Post by nodakjersey on Oct 21, 2014 21:37:11 GMT -5
I have recently been accepted/offered a job as a COT to train to be a CED for an FSA county office. I start training in about a month. I will be away from home all week and only home on the weekends. The training lasts for approximately 9 months and then I will hopefully have a job at one of 3 counties NEAR me (within 1/2 hour).
I have a Jersey cow that is currently nursing 2 calves, her own and a foster calve OAD. She is about 6-7 months into her lactation. I currently only milk once a week and I take the two gallons from the front quarters and leave the back for her own calf. The foster calf that is a beef calf doesn't get to nurse that day. She is huge and is fine for the day. We are going to be weaning/selling our beef calves the first of November. The foster calf is going to be going with the bunch.
QUESTION-Jenny, my Jersey is still producing I figure around 5 gallons a day OAD. I am thinking that is going to be WAY to much for one calf to drink at one time. I went to OAD to try put some weight on her. Would it be inappropriate to let her calf be with her 24/7 now until I am ready to wean and dry her off? I tried to let him nurse 2x a day before and he wouldn't. My other thought is to let him only nurse as much as he wants and then her production should back off some because of supply vs demand. What do you guys all think? She is still getting roughly 24 pounds of grain-Sweet Feed 12%, Crack Corn, Beet pulp and some rolled oats. I do not know the individual pounds. She has gained a bit. I don't want to back off the grain, because I would like to see her gain more condition.
Note: She is due first week of April with AI calf to Jersey Sire ALL STAR and I plan to dry her off sometime in December to give her about 3 months dry to gain weight before she freshens again.
This brings about the second part of my question.
She is supposed to calve April 4th or 5th. I milked her TAD for the first week and then I added the foster calf. I could then go to OAD and within another few days could go to milking as needed. The foster calf was about a month old. I won't be around much when she calves due to my job. Jenny is a fairly high producer in the beginning. I think she is around 7 gallons or maybe a bit more. I have never totally milked her out b/c I milk share with 2 calves.
Do you think I need 3 calves in the beginning of her lactation so I don't need to milk at all except when I want (weekends when I will be home) and then drop down to two after a couple to three months?
What do the rest of you do that do NURSE COWS exclusively do? We have beef cattle and often have a twin we can put on. We also have a couple older cows we could calve out and STEAL their calves to graft on Jenny.
I just would like some input from others who do this with a fairly high producing cow.
THANKS all!