Quarantined Milk

If there was a movie to be made about me right now, then Quarantined would be the title. You see, I've got mastitis. It is an infection in my udder. And it happens. The Farmer does a good job with his milking routine and tries to care for me and the other cows, but things happen sometimes. Like when people get colds for seemingly no good reason.

So what do you do? You treat it, of course. First The Farmer tried an ointment on my udder which is sort of like icy hot for cows. It felt good and soothing, but it and time were not enough. So he resorted to giving me some antibiotics. Medicine. So I would feel better. To get rid of the infection.

The Scarlet Line

After giving me the antibiotics I also received the full Hester Prynne treatment. That's right, I was marked! I didn't get a huge scarlet letter "A" for antibiotics emblazoned on my forehead, but he did mark me with some scarlet red paint on each of my back legs. This will alert and remind anyone that is milking me that my milk cannot be put with the rest of the milk.

The Farmer does not ever want milk from treated cows like me to go with the other cows' milk. If he did he would be punished for an entire milk truck load of milk that would be contaminated. It would be better for him to discard all of his milk on hand than let it be put on the truck if that were to happen.

Every load of milk on the farm is tested. Then the truck is tested. Then it is tested and tested some more at the processor to make sure the milk is antibiotic free. Talk about safety!

Milk Can Vs Milk Tank

So where does my milk go? It goes into the milk can and then it is discarded.

I am quarantined.

Everybody else's milk goes in the big milk tank. They never mingle. They never touch. In a few days The Farmer will test my milk with an antibiotic test kit. When it shows my milk is good he will allow it to go back in the tank, but until that test is clean I am quarantined.

Agent 436, reporting from the Udder Side.