Yes they can. I work on a dairy about a month every year and every once in a while a cow will get it before she calves. They usually get a hard quarter or something like before they calve and end up with mastitus. They had a heifer get a hard quarter about two months before she calved one time. They started milking her to get it cleared up and by the time she calved in she was milking 50 pounds a day!
