Post by brummw6 on Mar 9, 2024 16:33:50 GMT -5
We're only a week in to keeping a family cow post-calving, so we're still figuring out how to be sure everyone is healthy as we try to share milk with the calf. I have two questions that may be related and that I haven't clearly answered for myself by looking at what has already been posted here by others (though I'm sure the info is there somewhere and I'm simply not seeing it).
First question: how much milk should I be getting a week after calving? A google search says a Jersey will produce 6 gallons per day, but I'm assuming she has to work up to that much?
Second question: how much variation in the firmness of the calf's poop should be expected in the early days? I think it was in a book on sheep that I read it can be tricky to tell the difference between worrisome scours and normal newborn poop, so I'm wondering if the same sort of thing can be true with calves.
Here's some more info for context. We got Charlene, then a heifer, at the end of December. She calved on March 2nd (exactly a week ago). She's seemed to be healthy, eating well, etc. the whole time we've had her. She had a bull calf, Chad, and he seems to be healthy too--except that he currently has runny poop. It was firmer a day or two ago, and now that I think about it the runny poop may have coincided with his getting outside of the barn for the first time. (We kept them both in the barn for the first few days.) So maybe he nibbled on something out there? We have chickens, for instance, that have been out at the same time that he's been out. When he and Charlene are in the barn, their stall is next to one with a couple sheep in it, and Chad is about as tall as the sheep and they can probably bump heads and swap spit a little bit where there's a space between the boards separating the stalls. Now that I think about it, the day after calving his backside looked a little messy, but then it seemed like he was pooping fine for awhile. Today, it's runny and smells pretty bad. As far as I can tell, it's been the same yellow color his whole life and not had any blood or mucus.
Regarding milking, the day after Charlene calved I wanted to milk some colostrum to save some for future emergencies, and I got about a gallon. I had already seen Chad nurse before then, the very night he calved. I milked about a gallon a day for the next three days (the 4th, 5th, and 6th). Then I thought I'd try a morning and evening milking, and I got a little over 2 gallons on the 7th and and about 1.5 gallons the 8th (yesterday)--about 1 gallon in the morning and half in the evening. This morning, I got about 3 quarts, and it seemed like it was a bit harder to get those 3 quarts than it had been to get the gallon the morning before.
Based on all of the above, does it seem like Chad is getting too much milk? Not enough? Did I take too much colostrum too early? Is Charlene not really letting down for me? Are these normal amounts of milk for me to be getting at this point, and she'll fill out more in the coming days? How concerned should I be about either issue?
Thanks!
First question: how much milk should I be getting a week after calving? A google search says a Jersey will produce 6 gallons per day, but I'm assuming she has to work up to that much?
Second question: how much variation in the firmness of the calf's poop should be expected in the early days? I think it was in a book on sheep that I read it can be tricky to tell the difference between worrisome scours and normal newborn poop, so I'm wondering if the same sort of thing can be true with calves.
Here's some more info for context. We got Charlene, then a heifer, at the end of December. She calved on March 2nd (exactly a week ago). She's seemed to be healthy, eating well, etc. the whole time we've had her. She had a bull calf, Chad, and he seems to be healthy too--except that he currently has runny poop. It was firmer a day or two ago, and now that I think about it the runny poop may have coincided with his getting outside of the barn for the first time. (We kept them both in the barn for the first few days.) So maybe he nibbled on something out there? We have chickens, for instance, that have been out at the same time that he's been out. When he and Charlene are in the barn, their stall is next to one with a couple sheep in it, and Chad is about as tall as the sheep and they can probably bump heads and swap spit a little bit where there's a space between the boards separating the stalls. Now that I think about it, the day after calving his backside looked a little messy, but then it seemed like he was pooping fine for awhile. Today, it's runny and smells pretty bad. As far as I can tell, it's been the same yellow color his whole life and not had any blood or mucus.
Regarding milking, the day after Charlene calved I wanted to milk some colostrum to save some for future emergencies, and I got about a gallon. I had already seen Chad nurse before then, the very night he calved. I milked about a gallon a day for the next three days (the 4th, 5th, and 6th). Then I thought I'd try a morning and evening milking, and I got a little over 2 gallons on the 7th and and about 1.5 gallons the 8th (yesterday)--about 1 gallon in the morning and half in the evening. This morning, I got about 3 quarts, and it seemed like it was a bit harder to get those 3 quarts than it had been to get the gallon the morning before.
Based on all of the above, does it seem like Chad is getting too much milk? Not enough? Did I take too much colostrum too early? Is Charlene not really letting down for me? Are these normal amounts of milk for me to be getting at this point, and she'll fill out more in the coming days? How concerned should I be about either issue?
Thanks!