Post by mtcowgirl on Dec 18, 2015 1:29:14 GMT -5
Ok I need some ideas to toss around and think about.
We have two 3 yr old jersey cows, they both have just had their second calf on in july, one this past sunday. They have been on pasture up until sometime early november, and getting a 14% dairy ration that has a 1lb grain forevery 3lbs of milk produced, plus a lb or two of ground barley. We then went and got some chopped grass hay from our neighbor. They ate it but kind of begrudgingly. So we switched to grass hay bales from the neighbor, and they ate that ok. We just found some gorgeous 3rd cutting alfalfa hay, almost all leaves, hardly any stems. Awesome looking hay, smells like candy. The cows loved it, dove right into it and just snarfed if right up. Now I think back on it we probably made a mistake of switching them over to it to fast. We didn' slowly work them into it. The idea was that we couldn't find any more grass hay around here, so decided that we would save the grass for the horses, and have the alfalfa trucked in at $120/ton, and feed that to the cows. Well the plan worked great for about 5 days. And then the cows just hada major revolt. They would not eat their grain, or the alfalfa hay, just flat out refused. I've never seen them do that. So I figured since they had to have something in thier bellies, I would give them some grass hay and see if I could temp them to eat that. They just about knocked us down to get to it. They wanted the grass, ate it all up. So they wouldn't eat their grain or alfalfa hay. After 3-4 days the started eating grain again, just ground barely with molasses in it. I've been giving them both a spoonful or so of molasses also. they are up to about 4lbs of ground barley andmaybe 2 lbs of dairy ration now. But they are still refusing to eat the alfalfa hay. My husband is more then a little irritated with them for refusing hay that we bought just for them, and now we are having to use the grass that we need for the horse, to feed to the cows because they won't eat their own hay. So are their any suggestions on how I can get these girls to start eating again? I don't smell anything funnny in the milk or on their breath. My first thought was ketosis, but I am not sure if it is or not. So what are yoru thoughts? Should I cut out the dairy ration completely becuase they are getting enough protien out of the hay? if they eat it. Should I feed straight barley and no dairy ration, should I mix them a little? Any suggestions or ideas would be great? I am at my wits end trying to figure something out,
We have two 3 yr old jersey cows, they both have just had their second calf on in july, one this past sunday. They have been on pasture up until sometime early november, and getting a 14% dairy ration that has a 1lb grain forevery 3lbs of milk produced, plus a lb or two of ground barley. We then went and got some chopped grass hay from our neighbor. They ate it but kind of begrudgingly. So we switched to grass hay bales from the neighbor, and they ate that ok. We just found some gorgeous 3rd cutting alfalfa hay, almost all leaves, hardly any stems. Awesome looking hay, smells like candy. The cows loved it, dove right into it and just snarfed if right up. Now I think back on it we probably made a mistake of switching them over to it to fast. We didn' slowly work them into it. The idea was that we couldn't find any more grass hay around here, so decided that we would save the grass for the horses, and have the alfalfa trucked in at $120/ton, and feed that to the cows. Well the plan worked great for about 5 days. And then the cows just hada major revolt. They would not eat their grain, or the alfalfa hay, just flat out refused. I've never seen them do that. So I figured since they had to have something in thier bellies, I would give them some grass hay and see if I could temp them to eat that. They just about knocked us down to get to it. They wanted the grass, ate it all up. So they wouldn't eat their grain or alfalfa hay. After 3-4 days the started eating grain again, just ground barely with molasses in it. I've been giving them both a spoonful or so of molasses also. they are up to about 4lbs of ground barley andmaybe 2 lbs of dairy ration now. But they are still refusing to eat the alfalfa hay. My husband is more then a little irritated with them for refusing hay that we bought just for them, and now we are having to use the grass that we need for the horse, to feed to the cows because they won't eat their own hay. So are their any suggestions on how I can get these girls to start eating again? I don't smell anything funnny in the milk or on their breath. My first thought was ketosis, but I am not sure if it is or not. So what are yoru thoughts? Should I cut out the dairy ration completely becuase they are getting enough protien out of the hay? if they eat it. Should I feed straight barley and no dairy ration, should I mix them a little? Any suggestions or ideas would be great? I am at my wits end trying to figure something out,