Milk cow not eating her grain, cow notion or feed problem?
Dec 13, 2022 15:13:01 GMT -5
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Post by twistedtimbershomest on Dec 13, 2022 15:13:01 GMT -5
I am back with more questions!
Our milk cow basically stopped eating her grain last Friday and has been picky about her hay and not eating as much as normal of that either.
Things to note: Jersey cow, 5 years old, freshened on September 21. We have had her since July or August. Milks about 1 to 1.5 gallons OAD milking normally with calf sharing. I give her 10-12# of grain and as much grass and alfalfa hay as she wants.
Things that have changed in the last little while:
Moved into the barn and haven't been able to fence an area outside of the barn yet, so she has been in the barn with the calf with not a lot of room to walk around. But it's been frigid and that hasn't seemed to bother her too much. The calf is probably more stir crazy than mom and I'm hoping to get things set up so they can go outside soon.
Things that changed specifically last week:
-We picked up a new tote of grain. It's the same blend as previously (barley, oats, peas and some wheat) The difference is that it is much coarser, in fact it's a lot of whole grains. I mistakenly thought she would prefer that because it's less dusty,, but have since learned that it's difficult for cows to digest grains that aren't cracked/ground/rolled. She ate it fine the first few days but then stopped.
-We finally built a stanchion last week and my hubby fed her grain in it on Thursday evening.. She ate it fine and he let her out. Next morning he went straight to milking her in the stanchion with the grain. She ate it and then tried to get out. (Normally we feed hay during milking and she gets grain after she's done, so that's another new thing!) My hubby also gave me a turn milking.. Normally he's the only one who does it and she gets annoyed with me if I try. She started getting antsy, pooped twice and peed (had to christen that new stanchion!) So I quit and let the calf out so my husband could finish milking and the cow would stand still and be calm with the calf nursing. As soon as he was done milking we let her out and she backed up almost into the water trough which needed to be moved but was still too full to do so. She manoeuvered around it though and then just stood there looking sad or confused. I filled her hay feeder and she was scared to put her head through because it looks kind of like the stanchion, except she can put her head in and out and it doesn't tighten. She did put her head in and eat a bit so I thought she was fine. When I came back to feed her in the afternoon she hadn't really eaten any hay. I fluffed it up and added a bit more and she still seemed very hesitant to put her head through. In the evening she still hadn't eaten much and wouldn't eat her grain for the first time ever. She usually devours it immediately. I was starting to get worried.
Next morning (Saturday) her udder was pretty soft and she hadn't eaten her grain or much hay so my hubby decided not to milk her. She licked some of the grain but mostly the minerals I top dressed it with. The only hay she seemed to want was the alfalfa leaves. (Normally she loves the grass hay and eats only the leaves of the alfalfa, so we recently bought 3 more grass bales from the same guy as before because we had run out she she was not happy with straight alfalfa) We were out for most of the afternoon and evening Saturday but my husband gave her lots of hay before we left. When he went to feed her in the evening she had thrown most of the hay out, so he put it back and put the calf away. She had over a gallon of milk the next day but still wasn't enthusiastic about the stanchion or her grain.
-This week my husband has to work at the office all day instead of home like he usually does. He really didn't want to get up and milk at 5 am so I'm the primary milker this week, for the first time ever. Yesterday I could barely get her into the stanchion and she was so agitated I let the calf on immediately and milked my side while he nursed. I got less than half a gallon. She never ate her grain.
This morning I lured her into the stanchion with the alfalfa leaves in a bucket and milked a little bit before she started getting agitated and I let the calf out. I managed to get 3/4 of a gallon and she seems to be eating her hay a little better maybe. But she's still off and I'm worried about her not being interested in the grain.
Is this just a situation of too many new things? Is the grain too coarse and she just hates it? Maybe after eating it for a couple days she realized it was making her stomach (s) upset? Or is she associating eating with being in the stanchion? And now I'm milking and it's just messing everything up?? The new feed was bought in a 1000# tote and I tried grinding up her portion for today in my food processor. It didn't work at all. So if I need it ground finer for her to actually eat it I will have to find a small/inexpensive grain mill.
