Post by wybroncos on Nov 30, 2015 7:43:20 GMT -5
Hello, I bought my first milk cow two months ago. Her name is Ruby and she is a 3 yo 2nd calf Jersey. She is due to calve in the next week or two but by the looks of things she should go this week. I have lots of experience calving out and caring for beef cattle but this feels all new to me, I am more nervous now than ever and have SOOOOOO many questions!
My biggest question right now is what to do with the calf? The previous owner left the calf on Ruby for 12 hrs, pulled him off for 12 hrs and then milked her once a day. She was only giving 1-1.5 gal and was holding her cream back for her calf. She had also developed mastitis twice. There are enough people in the area interested in milk shares that I was thinking about pulling the calf off, milking twice a day, and bottle feeding the calf. My only hang up is that once a month I have to go out of town for the weekend and the fiancé is not thrilled about having to milk Ruby. He works for a Reg. Angus operation and during calving he ends up milking over 200 head and bottle feeding the calves to get them started so it is not that he doesn't know how or isn't good at it, its just isn't his favorite thing to do. He is VERY good with cattle and gets along well with Ruby so I am not worried about how things would go if I did have him milk her while I am gone, I am just not looking forward to the look I would get when I ask him to do it.
I thought I had read some where that there is an increased risk of mastitis when letting the calf suck and hand milking, is this true? And if I do decide to separate Ruby from her calf when do I do this? Do I leave the calf on for the first few days and then separate them? This seems like it would be traumatic for everyone involved. Would the calf need to be out of sight and ear shot of Ruby? I am sorry this is sort of long, I have been ringing my hands about this for a few days now as Ruby is getting closer to calving. Any advice would be much appreciated! Thank you!
My biggest question right now is what to do with the calf? The previous owner left the calf on Ruby for 12 hrs, pulled him off for 12 hrs and then milked her once a day. She was only giving 1-1.5 gal and was holding her cream back for her calf. She had also developed mastitis twice. There are enough people in the area interested in milk shares that I was thinking about pulling the calf off, milking twice a day, and bottle feeding the calf. My only hang up is that once a month I have to go out of town for the weekend and the fiancé is not thrilled about having to milk Ruby. He works for a Reg. Angus operation and during calving he ends up milking over 200 head and bottle feeding the calves to get them started so it is not that he doesn't know how or isn't good at it, its just isn't his favorite thing to do. He is VERY good with cattle and gets along well with Ruby so I am not worried about how things would go if I did have him milk her while I am gone, I am just not looking forward to the look I would get when I ask him to do it.
I thought I had read some where that there is an increased risk of mastitis when letting the calf suck and hand milking, is this true? And if I do decide to separate Ruby from her calf when do I do this? Do I leave the calf on for the first few days and then separate them? This seems like it would be traumatic for everyone involved. Would the calf need to be out of sight and ear shot of Ruby? I am sorry this is sort of long, I have been ringing my hands about this for a few days now as Ruby is getting closer to calving. Any advice would be much appreciated! Thank you!