Post by thystledown on Apr 7, 2018 16:33:57 GMT -5
Well, I messed up. We are still covered with snow (got 4 inches again last night) and are very low on good dairy hay. The summer was cold and wet and we got very little hay until late in the season and when the weather was iffy, we made hay on the ungrazed pastures that had overgrown (grass grew well, but not enough time between rain to make hay) so that if we lost it, it wasn't much loss--weedy hay. Finally made all round bales in SEPTEMBER. You know first cutting September hay is not really dairy hay. Anyway, this is true for everyone. We bought year old round bales for the beef cows--who are doing fine. Anyway, the Guernsey is also a picky eater. The hay is not dusty or moldy, but not always nice clean timothy which is all she wants. Sometimes she won't eat her hay even though her calves and the beef weanling that lives with them eat it just fine. I was getting really nervous about her weight, so I upped the grain ration and eventually doubled it. Now the two calves on her are almost scoured. They are at the grey stinky poop stage--still well formed but on the edge of trouble. So how do I fix this? They are big steers--one holstein and one Guernsey x Hereford --both 3 months old and probably 200 lbs each or thereabouts. I'm getting about 3 to 3.5 gallons OAD milking and the boys are on her from about 10 a.m. til 5 p.m. I can cut back the grain and hope she makes it to grass which is gonna be late since we are still covered in snow with more on the way. They have been fine with the milk until now and actually, it isn't that much more than they were getting when they were younger. I've not had a problem with this with our Jersey cow sharing with one or two calves. Even with only one calf on her and getting 2 gal OAD I didn't get this problem. So again, the Guernsey and I are just not doing so good together. How do I fix this?