Post by mandys on Jun 14, 2011 3:06:45 GMT -5
I am hoping someone can help me.
I have a Jersey & a Holstein cow. My Jersey was AI'ed in January 4 months after her last calf and my Holstein is due any minute now also covered 4 months after her last calf.
I am just not winning with the amount of milk I get from each cow. Before we dried our Holstein off I was lucky if I got 1 gallon from her and eventually 3 months ago she just about dried herself off. With the Jersey I am lucky if I get 1.5 gallons a day. They are out all day in 12 acres where the grass is just a normal what we would call veld grass with no kukuya or anything too nutrient rich I would think. They have access to water 24/7. The days are a bit chilly here at the moment with the average evening temp being 2C degrees and day temps of 18degrees. In the evenings they stand in a smaller field where the grass is very short so I leave a bale of Errogrostis out for them that they eat all night.
Food wise I am feeding 5kg a day of 21% concentrate to the Jersey + 2kg of a mixture of Alfafa & Oats. I was given another type of feed from our local farm stall that consists of 21% mash and have been giving her 1kg a day of that but she spits that out and rather goes for the pellets of 21%.
I just found it strange that both of my cows are such low producers so I must be doing something wrong. When I bought the Holstein she was giving nearly 4 gallons on field grass only to the previous owner. When I got her I added concentrates to that as we didn;t have the kukuya and the milk just kept getting less and less.
I have a helper that milks for me in the morning and evening. I have checked with him and he says he is milking all the quarters dry at each milking. Could it be that he has not milked them out completely and slowly the amount of milk the cows have produced has just gotten less and less? I was therefore thinking that maybe a milking machine would be better to ensure I am getting all the milk out? I am just wanting to do the right thing from the beginning when the Holstein has her calf so we can get maximum milk.
Am I missing anything or does anyone have any suggestions that can help me? We are due to get our next girl by the end of the month and just want to make sure we do things properly before we buy her.
Thanks!
I have a Jersey & a Holstein cow. My Jersey was AI'ed in January 4 months after her last calf and my Holstein is due any minute now also covered 4 months after her last calf.
I am just not winning with the amount of milk I get from each cow. Before we dried our Holstein off I was lucky if I got 1 gallon from her and eventually 3 months ago she just about dried herself off. With the Jersey I am lucky if I get 1.5 gallons a day. They are out all day in 12 acres where the grass is just a normal what we would call veld grass with no kukuya or anything too nutrient rich I would think. They have access to water 24/7. The days are a bit chilly here at the moment with the average evening temp being 2C degrees and day temps of 18degrees. In the evenings they stand in a smaller field where the grass is very short so I leave a bale of Errogrostis out for them that they eat all night.
Food wise I am feeding 5kg a day of 21% concentrate to the Jersey + 2kg of a mixture of Alfafa & Oats. I was given another type of feed from our local farm stall that consists of 21% mash and have been giving her 1kg a day of that but she spits that out and rather goes for the pellets of 21%.
I just found it strange that both of my cows are such low producers so I must be doing something wrong. When I bought the Holstein she was giving nearly 4 gallons on field grass only to the previous owner. When I got her I added concentrates to that as we didn;t have the kukuya and the milk just kept getting less and less.
I have a helper that milks for me in the morning and evening. I have checked with him and he says he is milking all the quarters dry at each milking. Could it be that he has not milked them out completely and slowly the amount of milk the cows have produced has just gotten less and less? I was therefore thinking that maybe a milking machine would be better to ensure I am getting all the milk out? I am just wanting to do the right thing from the beginning when the Holstein has her calf so we can get maximum milk.
Am I missing anything or does anyone have any suggestions that can help me? We are due to get our next girl by the end of the month and just want to make sure we do things properly before we buy her.
Thanks!