Oh those cows-they are always changing our plans! Tonight we thought we would head out to the farm early and finish chores early so we could "hit the hay" early, but those darn cows had different plans. When we got to the farm...we found a cow who had calved this afternoon. She was laying on her side, and appeared to have been laying there for quite some time. Since we were both busy with other activities today, we could not be at the farm to keep an eye on her. Normally cows will have calves with no problems, but this cow had some problems. She was suffering from calving paralysis. Calving paralysis is when a nerve in the back of a cow's spine gets pinched during the calving process. Pressure from calving causes the nerve to be "pinched off" and stops the brain's ability to control that part of the body. This cow was unable to move her rear legs and as a result rolled herself onto her side-and she couldn't get up.
We immediately rushed to her aid! She received intravenous fluids and some pain killers to help reduce the inflammation pinching of her spine. We used the loader tractor and a lift to move her out of the dry cow pen and into a shady corner of the grove. We gave her some water and feed, as well as sprinkled her with some cold water to help cool her down. After we finished chores at 10:30pm tonight we went back to the grove to check on her. While she still hasn't stood up, she looked more comfortable. She also ate and drank-both excellent signs!
Now to the issue of her calf...that tricky little heifer, which we have named "Hanska" was running around in the heifer pen all day, and found herself a corner next to the cucumber patch to sleep. It was so cute, but I was searching for her for over 30 minutes! We also returned to the barn after milking to feed her colostrum. She drank a gallon and wanted so much more, but that will wait until tomorrow morning.
While feeding heifers we also found another heifer that was ready to breed, so we also had to catch her and artificially inseminate her. We chose to use AI, because it is safer than owning a bulls which can kill people, and it is cheaper than feeding a bull on farm.
Phew! I am getting tired just thinking about all of the stuff we did tonight! So off to bed I go....it's another long day tomorrow!
Showing posts with label artificial insemination. Show all posts
Showing posts with label artificial insemination. Show all posts
Monday, July 27, 2009
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Herd Health Day
Today was our scheduled Herd Health Day, at the farm. Every 4 weeks our veterinarian comes for his scheduled visit. We usually have a list of animals that need to see the vet. These animals are 99% of the time not sick, but just getting "physicals".
The first group of cows that the vet checked today were the post-calving cows (cows that have calved since the last herd health). These cows are palpated (checked rectally) to make sure that they are free of infection (which can occur during calving) and inflammation (swelling left over from calving). I would say that 90% of the time our cows get a clean bill of health. For those 10% that might have some infection a treatment protocol is put into place. We like to avoid using antibiotics when at all possible, to make sure that we aren't wasting milk (antibiotic treated cows need to have their milk dumped) but for severe cases of infection we do need to use antibiotics. For mild/minor infections we can use non-antibiotic antimicrobial to clean out the infection, keeping the cow in good health. Today we had 100% of the 10 post calving cows free of infection! At this time we also vaccinate for contagious diseases and give a vitamin injection to boost the cows immune system. Healthy cows, especially healthy post calving cows are critical to good quality milk production.
The second group of cows checked are the post breeding cows. These cows were bred 35 days or more ago. We use artificial insemination to breed all of our cows. We do not use a bull, for safety reasons-bulls are unpredictable and dangerous at times. Bulls don't fit into our goals for our farm. Artificial insemination allows us to use lots of different bulls from various companies, increasing our genetic advancements. Cows that were checked today are also rectally palpated to determine if they are pregnant or not. Our vet is well trained in this practice. This method does not hurt the cow, in fact it is a short process and she hardly knows anything happened to her. We also have the ability to ultrasound cows as well. We did not ultrasound cows today, but in the past we have to determine the sex/gender of the calf, determine if there are multiple calves, and determine conception date. Ultra sounding cows is much like ultra sounding humans-the images even look similar. Today we checked 16 cows, 11 cows were confirmed pregnant, 4 cows were open (not pregnant) and one was pregnant but might be losing her calf. The 4 cows that were not pregnant will be put back on the "Cows to breed" list. Some we will watch for natural heats, others we will synchronize breed. When we synch cows, we use 3 shots of hormones. These hormones are safe and do not transfer into the milk. Cows, just like humans have cystic ovaries or even have ovaries that become static or annovular. These shots help to bring the cow back into her cycle, just like doctors prescribe for women who have similar problems. Thankfully, we only have to give shots to 3 of the 4 cows...I hate giving shots to the cows.
