Post by Deleted on Oct 24, 2004 11:33:18 GMT -5
Coco is my practice calf. She is the 2nd calf I've had while milking a cow on the same small acreage.
The first calf I left on Mama 23/7 except 2x/day when I milked and that didn't work. After 3 - 4 months my share dwindled to just enough to keep me (a cup of warm milk am & pm) with none for my family or cheese, yogurt, cream, ice-cream, butter etc.
When the Cow was generous with me her calf would unmercifully punish the poor thing until she was trained to only give me a cup. Her attachment to the little ruler was so very strong that I knew she would level mountains to be with him or die trying.
My present cow was never with her daughter as this cow was shipped just after calving. I became the light of her life and she has given me about 3 gal of rich milk/day for 10 months.
I hope she is pregnant but it's still too early to tell, so I have at least 6 months more to milk. I have a new 6 week old bottle fed calf and I like them to spend time together.
This seems to work without the calf stealing milk :
Calf is free in her own calf stall all night.
Calf goes out with horse (babysitter) in the morning while I milk & clean.
I Feed the calf a bottle of warm milk and then chain calf up next to the just milked cow so they can snuggle/lick but not nurse until calf's sucking frenzy response has passed. (~20 min) They both eliminate a lot.
After that they seem happy to join the horse out on pasture, horse & cow both seem protective of Coco.
Coco is not interested in nursing. When Coco strays back to the barn, the horse & cow follow. I haul Coco back into to her clean calf stall for a nap until her mid-day bottle.
Sometimes I let her back out for a while with Cow & Horse after that sucking response has subsided.
That seems to work for me so far, I know it is too much of a hassle for a comercial dairy but maybe it might be a management idea for a family cow -so that the owners still get the milk and the calf still gets some time to be a herd animal.
It is very cute to see the calf nibble on grass and see the cow lick her or the horse worry over her straying into the woods. Coco runs & jumps like a silly circling deer, with her tail up, she flies. I think she is too wild to ever be a docile milk cow.
The first calf I left on Mama 23/7 except 2x/day when I milked and that didn't work. After 3 - 4 months my share dwindled to just enough to keep me (a cup of warm milk am & pm) with none for my family or cheese, yogurt, cream, ice-cream, butter etc.
When the Cow was generous with me her calf would unmercifully punish the poor thing until she was trained to only give me a cup. Her attachment to the little ruler was so very strong that I knew she would level mountains to be with him or die trying.
My present cow was never with her daughter as this cow was shipped just after calving. I became the light of her life and she has given me about 3 gal of rich milk/day for 10 months.
I hope she is pregnant but it's still too early to tell, so I have at least 6 months more to milk. I have a new 6 week old bottle fed calf and I like them to spend time together.
This seems to work without the calf stealing milk :
Calf is free in her own calf stall all night.
Calf goes out with horse (babysitter) in the morning while I milk & clean.
I Feed the calf a bottle of warm milk and then chain calf up next to the just milked cow so they can snuggle/lick but not nurse until calf's sucking frenzy response has passed. (~20 min) They both eliminate a lot.
After that they seem happy to join the horse out on pasture, horse & cow both seem protective of Coco.
Coco is not interested in nursing. When Coco strays back to the barn, the horse & cow follow. I haul Coco back into to her clean calf stall for a nap until her mid-day bottle.
Sometimes I let her back out for a while with Cow & Horse after that sucking response has subsided.
That seems to work for me so far, I know it is too much of a hassle for a comercial dairy but maybe it might be a management idea for a family cow -so that the owners still get the milk and the calf still gets some time to be a herd animal.
It is very cute to see the calf nibble on grass and see the cow lick her or the horse worry over her straying into the woods. Coco runs & jumps like a silly circling deer, with her tail up, she flies. I think she is too wild to ever be a docile milk cow.