Mastitis treatment without antibiotics?

greenspun.com : LUSENET : Countryside : One Thread

We are (relatively) novice homesteaders with our very first cow. She is a two-year-old Holstein bred to a Jersey, about to have her first calf in May. We hope to keep the calf and one or two bum calves on her while milking only enough for our family.

In perusing past threads, I came across the following note about treating mastitis organically. I have corresponded with the writer, and she was very helpful, but wondered if any others have any feedback or suggestions.

She wrote:

> We are an organic dairy with 40 head of cows. We cannot > use antibiotics on our cows unless it is an emergency > and then we have to sell her or keep her out of > the bulk tank for a year. We know of some people that use > homeopathy very successfully with mastitis but we > have a hard time getting those little pills to stay in our cows' > mouths. : )

First question: We use homeopathy ourselves, and have seen resources for using it with pets. But can you point us to resources regarding using it with farm animals (we also have sheep, goats, chickens, & ducks).

> We have tried protein supplements that you give SQ and > they help tremendously but I dont know how > available you are to them. They are usually a whey > based product.

This also sounds quite interesting. What is "SQ" (pardon my ignorance :>)? We live in a dairy county and wonder if such products are likely available in our area. Can you give me any suggestions or point me to resources on this?

> We have also used corn oil infused into the > quarter with mastitis. They say the protein in the corn > oil triggers a defense attack to the quarter therefore killing > the bacteria that were there to begin with. I dont know > if this is all true because everyone tells you different stories > but this works fine on our cows. Again and again it has > proved it works for us. It is a cheap thing to try and > everyone has access to corn oil at the supermarket.

This sounds interesting, too, especially given your success testimony. How do you "infuse" the corn oil? Do you simply use a syringe and force it up into the teat?

-- Jonathan Lindvall (Lindvall@BoldChristianLiving.com), March 26, 2000

Answers

Hi, I have never used any of the above treatments on mastitis. SQ may mean sub Q, that is,sub cutaneous (a shot given under the skin,not into the muscle). We have goats,not cattle, and they don't get mastitis very often. When they do,it is often due to a new milker, stress(a new milker is also stressful, so the same person should milk all the time),skipping a milking or not milking the udder out completely,physical injury to the udder,as caused by horned goats or buck kids butting the udder too hard, or by a milker(usually a new one!) who is not milking gently,thoroughly,or correctly enough. It can also be caused by dirty bedding and lack of sanitation in the barn. I have placed a lot of emphasis on the new milkers, because that has been the biggest cause of mastitis in our herd. Dairy animals like consistency and a regular routine. It is very important to find out what is causing the mastitis-it doesn't usually occur without cause-and fix that as well as treating the symptoms. When a doe does get it, don't waste any time in treating it! The worse it gets the harder it becomes to reverse it and the more likelihood there is that permament udder damage could occur. What has woorked for us is the following-put very warm,almost hot compresses on the udder, several times in a session,and milk her out dry.After she has been milked,put another hot compress on and milk her again- the heat softens the udder an allows the milk to flow better. Repeat this routine at least twice a day,three to four times a day is better.Every time after the udder has been milked and the compresses are done,dry the udder and gently massage it with bag balm. After about two or three days of this treatment most does will be back on their feet. By the way,it also works well for mothers who have mastitis.I also give the sick does half a bucket of warm water with molasses and cider vinegar mixed in it, 1/4 -1/2 cup of each and a gallon or two of water. If the doe seems to crave it,I mix her up more and give her as much as she wants. They are very good about knowing what is good for them and whether or not they need it. I have tried the mastitis treatments and antibiotics in the past and really haven't seen much in the way of results unless they are combined with the above treatment-which works all by itself.I especially don't like infusing the udder with medicine or anything else-it is only introducing more bacteria into the udder and stressing the goat out too.

-- Rebekah (daniel1@transport.com), March 26, 2000.

Jonathan, if you have the milk in problem udders cultured, than the guessing ends there. If you are dealing with staph, you could eaisly treat this with infusions of kool-aid, as long as you kept the udder empty. But in dealing with cholorforms, E-coli etc. you will not only loose production (money) but you will loose, in my case the ability to show the animal (money) and untreated mastitis can cause the sloughing off of an udder and the death of a doe (money). Dumping the milk from a large commercial herd, from this one animal while she is treated, and then waiting for the anit-biotic residues and withdrawl time, costs them, so they are looking for alternatives. The loss of the one animal, or its production, is taken up by the others. In a small herd the loss of one animal may be 1/4 of the milk supply, so I like to air on the side of caution. If you infuse the udder and systemically (the whole body) treat with the appropriate anitbiotic, support the rumen, you will have a predictable outcome. Another great alternative for you is to pre- vaccinate you doe for mastitis. Staph Aurous can be controled with a shot of LYsing formerly stomota staph, in the Jeffers catalog 1-800- jeffers, ask for the livestock catalog. We milk and show Nubain and LaMancha goats, but an udder is an udder. You must be so excited to be calving soon. I would love to have a all of your cream to play with. Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), March 26, 2000.

One teatment that I tried is golden seal tea injected into the udder like a mastitis treatment. Also goldenseal is an excellent treatment for goats internally. It works especially well for stomach disorders like when a goat has gotten into the grain. I would use it for mastitis both internally and in the udder. goats love the taste of it and will eat it readily.

Little Bit Farm

-- Little bit Farm (littlebit@calinet.com), March 27, 2000.


try useing aloe vera infused into the teat about 20cc once or twice is all that should be needed even the people that care about organic can use this one and you dont have to throw out the milk. milk her out first. then use this once a day for a couple of days... it works and is used on dairy's here in maine.

-- Bill Tower (bbill@wtvl.net), May 22, 2000.

Moderation questions? read the FAQ