My Newly Freshened Cow Lessons Learned
Feb 23, 2021 16:05:37 GMT -5
treatlisa, elnini, and 3 more like this
Post by derb888 on Feb 23, 2021 16:05:37 GMT -5
1) Select and order your milking equipment two months in advance of your cows due date.
We started looking and placed an order 4 weeks before our cows birth date and found from our supplier that they were having trouble sourcing the vacuum pump and milker. We thought for sure it was better to buy local... in the end we purchase our milker and pump from Hamby Dairies. They have great customer service and don't you know the delivery was held up in a winter storm... lesson learned... have your vacuum pump purchased will in advance of your cows freshening.
2) Have on hand dehorning paste and elastorator. If you disbud the calf with paste and elastorate them on day one. You will not be chasing a calf around a pasture... and it will be less stressful for you and them. And they will not associate you with the deed :-) It will all be part of one big first day :-)
3) If you have the money buying an EZ Milker is great for collection of collustrum. For the first freshener cow you can collect collostrum without exposure to a milking machine. I don't think the EZ Milker is really a solution long term for milking. It takes quite a long time, and if you do try to use it, you will see that your gal's teats turn purple. Plus it is faster to hand milk.
4) Some cows are just plain challenging to milk. We had two cows freshen within a few weeks. Clarabelle is well behaved gentle and lovely, but MAN SHE IS A CHALLENGE TO MILK BY HAND. She has good teat size... she just has the smallest milk stream I have ever seen. Then we have Daisy... man she is quite a ball of fun... does not like to stand. However, she is litterally dripping milk and is super easy to milk out by hand... Also never fear... it does take about 2 weeks and you will be able to hold your arms up for that milking :-)
5) If you have small teats in back and you are calf sharing... milk the big ones and leave the small ones in the back for the calf... they will learn where the milk comes from no worries.
6) OAD just does not work for some cows. I have one that is fine... the other her milk turns salty if you drop to once a day... so we milk twice a day... oh well.... I was hoping with calf sharing I would not need to... does anyone have any advice about that??
Ok those were the things I learned and thought to share. I grew up on a commercial dairy and everything is soo different than having our family cows now. It sure is lovely to be spending time with them. They are fabulous!
We started looking and placed an order 4 weeks before our cows birth date and found from our supplier that they were having trouble sourcing the vacuum pump and milker. We thought for sure it was better to buy local... in the end we purchase our milker and pump from Hamby Dairies. They have great customer service and don't you know the delivery was held up in a winter storm... lesson learned... have your vacuum pump purchased will in advance of your cows freshening.
2) Have on hand dehorning paste and elastorator. If you disbud the calf with paste and elastorate them on day one. You will not be chasing a calf around a pasture... and it will be less stressful for you and them. And they will not associate you with the deed :-) It will all be part of one big first day :-)
3) If you have the money buying an EZ Milker is great for collection of collustrum. For the first freshener cow you can collect collostrum without exposure to a milking machine. I don't think the EZ Milker is really a solution long term for milking. It takes quite a long time, and if you do try to use it, you will see that your gal's teats turn purple. Plus it is faster to hand milk.
4) Some cows are just plain challenging to milk. We had two cows freshen within a few weeks. Clarabelle is well behaved gentle and lovely, but MAN SHE IS A CHALLENGE TO MILK BY HAND. She has good teat size... she just has the smallest milk stream I have ever seen. Then we have Daisy... man she is quite a ball of fun... does not like to stand. However, she is litterally dripping milk and is super easy to milk out by hand... Also never fear... it does take about 2 weeks and you will be able to hold your arms up for that milking :-)
5) If you have small teats in back and you are calf sharing... milk the big ones and leave the small ones in the back for the calf... they will learn where the milk comes from no worries.
6) OAD just does not work for some cows. I have one that is fine... the other her milk turns salty if you drop to once a day... so we milk twice a day... oh well.... I was hoping with calf sharing I would not need to... does anyone have any advice about that??
Ok those were the things I learned and thought to share. I grew up on a commercial dairy and everything is soo different than having our family cows now. It sure is lovely to be spending time with them. They are fabulous!