Post by Lannie on Aug 16, 2010 11:34:43 GMT -5
I find myself in a pickle... I want to be able to sell my extra milk, but now that I AM, I hardly have any left for myself. I'm trying to decide if I can trim some off of Samantha's intake, or whether I need to ditch my new customers for a while, until Samantha gets weaned, anyway.
Right now this is how I'm doing things: Samantha is locked up overnight and I milk everything out in the morning, with the exception of the little bit Sammi gets when she's getting Cricket to let down for the 2nd and 3rd times. Probably not much. I'm getting about 1-3/4 gallons in the morning, although some days, like today, I only got a hair over 1-1/2 gallons. After I'm finished milking, I leave Samantha locked up for another hour or so, then turn her out with Cricket. So they're together from 9:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m., when I separate Samantha again.
Then I go out at 7:00-ish p.m. and milk one side, leaving the other side for Samantha. I'm getting anywhere from 1/2 gallon to 3/4 gallon in the evening, depending I suppose on when Samantha nursed last before being locked up. After I'm done milking my side, I let Samantha clean everything up, then she gets locked up again for the night.
This is only giving me 2-1/4 to 2-1/2 gallons a day. When I was only milking in the mornings, I was getting 2 gallons a day, so it's not much of an increase, considering the extra amount of time and labor involved in the evening milking.
I'm not sure how much milk Cricket is actually making right now, but if I had to hazard a guess, based on her morning milking now (after having been completely empty the night before) I think it's close to 4 gallons a day. Does that sound about right? So I'm wondering how much of that Samantha would actually need to continue growing well and being healthy. She's just two months old now, and she grazes and eats a little hay, as well as nibbling on alfalfa pellets. She's NOT skinny, and she gained 70 pounds last month. Right now she weighs about 190 pounds.
At two months, how much milk SHOULD a calf be getting? One gallon? Two? Right now I think she's getting close to two gallons, and if that's what she needs, I don't want to short her. I'll get rid of the new milk customers instead.
What do you think? (And all the cows are grass-fed, including Samantha - there's no grain here to feed her.)
~Lannie
Right now this is how I'm doing things: Samantha is locked up overnight and I milk everything out in the morning, with the exception of the little bit Sammi gets when she's getting Cricket to let down for the 2nd and 3rd times. Probably not much. I'm getting about 1-3/4 gallons in the morning, although some days, like today, I only got a hair over 1-1/2 gallons. After I'm finished milking, I leave Samantha locked up for another hour or so, then turn her out with Cricket. So they're together from 9:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m., when I separate Samantha again.
Then I go out at 7:00-ish p.m. and milk one side, leaving the other side for Samantha. I'm getting anywhere from 1/2 gallon to 3/4 gallon in the evening, depending I suppose on when Samantha nursed last before being locked up. After I'm done milking my side, I let Samantha clean everything up, then she gets locked up again for the night.
This is only giving me 2-1/4 to 2-1/2 gallons a day. When I was only milking in the mornings, I was getting 2 gallons a day, so it's not much of an increase, considering the extra amount of time and labor involved in the evening milking.
I'm not sure how much milk Cricket is actually making right now, but if I had to hazard a guess, based on her morning milking now (after having been completely empty the night before) I think it's close to 4 gallons a day. Does that sound about right? So I'm wondering how much of that Samantha would actually need to continue growing well and being healthy. She's just two months old now, and she grazes and eats a little hay, as well as nibbling on alfalfa pellets. She's NOT skinny, and she gained 70 pounds last month. Right now she weighs about 190 pounds.
At two months, how much milk SHOULD a calf be getting? One gallon? Two? Right now I think she's getting close to two gallons, and if that's what she needs, I don't want to short her. I'll get rid of the new milk customers instead.
What do you think? (And all the cows are grass-fed, including Samantha - there's no grain here to feed her.)
~Lannie