Vusumuzi Dube
THIS week we discuss one of the most important organs of the cow, the udder.
The udder is the milk producing part of the cow, where your calf suckles for nourishment.
It is that part of the cow which we milk when we want to get milk for consumption or even selling. The udder like any other organ of an animal will occasionally be afflicted by different kinds of problems which may result in its proper function being compromised or in total failure to function.
The first common disorder of the udder especially in high producing cows, is udder oedema.
This is seen as swelling of the udder due to excessive accumulation of fluids in the mammary tissues. Most cows will experience oedema of the udder prior to calving due to physiological changes happening naturally in the animal.
This will rectify itself naturally or after initial stages of milking, if it is not acute. Another common problem of the udder is that of failure of milk ejection.
This happens mainly in first time calvers who may fail to let down milk because of fear of handling especially in places that use milking machines such as dairy farms.
This is usually rectified by making the first time calver calm and comfortable such that her system begins to let down the milk naturally and also after stimulation by the nursing calf.
However, if the problem persists, there might be a need to administer oxytocin to stimulate the release of milk. Then there is another udder problem called agalactia. This simply refers to failure of the udder to produce milk.
There are many reasons why a cow’s udder may fail to produce milk completely and these may be endocrinal which means the glands that are supposed to produce milk, are not producing the milk. Most of the time an udder which is not producing milk will be dead mostly from diseases such as mastitis or other physical injuries.
A dead udder is usually terminal, and the only solution is disposal of the affected animal. An udder has four chambers or quarters hence your animal will have four teats. Each chamber functions as an independent almost autonomous unit.
In some cases, some quarters may malfunction and fail to produce milk while others are producing. These are called blind quarters and they are usually caused by mastitis.
Timely treatment can rectify the problem and the chambers come into production. A cow’s udder is an important production unit of the animal which needs to be managed properly because this may result in loss of your calf.
One important aspect of udder management is cleanliness and utmost hygiene. Hygiene will ensure that your cow is not affected by mastitis which is a very common disease of the udder.
Mastitis can inflict damage to the udder and teats depending on the extent of infection. Ideally your cow should produce clean milk of appropriate texture as an indication of the health of the udder. An unhealthy udder will produce milk with pus, blood stained or even milk which appears to be clotted. All these are indication of an infection of the udder which needs attention from the farmer.
Besides being unhealthy and unsuitable for human consumption, such milk will have unpleasant visual appearance. Any deviation from the normal colour and texture of milk should be immediately investigated as it will be indicative of a problem somewhere in the udder.
Therefore, for every livestock farmer, udder management is an integral part of cow management. A poorly managed udder of your cow will definitely affect production in your herd as you may have to dispose the cow after a complete malfunction of the udder, or you will constantly lose calves due to inadequate nourishment from the dam.
Let us as farmers be always vigilant about any negative developments that we are witnessing regarding the udder of your animal, so that we can take remedial action in time.
Uyabonga umntaka MaKhumalo.
Mhlupheki Dube is a livestock specialist and farmer. He writes in his own capacity. Feedback [email protected]/ cell 0772851275
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