Post by thystledown on Jul 12, 2022 9:23:29 GMT -5
She had 6 mos dry and calved in good condition in April. Her first time to calve in spring and she's 10 years old. I got record amounts of milk on our lush spring grass, often 5 gallons or more where she is typically about 3. She has two calves and I milk OAD after separating. she gets 8 lbs of feed twice a day--so 16 lbs a day. I continued with half 18% dairy and half corn meal because she previously held or gained weight on that without pushing production. She can not keep up now. I plan to put her down before winter because of arthritis. She creaks when she walks and is obviously unhappy. she wants to lay around all day and does not graze enough. She does not like the first cutting hay and no one has second cutting yet. Flies are a problem. I don't want to use chemical pesticides anymore, so have been trying various commercial and homemade products with essential oils like citronella and so forth. Have fly traps in the corners of her pasture. She does not want to go in her shed which requires her to take a step up. I'm going to move her to another pasture she's been spending nights in where she can just go in a run-in shed, but she will still not be grazing if she's sleeping in a shed. I'd really like some help in figuring out how to get her comfortably through a few more months. He daughter freshens in September and I can sell her two calves as feeders then. I'm so sad about this. I raised her from a calf--the first cow i had on my own and not part of Dad's herd. And she has always been a ballet dancer--running and jumping and kicking the air. She is clearly stiff and sore now. so sad. Can I increase the grain feed? Pastures are good, mixed grasses and clover. But she eats weeds and tree leaves like there is something missing in her diet. She does get occasional loose salt and selenium in her feed. She has a selenium mineral salt block in every pasture. Oh, and she gave a little less than a gallon and a half this morning and cream line has been shrinking drastically too.