Post by petey on Jul 31, 2011 21:29:49 GMT -5
Dolly went into this calving looking better than she has ever looked before.
Everything was going swimmingly until we had to graft leppies on both cows to sharemilk while we went to town. We would let Dolly’s own calf nurse, along with a foster heifer, then bring Moose in to clean up what was left as she was producing more than the calves could handle.
Suddenly, she started losing weight. I had been separating the calves overnight, but Dolly would come in the morning with a nearly empty bag. I was beginning to worry about her own calf getting enough to survive.
We thought maybe she was grieving her calf, so we turned him back out with her. I wanted to milk Emma, so I kept her in. Dolly looked immediately better that evening, and even had some milk in her bag. I turned both calves out with her so I could milk Emma in the morning. Emma cried and cried. I was mad because it looked like SHE was getting too attached to her calf and it was going to cause me problems.
I turned both cows out for two days and Dolly has continued to drop off weight and has gone back to an empty bag. Emma’s bag never seems to be very empty, but she isn’t letting down for me. Dolly is starting to scare me.
I kept upping her feed and supplementing the almost 40 acres of pasture with more and more alfalfa, but she continued to get thinner and thinner at a rapid rate.
Emma looked fine. I began to panic thinking maybe Dolly had Johnes.
Tonite the mystery was solved.
I brought the girls in to feed them, then turned them out with their calves. They were all standing in the orchard and I could see Dolly licking her calf while he nursed, but something didn’t look right. I walked through the muck and mud and found out EXACTLY why Dolly looks so poor, and Emma has a tight bag.
There nursing Dolly, was her calf, “Mo” AND Emma’s calf “CWilly” …and EMMA!!!!
Everything was going swimmingly until we had to graft leppies on both cows to sharemilk while we went to town. We would let Dolly’s own calf nurse, along with a foster heifer, then bring Moose in to clean up what was left as she was producing more than the calves could handle.
Suddenly, she started losing weight. I had been separating the calves overnight, but Dolly would come in the morning with a nearly empty bag. I was beginning to worry about her own calf getting enough to survive.
We thought maybe she was grieving her calf, so we turned him back out with her. I wanted to milk Emma, so I kept her in. Dolly looked immediately better that evening, and even had some milk in her bag. I turned both calves out with her so I could milk Emma in the morning. Emma cried and cried. I was mad because it looked like SHE was getting too attached to her calf and it was going to cause me problems.
I turned both cows out for two days and Dolly has continued to drop off weight and has gone back to an empty bag. Emma’s bag never seems to be very empty, but she isn’t letting down for me. Dolly is starting to scare me.
I kept upping her feed and supplementing the almost 40 acres of pasture with more and more alfalfa, but she continued to get thinner and thinner at a rapid rate.
Emma looked fine. I began to panic thinking maybe Dolly had Johnes.
Tonite the mystery was solved.
I brought the girls in to feed them, then turned them out with their calves. They were all standing in the orchard and I could see Dolly licking her calf while he nursed, but something didn’t look right. I walked through the muck and mud and found out EXACTLY why Dolly looks so poor, and Emma has a tight bag.
There nursing Dolly, was her calf, “Mo” AND Emma’s calf “CWilly” …and EMMA!!!!