Post by rd200 on Jun 20, 2019 15:23:00 GMT -5
Need some collective.wisdom.from ya'll. Maple is about 60 days fresh. 3rd lactation MS x jersey. Calf is on full time. I milked TAD the first 2 weeks then OAD until recently.
So it was sort of a "perfect storm" of events that lead to this but didn't think she would tank this much! About 10 days ago she came in raging good heat. Just crazy, all 3 steers were going nuts on her and likewise was she. She's just a little too early too breed so I didn't. That day I couldn't get her in from the pasture to milk her that night. I was the only one here, i simply couldn't. She was nuts. Okay, not a huge deal, calf drinks every quarter and since was horsing around all day she didn't even have any milk! Next morning, same problem. By then she was "standing" and literally in the back pasture way the heck out there and wouldn't move for me. π€¦ Again, her udder wasn't even full, the calf had been keeping up fine.
Anyways, long story short , she clearly regulated her production since then. I tried to go back to OAD milking and I'm literally getting nothing. She does hold her milk, always, I work around that but she just has no extra milk and that's fine, BUT, she has regulated waaaaaayyyy lower than id ever expect for a cow just fresh 60 days with a big calf on 24/7!! Her udder is barely full. I separated them last night for 10-11 hours and I got 1 gallon out of 3 quarters!! π± And the calf was sucking while I was milking so I got a really good let down and I got a measly gallon. At this point I'm not so concerned about milk for US, my other cow is freshening in August but I'm worried she's going to dry herself off. She's never had this low of production this early in other Lactations.
She's on all pasture, rotationally grazed, good forage quality, my other cows are gaining weight well and she looks very healthy, perfect condition for this stage of lactation, not wormy, everything is good with her. I just can't figure out why she regulated so far down. Her calf i swear drinks 10xs a day. So there's adequate stimulation and milk removal.
I'm stumped.
No one else is sucking on her.
I'm out of ideas. Thoughts??
I can get some pictures of her later when she comes in from the pasture.
Thanks!
** Feels like I haven't been on here in forever! So busy in the summer....
**Should've specified, before she came into heat I HAD to milk OAD or she was too full to let go. So I was getting probably around 2 gallons with the calf on full time.
So it was sort of a "perfect storm" of events that lead to this but didn't think she would tank this much! About 10 days ago she came in raging good heat. Just crazy, all 3 steers were going nuts on her and likewise was she. She's just a little too early too breed so I didn't. That day I couldn't get her in from the pasture to milk her that night. I was the only one here, i simply couldn't. She was nuts. Okay, not a huge deal, calf drinks every quarter and since was horsing around all day she didn't even have any milk! Next morning, same problem. By then she was "standing" and literally in the back pasture way the heck out there and wouldn't move for me. π€¦ Again, her udder wasn't even full, the calf had been keeping up fine.
Anyways, long story short , she clearly regulated her production since then. I tried to go back to OAD milking and I'm literally getting nothing. She does hold her milk, always, I work around that but she just has no extra milk and that's fine, BUT, she has regulated waaaaaayyyy lower than id ever expect for a cow just fresh 60 days with a big calf on 24/7!! Her udder is barely full. I separated them last night for 10-11 hours and I got 1 gallon out of 3 quarters!! π± And the calf was sucking while I was milking so I got a really good let down and I got a measly gallon. At this point I'm not so concerned about milk for US, my other cow is freshening in August but I'm worried she's going to dry herself off. She's never had this low of production this early in other Lactations.
She's on all pasture, rotationally grazed, good forage quality, my other cows are gaining weight well and she looks very healthy, perfect condition for this stage of lactation, not wormy, everything is good with her. I just can't figure out why she regulated so far down. Her calf i swear drinks 10xs a day. So there's adequate stimulation and milk removal.
I'm stumped.
No one else is sucking on her.
I'm out of ideas. Thoughts??
I can get some pictures of her later when she comes in from the pasture.
Thanks!
** Feels like I haven't been on here in forever! So busy in the summer....
**Should've specified, before she came into heat I HAD to milk OAD or she was too full to let go. So I was getting probably around 2 gallons with the calf on full time.