Post by Leah Mack on Jan 16, 2007 10:19:05 GMT -5
Hi All,
I posted a month or so ago about my Yoda Mae who was not eating and dropping weight and production. We resolved this issue by giving her Pat Coleby's mineral supplement with extra copper. Her diarreah stopped and her appetite became vigorous. We got her production back up by milking 3x/day and I figured she would put on weight as she was now eating.
Fast forward a month or so: suddenly she stops eating grain, eats grass hay but not enthusiastically. As always, prefers the grassier hay to the higher alfalfa bales (nice, organic hay). I have to admit that she doesn't appear to have gained an ounce over the last month. Her production drops off overnight almost completely (from a gallon and a quart per milking to under a gallon, sometimes under half a gallon. At first I thought she was in heat, but it shouldn't be this severe, right? This morning I went almost straight to stripping her out, there was that little milk.
I had the vet out before who just said to feed her soybeans, and didn't even know that alfalfa hay has protein in it. Do you think I should have the vet back if she isn't very good? There is no bad smell to the milk, no sign of mastitis. Her poop is sometimes loose and sometimes not, as usual. She is always subdued, but doesn't seem especially more so. She still comes up to be milked but then has to be encouraged into the stantion. Her water is clean with no electrical stuff around and she is still drinking.
The one thing I can think of that has changed is that about a week or a little more before this all began I switched her from ground corn and barley soaked in molasses water as her feed to whole corn and barley soaked in molasses water. I did it slowly and she didn't seem concerned, continued to snarf it up. I did this because I can only get whole grains organic here and I really want to feed organic. I know that Pat Coleby and others say cows actually can digest whole grains if they are soaked, although I know others say differently. For a week she ate the whole grains fine and then this began.
We are hoping / needing to milk her for another whole year as she freshened in October and we want to shift to spring calving, so are planning to breed her this summer for a calf next spring. This sudden drying off is very concerning, as is the fact that we can't get weight on her. I am thinking of switching her to commercial dairy ration, even though I don't like what may be in it, just in case the food is the problem. What do you all think?
do I need a vet? should I give her commercial food? what else can I do?
Thanks! Leah
I posted a month or so ago about my Yoda Mae who was not eating and dropping weight and production. We resolved this issue by giving her Pat Coleby's mineral supplement with extra copper. Her diarreah stopped and her appetite became vigorous. We got her production back up by milking 3x/day and I figured she would put on weight as she was now eating.
Fast forward a month or so: suddenly she stops eating grain, eats grass hay but not enthusiastically. As always, prefers the grassier hay to the higher alfalfa bales (nice, organic hay). I have to admit that she doesn't appear to have gained an ounce over the last month. Her production drops off overnight almost completely (from a gallon and a quart per milking to under a gallon, sometimes under half a gallon. At first I thought she was in heat, but it shouldn't be this severe, right? This morning I went almost straight to stripping her out, there was that little milk.
I had the vet out before who just said to feed her soybeans, and didn't even know that alfalfa hay has protein in it. Do you think I should have the vet back if she isn't very good? There is no bad smell to the milk, no sign of mastitis. Her poop is sometimes loose and sometimes not, as usual. She is always subdued, but doesn't seem especially more so. She still comes up to be milked but then has to be encouraged into the stantion. Her water is clean with no electrical stuff around and she is still drinking.
The one thing I can think of that has changed is that about a week or a little more before this all began I switched her from ground corn and barley soaked in molasses water as her feed to whole corn and barley soaked in molasses water. I did it slowly and she didn't seem concerned, continued to snarf it up. I did this because I can only get whole grains organic here and I really want to feed organic. I know that Pat Coleby and others say cows actually can digest whole grains if they are soaked, although I know others say differently. For a week she ate the whole grains fine and then this began.
We are hoping / needing to milk her for another whole year as she freshened in October and we want to shift to spring calving, so are planning to breed her this summer for a calf next spring. This sudden drying off is very concerning, as is the fact that we can't get weight on her. I am thinking of switching her to commercial dairy ration, even though I don't like what may be in it, just in case the food is the problem. What do you all think?
do I need a vet? should I give her commercial food? what else can I do?
Thanks! Leah