Post by andreas on Aug 27, 2018 7:23:51 GMT -5
For anyone who read my prior post, we settled on a sweet a2/a2 Jersey×Guernsey heifer for our first family milk cow.
This is something that has been a dream of mine for 10+ years.
Our situation is unique- the owner of small raw dairy farm is a connection through a mutual friend and he agreed to keep her through calfing, get her started on a milking routine and then drop them off with us for a really good price. Cow + calf.
We've been waiting and waiting for calfing news. Finally the farmer called yesterday, and Jinglebell had a bull calf three weeks ago. Unfortunately, it was a hard labor- the calf was positioned wrong and it took him three hours to pull him. The calf was fine, but Jinglebell went down with nerve paralysis after the pulling.
She was down for a total of 12 days. He was lifting her multiple times a day and milking her. She never lost her appetite, was alert and never developed pneumonia or any other complications. She just couldn't walk. He said he has never had one down for so long. She's been up for a week now and one rear leg is still acting a little funny, but he is confident she's going to make a full recovery. They are working on getting the calf back on her.
We really want to go ahead and give her a go - My research seems to indicate that nerve damage from traumatic labor is not necessarily an indication of future labor issues and will usually heal well with time. He said the bull calf was very large, with a huge head and was positioned wrong. This was her first calf. When we breed her again, we will breed to a smaller cow (maybe a mid/mini jersey).
I do trust him. He was born and raised on a dairy farm in upstate New York and has been working with cows his whole life. They keep a small herd for raw milk sales and do a lot of showing/4h type stuff. Jinglebell's mother just won best all around (or something like that) at a local show a few months ago for Guernseys.
I'm interested to know what thoughts you guys have and any questions you would ask him.
I've read several threads here of people who had this and their cows were fine with future labors.
I forgot to ask him about milk fever, but I would imagine that he might have proactively treated for it just in case. I will ask him when I get him on the phone again.
Thank goodness we didn't take her before calfing- we'd certainly have a dead cow & calf at this point.
This is something that has been a dream of mine for 10+ years.
Our situation is unique- the owner of small raw dairy farm is a connection through a mutual friend and he agreed to keep her through calfing, get her started on a milking routine and then drop them off with us for a really good price. Cow + calf.
We've been waiting and waiting for calfing news. Finally the farmer called yesterday, and Jinglebell had a bull calf three weeks ago. Unfortunately, it was a hard labor- the calf was positioned wrong and it took him three hours to pull him. The calf was fine, but Jinglebell went down with nerve paralysis after the pulling.
She was down for a total of 12 days. He was lifting her multiple times a day and milking her. She never lost her appetite, was alert and never developed pneumonia or any other complications. She just couldn't walk. He said he has never had one down for so long. She's been up for a week now and one rear leg is still acting a little funny, but he is confident she's going to make a full recovery. They are working on getting the calf back on her.
We really want to go ahead and give her a go - My research seems to indicate that nerve damage from traumatic labor is not necessarily an indication of future labor issues and will usually heal well with time. He said the bull calf was very large, with a huge head and was positioned wrong. This was her first calf. When we breed her again, we will breed to a smaller cow (maybe a mid/mini jersey).
I do trust him. He was born and raised on a dairy farm in upstate New York and has been working with cows his whole life. They keep a small herd for raw milk sales and do a lot of showing/4h type stuff. Jinglebell's mother just won best all around (or something like that) at a local show a few months ago for Guernseys.
I'm interested to know what thoughts you guys have and any questions you would ask him.
I've read several threads here of people who had this and their cows were fine with future labors.
I forgot to ask him about milk fever, but I would imagine that he might have proactively treated for it just in case. I will ask him when I get him on the phone again.
Thank goodness we didn't take her before calfing- we'd certainly have a dead cow & calf at this point.