Post by thedowfamily on Nov 11, 2009 18:15:08 GMT -5
Hi all,
I'd love to get some thoughts on our cow. She just doesn't seem right to me but I cannot pinpoint anything.
First off she looks a little underweight to me. I will try to get some pics up later but didn't get a chance to upload yet. She is very boney including across the top where the short ribs are and over her tail. She is currently eat 6 lbs of a 16% protein dairy feed about 1-1.5 bales of alfalfa mix hay a day, is still get a smidgen of grass (although it is all starting to die) and gets a sea kelp mineral. We are also approaching the end of apple season and are making lots of cider so I give her the apple pulp after we press the cider.
She currently is nursing two 4 month old calves OAD (night) and we milk her OAD (morning). We get about 1-1.5 gal when we milk. Not much of a cream line though (only been back milking her a few days before she nursed calves morning and night, so am thinking she is holding up cream). She has plenty of energy and is just as loving and spunky as ever but I just can't seem to get her to put on weight (been increasing her feed now over the last 1-2 months since she freshened).
The only other symptom I am noticing is that her stools seem soft. Not runny or diarrhea just a little softer than normal. She also recently had a little bit of a cold with some wheezing and a little bit of white discharge from her nose. But that cleared up after a day or two with some echineace and vitamin C.
She does have some little cuts on her teats that I've been thinking were from the calves but them read on here could be an omega 3 deficiency so am going to pick up some cod liver oil to supplement also.
If anyone has any thoughts. I'd love to get her back to looking better. Last winter we were only feeding her 2 lbs of grain and were milking her TAD (bottle feeding calves last winter) and getting about 3 gal a day and she looked great. Not sure why having such trouble with weight right now.
Any thoughts appreciated!!
THanks!
Heather
I'd love to get some thoughts on our cow. She just doesn't seem right to me but I cannot pinpoint anything.
First off she looks a little underweight to me. I will try to get some pics up later but didn't get a chance to upload yet. She is very boney including across the top where the short ribs are and over her tail. She is currently eat 6 lbs of a 16% protein dairy feed about 1-1.5 bales of alfalfa mix hay a day, is still get a smidgen of grass (although it is all starting to die) and gets a sea kelp mineral. We are also approaching the end of apple season and are making lots of cider so I give her the apple pulp after we press the cider.
She currently is nursing two 4 month old calves OAD (night) and we milk her OAD (morning). We get about 1-1.5 gal when we milk. Not much of a cream line though (only been back milking her a few days before she nursed calves morning and night, so am thinking she is holding up cream). She has plenty of energy and is just as loving and spunky as ever but I just can't seem to get her to put on weight (been increasing her feed now over the last 1-2 months since she freshened).
The only other symptom I am noticing is that her stools seem soft. Not runny or diarrhea just a little softer than normal. She also recently had a little bit of a cold with some wheezing and a little bit of white discharge from her nose. But that cleared up after a day or two with some echineace and vitamin C.
She does have some little cuts on her teats that I've been thinking were from the calves but them read on here could be an omega 3 deficiency so am going to pick up some cod liver oil to supplement also.
If anyone has any thoughts. I'd love to get her back to looking better. Last winter we were only feeding her 2 lbs of grain and were milking her TAD (bottle feeding calves last winter) and getting about 3 gal a day and she looked great. Not sure why having such trouble with weight right now.
Any thoughts appreciated!!
THanks!
Heather