Post by farmergirl02 on Jan 18, 2019 18:54:53 GMT -5
Hello all-
It has been awhile since I have perused around on Keeping a Family Cow. I forgot how helpful it can be, and I am very glad to be back!
My situation is as follows: I have a now 5 year old Jersey cow that I have owned for a little over a year. She came to us bred in November of 17 and we successfully grafted a bottle calf unto her. We received 2 1/2 gallons/day after the initial rage of being sold had settled (flailing, kicking, throwing her head around and cursing us as best she could. Thankfully no kicking. It took us 2 1/2 hours to milk, with my experienced friend helping me who said to take no $hit on the milking stanchion or anytime else). Glad we survived that night. Since that day she has been an angel.
Brie delivered a healthy calf in June. A HUGE calf. I am not even kidding, I could not even lift from birth. Thankfully, she had no problems calving but I was bummed that I was at work and didn't see the birth I also was presently surprised to see that it was a heifer, given the size and the fact that she was a week overdue. Apparently it is uncommon for girls to be late? Her milk production did well for awhile- maybe 2 gallons a day but nothing over that with calf-share. When her calf was starting to tear up her udder (and she was VERY beefy) we weaned her and grafted another bottle baby unto her. Since then, if we get a letdown we get 1 1/2 gallons a day. But, now she rarely, rarely lets her milk down. When she dose not letdown we get a 1/2 gallon. It is very frustrating to see this happening, as we had no issues before. We tried separating at 4:30 and milking at 7:00. It worked for a day, then she went back to letting down around once a week.
Our milking routine-- Put her in the stanchion with some hay to munch on. Then we brush her down and wash her udder off with hot, soapy water. Strip, and then milk. Apply fightback after milking when she gets her grain. 3Q/twice a day. She also has full access to wet wrapped alfalfa with a RFV of 130 I think? The dairy farmer we get it from says that it is just fine for our cows. This was after putting some weight on her with some 200 RVF alfalfa. Since this, we have used a cider sync program to AI her twice, neither which took.
Thoughts, questions or comments? This is really starting to frustrate me and we need milk for our customers. Thank you all.
It has been awhile since I have perused around on Keeping a Family Cow. I forgot how helpful it can be, and I am very glad to be back!
My situation is as follows: I have a now 5 year old Jersey cow that I have owned for a little over a year. She came to us bred in November of 17 and we successfully grafted a bottle calf unto her. We received 2 1/2 gallons/day after the initial rage of being sold had settled (flailing, kicking, throwing her head around and cursing us as best she could. Thankfully no kicking. It took us 2 1/2 hours to milk, with my experienced friend helping me who said to take no $hit on the milking stanchion or anytime else). Glad we survived that night. Since that day she has been an angel.
Brie delivered a healthy calf in June. A HUGE calf. I am not even kidding, I could not even lift from birth. Thankfully, she had no problems calving but I was bummed that I was at work and didn't see the birth I also was presently surprised to see that it was a heifer, given the size and the fact that she was a week overdue. Apparently it is uncommon for girls to be late? Her milk production did well for awhile- maybe 2 gallons a day but nothing over that with calf-share. When her calf was starting to tear up her udder (and she was VERY beefy) we weaned her and grafted another bottle baby unto her. Since then, if we get a letdown we get 1 1/2 gallons a day. But, now she rarely, rarely lets her milk down. When she dose not letdown we get a 1/2 gallon. It is very frustrating to see this happening, as we had no issues before. We tried separating at 4:30 and milking at 7:00. It worked for a day, then she went back to letting down around once a week.
Our milking routine-- Put her in the stanchion with some hay to munch on. Then we brush her down and wash her udder off with hot, soapy water. Strip, and then milk. Apply fightback after milking when she gets her grain. 3Q/twice a day. She also has full access to wet wrapped alfalfa with a RFV of 130 I think? The dairy farmer we get it from says that it is just fine for our cows. This was after putting some weight on her with some 200 RVF alfalfa. Since this, we have used a cider sync program to AI her twice, neither which took.
Thoughts, questions or comments? This is really starting to frustrate me and we need milk for our customers. Thank you all.