Tuesday, April 17, 2012

A Success Story...

About six weeks ago, I posted about our cow Mary, who tramped her teat.  We had the vet out to do what he could to salvage her teat, and thus literally save her life.  When I wrote, she was doing well.  I wanted to update you on how she's doing!

These pictures are nothing beautiful to look at, but they are an example of how wonderful our (and our animals!) bodies are made!

This is Mary's front teat, six weeks post-op.  The only signs of her trauma are a slightly deformed teat, and a small scab that will soon disappear!  The milk now squirts out just below that scab, not quite on the bottom like her other three quarters, but who cares?!


Her udder, just before milking.  She's one of our heaviest milkers, and yesterday when we tested, she milked 46 lbs of milk in one milking.  That's 92 lbs per day.  Not too shabby!


Jim worked with her carefully for a while to ensure that her teat didn't get infected, and she helped herself immensely by being totally cooperative!

Just out of curiosity, I looked up the vet bill, to see what it cost to have him come examine her and repair her teat...

Farm Call before 8am...$25.20
Wound Repair..............$40.00
Wound Sealant.............$14.00

Total Cost....................$79.20

Tramped teats don't always end in success, but we are thankful that this time it did!

I'd say it was worth it!





11 comments:

  1. I'm glad that it worked out so well!
    And i wished our girls would give 92 pounds a day (average... haha)!

    Big hugs
    Leontien

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  2. That is one serious milking cow! 92lbs of milk..I had no idea they could do that much. So glad she is healing up well! Cheers, Jenni

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  3. $79.50 was worth every penny. Great job.
    I love your posts about real dairy farming. B

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  4. Wow, that is a good average.
    That's what we call a Dolly Parton cow, sorry Dolly Parton........ I'm glad also that your cow healed so well.

    I find that we pay a lot more for a vet visit and for their professional fees here in New Brunswick and we live just a few minutes from the Vet lab.

    JB

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  5. When young I & my gram would visit a farm at milking time to get fresh milk. We dipped the milk from the tank to fill our half gallon mason jars. Some times we visited the cows hooked up to the milkers. I never guessed one cow could give that much milk. So glad your cow is healing & doing well. Blessings!
    Lara

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  6. Not a bad vet bill at all! I'm glad Mary is doing so well! :)

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  7. Good deal on the vet cost and a good milking cow. I had to suture one for a dairy client once. I told him I needed to sedate her so I could suture the wound. He said "Doc so and so always just staples it can't you just do that?" I asked, "And how do those turn out?" "Well, they always lose the quarter." Needless to say, I sedated her and sutured it and she was back on the milker that evening giving 80 pounds a day.

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  8. Wow~your vet prices are so reasonable! I'm jealous! I'm also very glad that she's doing so well.

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  9. how amazing the animal or human body is. im so glad that she's healing. have a great week!

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  10. Well I'm glad it all worked this time!

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  11. Alrighty then - man I came to the right place to learn - sandie

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I enjoy hearing what you have to say! Thanks for your comments!