Post by sasinpa on Jul 15, 2010 10:40:01 GMT -5
Hi!
My jersey heifer had a mummy calf this spring, and I've been milking her and trying to bring her into milk, and have gotten her up to a half gallon a day. I'm not up to milking her a bunch of times a day right now (have only been milking 2x/day for the past month), and have wanted to have a relief milker for emergencies anyway, so I have been looking for a jersey bull calf to get for her. Just found one today and am headed to pick him up this evening (with all my 6 kids in tow!) He was born on the 13th, is about 70lbs, has been fed colostrum, and has been getting 1/2 gallon of milk 2x/day. I was going to bring him home hungry this evening, and see if I can get him to nurse well, then supplement him with 1 pint of milk morning and evening for the first week which would give him 3/4 of what he has gotten for the past day or two. Does that sound okay? I thought if I give him too much milk replacer, he may not be hungry enough to be nurse well on her. I was planning on keeping him corralled somehow so I can catch him, and tying her up 6 times a day to let him nurse on her supervised/assisted until they seem to be getting the hang of it then they can be together 24/7. Then I was going to try keeping them separated at night here and there and milking hr in the morning to see how much milk she is producing the second week, to figure out when I can start getting my milk again! The kids are excited about the calf, not excited about losing their Daisy's milk for a few weeks! I'm mostly needing help to know if what I am planning is reasonable or not, or if I need to make changes . Daisy has been great so far, and is a great calf lover, so I'm hoping she'll take to him quickly.
Thanks!!!
Stephanie
My jersey heifer had a mummy calf this spring, and I've been milking her and trying to bring her into milk, and have gotten her up to a half gallon a day. I'm not up to milking her a bunch of times a day right now (have only been milking 2x/day for the past month), and have wanted to have a relief milker for emergencies anyway, so I have been looking for a jersey bull calf to get for her. Just found one today and am headed to pick him up this evening (with all my 6 kids in tow!) He was born on the 13th, is about 70lbs, has been fed colostrum, and has been getting 1/2 gallon of milk 2x/day. I was going to bring him home hungry this evening, and see if I can get him to nurse well, then supplement him with 1 pint of milk morning and evening for the first week which would give him 3/4 of what he has gotten for the past day or two. Does that sound okay? I thought if I give him too much milk replacer, he may not be hungry enough to be nurse well on her. I was planning on keeping him corralled somehow so I can catch him, and tying her up 6 times a day to let him nurse on her supervised/assisted until they seem to be getting the hang of it then they can be together 24/7. Then I was going to try keeping them separated at night here and there and milking hr in the morning to see how much milk she is producing the second week, to figure out when I can start getting my milk again! The kids are excited about the calf, not excited about losing their Daisy's milk for a few weeks! I'm mostly needing help to know if what I am planning is reasonable or not, or if I need to make changes . Daisy has been great so far, and is a great calf lover, so I'm hoping she'll take to him quickly.
Thanks!!!
Stephanie