Getting cows pregnant after calving is important because it means that we can keep the cow in the herd, she will give us another calf, and she will milk for another year. In the wild cows would also naturally calve once a year, so we are NOT forcing our cows to be calf factories, but following their natural cycles.
The last thing on the list for Herd Health today was pulling blood samples. We are part of a volunteer program which tests for and certifies for Johne's Disease. We have been certified Level 2 Johne's free for the last 4 years. Today's task was pulling blood samples on 30 random cows in our herd to be tested. If any come back positive then we will have to pull fecal samples from the positive cows. Some cows come back false positive, hence the fecal test (more expensive but more reliable for determining false positives). The blood sample is pretty painless. We like to make sure that we are doing a good job maintaining good bio security practices, keeping cows healthy, and keeping our milk safe. Be assured that EVERY DAY we are working for you the consumers, producing the safest healthiest product possible for you, your families, and our own families. Tmorrow we look forward to hoof trimming! Happy June Dairy Month!
The first group of cows that the vet checked today were the post-calving cows (cows that have calved since the last herd health). These cows are palpated (checked rectally) to make sure that they are free of infection (which can occur during calving) and inflammation (swelling left over from calving). I would say that 90% of the time our cows get a clean bill of health. For those 10% that might have some infection a treatment protocol is put into place. We like to avoid using antibiotics when at all possible, to make sure that we aren't wasting milk (antibiotic treated cows need to have their milk dumped) but for severe cases of infection we do need to use antibiotics. For mild/minor infections we can use non-antibiotic antimicrobial to clean out the infection, keeping the cow in good health. Today we had 100% of the 10 post calving cows free of infection! At this time we also vaccinate for contagious diseases and give a vitamin injection to boost the cows immune system. Healthy cows, especially healthy post calving cows are critical to good quality milk production.
The second group of cows checked are the post breeding cows. These cows were bred 35 days or more ago. We use artificial insemination to breed all of our cows. We do not use a bull, for safety reasons-bulls are unpredictable and dangerous at times. Bulls don't fit into our goals for our farm. Artificial insemination allows us to use lots of different bulls from various companies, increasing our genetic advancements. Cows that were checked today are also rectally palpated to determine if they are pregnant or not. Our vet is well trained in this practice. This method does not hurt the cow, in fact it is a short process and she hardly knows anything happened to her. We also have the ability to ultrasound cows as well. We did not ultrasound cows today, but in the past we have to determine the sex/gender of the calf, determine if there are multiple calves, and determine conception date. Ultra sounding cows is much like ultra sounding humans-the images even look similar. Today we checked 16 cows, 11 cows were confirmed pregnant, 4 cows were open (not pregnant) and one was pregnant but might be losing her calf. The 4 cows that were not pregnant will be put back on the "Cows to breed" list. Some we will watch for natural heats, others we will synchronize breed. When we synch cows, we use 3 shots of hormones. These hormones are safe and do not transfer into the milk. Cows, just like humans have cystic ovaries or even have ovaries that become static or annovular. These shots help to bring the cow back into her cycle, just like doctors prescribe for women who have similar problems. Thankfully, we only have to give shots to 3 of the 4 cows...I hate giving shots to the cows.
Getting cows pregnant after calving is important because it means that we can keep the cow in the herd, she will give us another calf, and she will milk for another year. In the wild cows would also naturally calve once a year, so we are NOT forcing our cows to be calf factories, but following their natural cycles.
The last thing on the list for Herd Health today was pulling blood samples. We are part of a volunteer program which tests for and certifies for Johne's Disease. We have been certified Level 2 Johne's free for the last 4 years. Today's task was pulling blood samples on 30 random cows in our herd to be tested. If any come back positive then we will have to pull fecal samples from the positive cows. Some cows come back false positive, hence the fecal test (more expensive but more reliable for determining false positives). The blood sample is pretty painless. We like to make sure that we are doing a good job maintaining good bio security practices, keeping cows healthy, and keeping our milk safe. Be assured that EVERY DAY we are working for you the consumers, producing the safest healthiest product possible for you, your families, and our own families. Tmorrow we look forward to hoof trimming! Happy June Dairy Month!
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