Any insight or tips for how to help our Maggie would be greatly appreciated!!
Our milk cow basically stopped eating her grain last Friday and has been picky about her hay and not eating as much as normal of that either.
Things to note: Jersey cow, 5 years old, freshened on September 21. We have had her since July or August. Milks about 1 to 1.5 gallons OAD milking normally with calf sharing. I give her 10-12# of grain and as much grass and alfalfa hay as she wants.
Things that have changed in the last little while:
Moved into the barn and haven't been able to fence an area outside of the barn yet, so she has been in the barn with the calf with not a lot of room to walk around. But it's been frigid and that hasn't seemed to bother her too much. The calf is probably more stir crazy than mom and I'm hoping to get things set up so they can go outside soon.
Things that changed specifically last week:
-We picked up a new tote of grain. It's the same blend as previously (barley, oats, peas and some wheat) The difference is that it is much coarser, in fact it's a lot of whole grains. I mistakenly thought she would prefer that because it's less dusty,, but have since learned that it's difficult for cows to digest grains that aren't cracked/ground/rolled. She ate it fine the first few days but then stopped.
-We finally built a stanchion last week and my hubby fed her grain in it on Thursday evening.. She ate it fine and he let her out. Next morning he went straight to milking her in the stanchion with the grain. She ate it and then tried to get out. (Normally we feed hay during milking and she gets grain after she's done, so that's another new thing!) My hubby also gave me a turn milking.. Normally he's the only one who does it and she gets annoyed with me if I try. She started getting antsy, pooped twice and peed (had to christen that new stanchion!) So I quit and let the calf out so my husband could finish milking and the cow would stand still and be calm with the calf nursing. As soon as he was done milking we let her out and she backed up almost into the water trough which needed to be moved but was still too full to do so. She manoeuvered around it though and then just stood there looking sad or confused. I filled her hay feeder and she was scared to put her head through because it looks kind of like the stanchion, except she can put her head in and out and it doesn't tighten. She did put her head in and eat a bit so I thought she was fine. When I came back to feed her in the afternoon she hadn't really eaten any hay. I fluffed it up and added a bit more and she still seemed very hesitant to put her head through. In the evening she still hadn't eaten much and wouldn't eat her grain for the first time ever. She usually devours it immediately. I was starting to get worried.
Next morning (Saturday) her udder was pretty soft and she hadn't eaten her grain or much hay so my hubby decided not to milk her. She licked some of the grain but mostly the minerals I top dressed it with. The only hay she seemed to want was the alfalfa leaves. (Normally she loves the grass hay and eats only the leaves of the alfalfa, so we recently bought 3 more grass bales from the same guy as before because we had run out she she was not happy with straight alfalfa) We were out for most of the afternoon and evening Saturday but my husband gave her lots of hay before we left. When he went to feed her in the evening she had thrown most of the hay out, so he put it back and put the calf away. She had over a gallon of milk the next day but still wasn't enthusiastic about the stanchion or her grain.
-This week my husband has to work at the office all day instead of home like he usually does. He really didn't want to get up and milk at 5 am so I'm the primary milker this week, for the first time ever. Yesterday I could barely get her into the stanchion and she was so agitated I let the calf on immediately and milked my side while he nursed. I got less than half a gallon. She never ate her grain.
This morning I lured her into the stanchion with the alfalfa leaves in a bucket and milked a little bit before she started getting agitated and I let the calf out. I managed to get 3/4 of a gallon and she seems to be eating her hay a little better maybe. But she's still off and I'm worried about her not being interested in the grain.
Is this just a situation of too many new things? Is the grain too coarse and she just hates it? Maybe after eating it for a couple days she realized it was making her stomach (s) upset? Or is she associating eating with being in the stanchion? And now I'm milking and it's just messing everything up?? The new feed was bought in a 1000# tote and I tried grinding up her portion for today in my food processor. It didn't work at all. So if I need it ground finer for her to actually eat it I will have to find a small/inexpensive grain mill.
Any insight or tips for how to help our Maggie would be greatly appreciated!!