Post by Joelle on Apr 30, 2010 15:34:11 GMT -5
OK, I gotta tell you guys this story.
So we've have 2 cows in milk now, Scarlette (who has a moderate sized udder and usually gives us about a gallon or two a day) and Dottie (who has a bigger udder and is giving us 4 - 5 gallons a day.) We also have their 2 calves, Nestle who is 2 months old and Scarlette's heifer, and Porter who is only a week old and is a bitty little mostly Jersey bull-calf.
We know that Scarlette is not shy to lend her udder to any calf that wants to nurse; we had to put a weaning ring in our freezer beef's nose because he was drinking whatever Nestle wasn't and leaving us literally NO milk. Once Dottie calved, we naturally wondered how Dottie would do, if she would nurse only her calf, or if she'd let Nestle nurse too.
Well, we got our answer.
The other night everyone went out to milk (except me who was at work, so I'm telling you what they told me) and Dottie had NO milk. Like, maybe a few cups, when usually we get at least 2 gallons off her twice a day.
Everyone was shocked; where did all that milk go?!?
Then Nestle comes around the corner.
WADDLING.
She was SO full of milk, she was practically SLOSHING as she walked. I'm amazed she didn't drown herself.
Hopefully she had a ROYAL tummy ache and has learned her lesson. In any case, she hasn't stolen Dottie's milk the last couple of milkings so we'll see.
Now, as funny as I found this whole story, is there any concern she's gonna hurt herself by drinking too much milk?? I mean, she's a greedy little piggy anyway (we had to drag her off her mama one night at milking time before she took all the good stuff), but cleaning out our other cow as well as mama has me a tad concerned. The last thing I need is a ruptured calf!
Please tell me I'm worrying for nothing!
So we've have 2 cows in milk now, Scarlette (who has a moderate sized udder and usually gives us about a gallon or two a day) and Dottie (who has a bigger udder and is giving us 4 - 5 gallons a day.) We also have their 2 calves, Nestle who is 2 months old and Scarlette's heifer, and Porter who is only a week old and is a bitty little mostly Jersey bull-calf.
We know that Scarlette is not shy to lend her udder to any calf that wants to nurse; we had to put a weaning ring in our freezer beef's nose because he was drinking whatever Nestle wasn't and leaving us literally NO milk. Once Dottie calved, we naturally wondered how Dottie would do, if she would nurse only her calf, or if she'd let Nestle nurse too.
Well, we got our answer.
The other night everyone went out to milk (except me who was at work, so I'm telling you what they told me) and Dottie had NO milk. Like, maybe a few cups, when usually we get at least 2 gallons off her twice a day.
Everyone was shocked; where did all that milk go?!?
Then Nestle comes around the corner.
WADDLING.
She was SO full of milk, she was practically SLOSHING as she walked. I'm amazed she didn't drown herself.
Hopefully she had a ROYAL tummy ache and has learned her lesson. In any case, she hasn't stolen Dottie's milk the last couple of milkings so we'll see.
Now, as funny as I found this whole story, is there any concern she's gonna hurt herself by drinking too much milk?? I mean, she's a greedy little piggy anyway (we had to drag her off her mama one night at milking time before she took all the good stuff), but cleaning out our other cow as well as mama has me a tad concerned. The last thing I need is a ruptured calf!
Please tell me I'm worrying for nothing!