Post by carolann on Jan 13, 2012 10:41:26 GMT -5
Hi. First I ask for patience because we are new Jersey owners and our terminology and understanding of cow knowledge is limited but we are slowly learning. A friend, who owns cows, told us about your site and wow, this site is great. Thank you.
Question - We think our Jersey may be drying up and we don't know why?
Background - We got her with her 6 month old calf in December. We were told when we purchased her that she was 2.5 years old and gave about 5 gals of milk a day. We had to remove the calf from her because he was causing damage to her back teats. We have cared for her teats and they are looking great now. We have been milking her 2x a day and the most milk we ever got was 3 gals a day. We have hand milked and have a milking machine that we have learn to use. (She has been so patient with us, she turns her head and looks at us. I can only imagine what she is thinking.)
We bought an orphan, a 1 week old calf, and have put the calf on her 2x a day with partial milking, because we were told the calf could not take all her milk. She has accepted the calf very well after a few kicks to my husband and to the calf.
But we seem to think that her milk production is decreasing... Last night my husband milked her for about 10 minutes all 4 quarters and then put the calf on her. But we only got 1/2 gal of milk. This morning her quarters were full but were not engorged and we allowed the calf to nurse her only.
Do Jersey's just naturally dry up? We are feeding her 2x a day with each milking - 14% protein mixed with 12% sweet feed - feeding two 3/qt scoops of each with 2 handfuls of alfalfa pellets and a small hand of minerals.
She was poorly appearance when we got her after birthing twins and nursing for 6 months. Her appearance has much improved. Read one of your post that stated 3 ribs and short ribs showing. Back udders are dropped related to udder edema when pregnant, but, they still milk good.
Question - shouldn't she be giving more milk and can she just dry up? Wanting to try and breed her next month.
We are so new to this. We don't want to hurt her because of our ignorance. She is so sweet and loving and has become a part of our little backyard farm so quickly.
Thank you for any information anyone can give us.
Question - We think our Jersey may be drying up and we don't know why?
Background - We got her with her 6 month old calf in December. We were told when we purchased her that she was 2.5 years old and gave about 5 gals of milk a day. We had to remove the calf from her because he was causing damage to her back teats. We have cared for her teats and they are looking great now. We have been milking her 2x a day and the most milk we ever got was 3 gals a day. We have hand milked and have a milking machine that we have learn to use. (She has been so patient with us, she turns her head and looks at us. I can only imagine what she is thinking.)
We bought an orphan, a 1 week old calf, and have put the calf on her 2x a day with partial milking, because we were told the calf could not take all her milk. She has accepted the calf very well after a few kicks to my husband and to the calf.
But we seem to think that her milk production is decreasing... Last night my husband milked her for about 10 minutes all 4 quarters and then put the calf on her. But we only got 1/2 gal of milk. This morning her quarters were full but were not engorged and we allowed the calf to nurse her only.
Do Jersey's just naturally dry up? We are feeding her 2x a day with each milking - 14% protein mixed with 12% sweet feed - feeding two 3/qt scoops of each with 2 handfuls of alfalfa pellets and a small hand of minerals.
She was poorly appearance when we got her after birthing twins and nursing for 6 months. Her appearance has much improved. Read one of your post that stated 3 ribs and short ribs showing. Back udders are dropped related to udder edema when pregnant, but, they still milk good.
Question - shouldn't she be giving more milk and can she just dry up? Wanting to try and breed her next month.
We are so new to this. We don't want to hurt her because of our ignorance. She is so sweet and loving and has become a part of our little backyard farm so quickly.
Thank you for any information anyone can give us.