Post by Leimana on Mar 31, 2011 1:52:24 GMT -5
I know a good portion of you are sick of me bringing up Bhumi and her barrage of irritating non milk cow behaviors but I need a shoulder to cry on. Bhumi has continually gone down and down in production since she calved 6 months ago. I know that is expected but from 3 gallons to barely 1 is driving me mad. My closest friends cow has been lactating 2 years, was wild off the range never been handled and is a plain ol mix breed of all sorts and is giving more than Bhumi is at 6 months since calving. She was getting FAT and still is so I cut back on her concentrates, a tiny bit mind you, and she decided to cut us out another quart. She has pasture, which she wont eat but all the other cows have always ate it and the horse loves it, but she still grazes some. She gets free choice timothy hay and she gets alfalfa pellets ( 3 pounds am and 3 pounds pm) she gets cob a total of 2 1/2 pounds a day, BOSS, molases, 1 pound of beet pulp at each feeding and she is a 650 lb cow. Mrs Picky Piggy is her nickname. Eats us out of house and home but is stingy with her milk. Makes me so mad I could scream I know a gallon is better than nothing but it is our sustenance and it barely leaves anything after we have had some to drink and made a quart of yogurt. I really dont want to get another cow off the range that we have to convince she is a milk cow. There are only a few dexters here at 4000$ a piece ( not for me I want MILK) and range cows of angus, hereford or now what Bhumi is which is a nice cross but I want a jersey :' A jersey cross would be fine. I think I will breed Bhumi to mini jersey and maybe he will have a heifer but that does nothing for me now in the fact that my cow is drying up and I have not seen a milk cow on this island anywhere for sale in years. Thanks for listening. All of those of you who go to these big sales where there is stalls and stalls of gorgeous milk cows, please pick one out for me or 2 or 3 or......