Post by Deleted on Apr 14, 2010 14:44:08 GMT -5
I picked up my registered jersey cow (3yr old) last week. she has a bull calf on her he was born 1/27/2010, well we have been doing trust building exercises all week and she is starting actually let her milk down for me now.
It started out with I could get 1 squirt out each teat a week ago. now she will let me get about a cup with her calf in front of her. she even took her foot today on the side I was milking and put it back after she scooted to side of the stanchion I was milking on. I will start to seperate her and her calf when I go to work at night and milk her in the AMs. yes another change that way he will be off of her for 10-12 hours and I hopefully will get a usable amount of milk, even a 1/2 gallon a day would be fine for us. she was a dairy cull so I do not expect a huge amount of milk. but would like to get her up to a gallon extra a day for us. I will be getting another calf to graft on her in 3 weeks or so when I wean Peabody off of her I have already named the Next steer calf "Porterhouse" lol..... ok well maybe the wife and kids will get to add some input to the name but he will be freezer fodder.
she was pretty think when we got her and I am pouring the high protein (18%) feed I have mixed up for my sheep to her. I am putting a more than needed amount of DE with it IE turning the feed white and still having a bit of powdery DE left after turning it all white. She will actually like all the DE out of her feeder even after the feed is gone and all that is left is the DE. It looks to me like she is filling out a little or her coat is looking better, but she is looking better to me, even if it is just a little. She is still pretty thin in my opinion. After I get her back good shape I will be weaning her off all the grain except for a little as a means to get her some DE, and a stanchion treat.
I think I rambled enough for now
It started out with I could get 1 squirt out each teat a week ago. now she will let me get about a cup with her calf in front of her. she even took her foot today on the side I was milking and put it back after she scooted to side of the stanchion I was milking on. I will start to seperate her and her calf when I go to work at night and milk her in the AMs. yes another change that way he will be off of her for 10-12 hours and I hopefully will get a usable amount of milk, even a 1/2 gallon a day would be fine for us. she was a dairy cull so I do not expect a huge amount of milk. but would like to get her up to a gallon extra a day for us. I will be getting another calf to graft on her in 3 weeks or so when I wean Peabody off of her I have already named the Next steer calf "Porterhouse" lol..... ok well maybe the wife and kids will get to add some input to the name but he will be freezer fodder.
she was pretty think when we got her and I am pouring the high protein (18%) feed I have mixed up for my sheep to her. I am putting a more than needed amount of DE with it IE turning the feed white and still having a bit of powdery DE left after turning it all white. She will actually like all the DE out of her feeder even after the feed is gone and all that is left is the DE. It looks to me like she is filling out a little or her coat is looking better, but she is looking better to me, even if it is just a little. She is still pretty thin in my opinion. After I get her back good shape I will be weaning her off all the grain except for a little as a means to get her some DE, and a stanchion treat.
I think I rambled enough for now