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bad udder

kwebb

Well-known member
I have a young cow (second calf) and her udder turned ugly all of the sudden.

The teats are about four inches long and I know when she bags up for the next calf they are going to be all distended and cone shaped and hard for the calf to suckle.

Anyway to do anything about that? Any thing to prevent it in the future?

Also, any heifers out of her are likely to do that, too, right? Any bulls out of her will be cut and sold at 7 months.

Thanks!
 

Soapweed

Well-known member
kwebb said:
I have a young cow (second calf) and her udder turned ugly all of the sudden.

The teats are about four inches long and I know when she bags up for the next calf they are going to be all distended and cone shaped and hard for the calf to suckle.

Anyway to do anything about that? Any thing to prevent it in the future?

Also, any heifers out of her are likely to do that, too, right? Any bulls out of her will be cut and sold at 7 months.

Thanks!

Keep that cow only long enough to wean her present calf, then sell her and the calf. It might be a financial loss for the moment, but it will head of big troubles on down the road. Your herd will look better because of your hard stance on culling the undesirables.
 

IL Rancher

Well-known member
Bad udder this year will be a worse udder next year.. I have a bunch here that need to go but they aren't mine (My grandfathers).. If I can talk him into this fall we will sell out most of his herd and replace them with some heifers.. His are getting old and some oare down to one or two quarters worth grazing.. calving on spring flush these last two years have caused some blow ups of udders.
 

Faster horses

Well-known member
Take Soapweed's advice and get rid of her.

And no, the udder is transferred down from the bull usually.
Be very careful of the maternal genetics on the bulls side.
Larry Leonhardt maintains the most important cow in the pedigree
is the granddam on the bulls bottom side.

Or is the granddam on the cows bottom side. Gosh now
I'm not sure. :oops:

Anyway, get her GONE. That udder will just get worse, MUCH WORSE.
FWIW
 

jkvikefan

Well-known member
Bad udders are highly heritable and they can come from either side of the pedigree.Best thing to do is cull her and her calf ASAP.
 

PPRM

Well-known member
Faster horses said:
Take Soapweed's advice and get rid of her.

And no, the udder is transferred down from the bull usually.
Be very careful of the maternal genetics on the bulls side.
Larry Leonhardt maintains the most important cow in the pedigree
is the granddam on the bulls bottom side.

Or is the granddam on the cows bottom side. Gosh now
I'm not sure. :oops:

Anyway, get her GONE. That udder will just get worse, MUCH WORSE.
FWIW

The Wife and I were just discussing a cow we will be culling. She is 12 years old and has raised great calves, maybe consistently the best claves year in and year out.......We have held our breath the last few years, something I generally just do not do. But this cow is a wreck waiting to happen......

The interesting thing is, NONE of her Hiefer Calves have EVER exhibited anything but almost perfect udders..Alll the calves have a real classy look and gorgeous head about them.....Reason this came up is we started looking to cull the cows out of her and they are all great cows with great udders. I was scratching my head a bit wondering what the hck. i wa kinda relieved as these are some great cows out of her, but also wondering if I was just fooling myself......

I will keep an eye on these, but it is hard to cull cows that are working for you,

PPRM
 
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