, but a friend of mine horse didnt bag up until 12 hrs before foaling and had the same thing happen..the vet said its typical in first time mothers when their milk comes in too quick-late that it tears some ligaments.

 

[farmboy]

I have a simialar question. can there be blood in the milk and in turn cause the calfs manure to be bloody? not pure blood, its obviously diluted but it doesn't seem to have ANY effect on the calf ( super lively and hyper )

 

[PaFFA Proud]

ook I just finished talking to a dairy friend and she said it could be mastitis. So if u can perform a test and treat it if it is.
Also from my previous post the condition with the ligament issue is called Udder Edema(lol had to text friend for the official name )and looking it up I found a link that might help ya http://www.extension.org/pages/Prevention_of_Udder_Edema_in_Dairy_Cows

 

[PaFFA Proud]

I have a simialar question. can there be blood in the milk and in turn cause the calfs manure to be bloody? not pure blood, its obviously diluted but it doesn't seem to have ANY effect on the calf ( super lively and hyper )

I had this issue with a dairy bull calf and it was scours caused by worms...its not heavy blood...kinda looks like red slime swirl  it the typical poop

 

[farmboy]

yeah its more of an orange-ish color. So you just treated the calf for worms and it stopped?

 

[PaFFA Proud]

yeah its more of an orange-ish color. So you just treated the calf for worms and it stopped?

Yep, I used the one that went into the feed and within a week it went back to normal...my calf was always thirsty when he had the craps like that, not sure about urs though. But it is getting to that time of year agian...worms and other wonderful bugs :-\

 

[HF CHARS]

Don't worry much bout the heifer.  She will prob come out of it fine.  The cal f on the other hand, drench him with some corrid, should take care of the problem.  If you have other calves that are in contact with him, might not hurt to treat them to.  Corrid is cheap, and that stuff spreads like wildfire.  Had it go through our cowherd last year, had to treat all 300 calves, didn't kill any but set some back.

 

[CAB]

Bulldog have you had a chance to feel the udder? If it is hot and harder feeling she maybe getting mastitis but if it feels soft and normal temp. I wouldn't get too alarmed. I would however keep a close eye on her milk quality after see calves. I think that she'll come around to her milk once she calves if the bag feels "normal".

Zach your calf is not very old, right? It sounds to me like the normal traces of blood that you see in a calf's stool just from straining and pushing hard that causes some of their little vessels to break leaving traces of blood along the sides of the stool. If there is blood throughout the stool, ( ie. in the middle of the stool) that is another story. If your calf is young, I would bet against Coccidiosis. It  takes some days to develop visible signs of coccidiosis and calves due to the life cycle of the parasite. Good Luck to both of you. Cab

 

[braunranch]

I've seen it before, asked my vet he basically just said it was colostrum said it would be very good for the calf if he sucked it.
If you ever steal colostrum from cows sometimes you'll notice a pinker color to some i think its just a higher blood level. aka colostrum which a baby calf needs for its immune system.

 

[Herefordman]

We see it in the Dairy all the time, It could just be a bruise, or maybe even just the strain of milk in the bag if she is a first lactation heifer, the best thing for it is for the calf to keep nursing and it will massage it out and the milk should clear up.

 

[hamburgman]

Ingested blood will not come out the other end looking like blood, to much digestion occurs.  Rule is dark tarry feces means it is small intestinal problems, and blood feces mean large intestine problems.