Post by rd200 on Jan 27, 2015 10:32:42 GMT -5
I want to first say that its my first time posting but Im not a "newbie" to the Dairy industry, just to having a Family cow. I grew up on a Dairy farm & continue to work in the Dairy industry PT. I'm a SAHM to 5 wonderful kiddos and we have a small farm. I have 1 bred heifer, 1 goat & 12chickens. I feel sort of like a moron asking some of these questions given I have extensive knowledge of cows, but we certainly didn't do things the same as you do with one family cow since we didn't let our calves nurse/stay with the cows.
So, I have a Jersey/Guernsey cross bred heifer. She's due End of April. She's bred to Milking shorthorn. I plan to let her nurse the calf & then separate them so I can milk her for Raw milk for my family. I have NO clue how much she's going to produce. I don't have any info about the dam or sire of her so not sure what to expect. I'm not going to push/feed for production either. I just want her to nurse the calf & I'll probably use 1.5-2gallons a day for us. So how long do you separate the calf ? They are going to be on pasture the whole time and I do have pens in the barn for them but normally she stays on pasture the whole spring/summer/fall unless it's crummy weather.
Question 2, can I milk out the 2gallons I need and then just let the calf suck off of her the rest of the time or will she produce more than that? Or will her supply regulate to what I take out and what the calf eats??
I had thought about buying a newborn bull calf the same day she freshens and try to graph him onto her along with her calf so she can feed 2 calves and I can raise the bull calf for the freezer. But im not sure on that idea yet.
Mainly I'm just curious on how people do the separating/milking part. how long they are separated.
Also, if anyone has a heifer similar to mine in the way of breed, how much milk is she producing per day?? We always had Holsteins & obviously fed for production so I don't know how much mainly Grassfed/Hayfed Jersey/Guernseys produce in a day? 30lbs??
Thanks!