09/18/2026
**Long video, long post**
Front row seat to cattle management Yuba Valley Ranch style.
Sometimes it gets messy, and things don’t go according to plan.
A 5 month old heifer with mastitis 😳😥🤯
What the hell?!
Mastitis is an infection/abscess of the mammary tissue. It can cause a lot of peripheral damage when it swells up and stops blood flow to the adjacent tissue. That’s what is sloughing off this heifer.
Cows have 4 quarters to their mammary system- each with its own ni**le. Each quarter has a different level of milk production, but mostly they’re all synchronized.
A heifer with a damaged udder isn’t a great addition to the herd. In this business a cows value is based on conformation, udder, feet, etc., and her ability to be a good mom and raise a nice calf.
The chance this heifers calf will struggle due to poor nutrition is enough for us to send her down the road. S**t.
“Down the road” means she’s going to the sale yard with a load of our calves.
These are the heart wrenching decisions we have to make. I hate it. She was supposed to be a replacement heifer.
For one, she may still have an open wound when it’s time to go. Who’s going to look after that?!
For two, a cow with a bad udder is probably gonna get passed around a fair bit unless someone gets her for beef which means she will most likely end up in a feed lot, getting trucked around, maybe in and out of the sale yards a few times. 😩
Hard pass.
I can’t put her into our beef program because she’s had 3 rounds of antibiotics, some pain meds, and we vaccinated her to go to the sale… ( remember we have a never ever beef program…)
What should we do with her?!?!