Post by Deleted on Apr 23, 2010 12:47:46 GMT -5
Over a month ago I posted about my wild cow and asked for any help or advice. Just to freshen your memories, she was a wild cow, 2 yrs old, and about to freshen when we got her. She was our first cow, and we had high hopes. We had no idea cows had to be tamed and trained.
Everyone gave us such wonderful, much-appreciated advice and I wanted to update my post to tell you all how it turned out, but the post has been moved to tree of knowledge and I can't post on it?
So I thought I'd just update it here:
She is now off her rope and comes into the barn to milk on her own. Yay! And she stands perfectly for milking, yay! I think her disposition is just a bit ornery, but that's okay if she is obedient, which she is.
We also bought a second milk cow. A dairy-reject jersey named Honey, who is sweet and gentle and even lovey toward Milky Way, our ornery cow. Honey is 5 yrs old, and her udder attachment is poor, and she only gives 3 gallons a day, peak, but she is so easy to handle, and she looks so much better with us. She looked starved and beaten when we got her. They said the other cow in her pen had been mounting her, and her hindquarters were all scraped up, even down her legs. Her udder had a large oozing sore, and one teat had been cut. But we could tell she was really tame and sweet, and the other things are healing pretty well.
Our kids can milk now, although they don't much, we will work them into it. And the family we bought the cows with (so we only have to milk half of the time) can let their kids milk, too.
So it is working out great! I really appreciate all of your help! I was honestly about ready to turn our cow into hamburger, and I am SO glad we didn't! Thank you!!!
Now we need to working on increasing milk supply. (and cream, especially)We milk twice per day, and get 1 1/2 gallons from each cow, each time we milk. We get 1 to 2 cups of cream per milking, so from three gallons, which seems pretty low, right? I want the cream to fatten my children and put pink in their cheeks.
We don't have adequate pasture for two cows, it's only about 1/2 acre, so we just hay feed. Part grass hay and part alfalfa, plus a little grain at milking. I've read, in Nourishing Traditions, that completely grass fed is better, but Honey was seriously just a pile of bones when we got her, and looks SO much better after just a month of our rations, and Milky Way won't come into the barn unless we shake the grain bucket at her, but only give her a pound or so. We also feed kelp, Redmond salt, and nutritional yeast, a bit of each, sprinkled on their grain. I'm not sure what you all mean by free choice. It seems like it would get wet and ruined if I left it out, and the cows only come into the barn for milking. (Except for Milky when we couldn't handle her, then she lived in the milking stall for two weeks or so.) They do have a three sided loafing shed for shelter, but if I left a bucket in there, I'm pretty sure it would be spilled and ruined. I wish I had a several acre pasture for them... Any ideas?
Everyone gave us such wonderful, much-appreciated advice and I wanted to update my post to tell you all how it turned out, but the post has been moved to tree of knowledge and I can't post on it?
So I thought I'd just update it here:
She is now off her rope and comes into the barn to milk on her own. Yay! And she stands perfectly for milking, yay! I think her disposition is just a bit ornery, but that's okay if she is obedient, which she is.
We also bought a second milk cow. A dairy-reject jersey named Honey, who is sweet and gentle and even lovey toward Milky Way, our ornery cow. Honey is 5 yrs old, and her udder attachment is poor, and she only gives 3 gallons a day, peak, but she is so easy to handle, and she looks so much better with us. She looked starved and beaten when we got her. They said the other cow in her pen had been mounting her, and her hindquarters were all scraped up, even down her legs. Her udder had a large oozing sore, and one teat had been cut. But we could tell she was really tame and sweet, and the other things are healing pretty well.
Our kids can milk now, although they don't much, we will work them into it. And the family we bought the cows with (so we only have to milk half of the time) can let their kids milk, too.
So it is working out great! I really appreciate all of your help! I was honestly about ready to turn our cow into hamburger, and I am SO glad we didn't! Thank you!!!
Now we need to working on increasing milk supply. (and cream, especially)We milk twice per day, and get 1 1/2 gallons from each cow, each time we milk. We get 1 to 2 cups of cream per milking, so from three gallons, which seems pretty low, right? I want the cream to fatten my children and put pink in their cheeks.
We don't have adequate pasture for two cows, it's only about 1/2 acre, so we just hay feed. Part grass hay and part alfalfa, plus a little grain at milking. I've read, in Nourishing Traditions, that completely grass fed is better, but Honey was seriously just a pile of bones when we got her, and looks SO much better after just a month of our rations, and Milky Way won't come into the barn unless we shake the grain bucket at her, but only give her a pound or so. We also feed kelp, Redmond salt, and nutritional yeast, a bit of each, sprinkled on their grain. I'm not sure what you all mean by free choice. It seems like it would get wet and ruined if I left it out, and the cows only come into the barn for milking. (Except for Milky when we couldn't handle her, then she lived in the milking stall for two weeks or so.) They do have a three sided loafing shed for shelter, but if I left a bucket in there, I'm pretty sure it would be spilled and ruined. I wish I had a several acre pasture for them... Any ideas?