Post by mrskk on Feb 29, 2008 8:11:25 GMT -5
Yesterday, my husband and I went to visit Glen, the farmer who sold Buttercup to us. I wanted to let him know how she was doing and to ask a few questions. Also to see his first calf heifers, so I could look at different stages of udder development.
He's the first farmer I've asked about udders that didn't laugh or shrug off my questions. He just said, "Sure, let me get my boots on."
He has 9 heifers in one pen together, 8 in the last half of their pregnancy and one freemartin. (Discovered her status when he had the AI tech palpate her to try to figure out why she wasn't coming into heat, even though they had used CIDR on her.)
So there were a couple of heifers that were at about the same stage of pregnancy as Buttercup and all stages in between, up to one that is due March 5th. It was very educational to see all those udders together!
He cautioned me against too much grain (we are at a good level with her), as his experience is that too much grain during pregnancy can cause edema in the udder. Good to know.
He also said, "I hope you're either planning on keeping a calf on her or you have firm plans on what you're going to do with LOTS of milk, because she's got really good genetics in her and she's going to be a good producer." Good to know, but kind of scary at the same time!
I told him of my plans to share milk with her calf, separating them for the day, and eventually milking once a day. He told me my plans were good ones.
I feel truly fortunate to have a dyed-in-the-wool, lifetime dairy farmer be so supportive of my efforts in having a family milk cow. Glen never went to college, but he is very intelligent, and very cow smart. He is also very willing to educate and is never condescending.
All in all, a very good day!
Karen
He's the first farmer I've asked about udders that didn't laugh or shrug off my questions. He just said, "Sure, let me get my boots on."
He has 9 heifers in one pen together, 8 in the last half of their pregnancy and one freemartin. (Discovered her status when he had the AI tech palpate her to try to figure out why she wasn't coming into heat, even though they had used CIDR on her.)
So there were a couple of heifers that were at about the same stage of pregnancy as Buttercup and all stages in between, up to one that is due March 5th. It was very educational to see all those udders together!
He cautioned me against too much grain (we are at a good level with her), as his experience is that too much grain during pregnancy can cause edema in the udder. Good to know.
He also said, "I hope you're either planning on keeping a calf on her or you have firm plans on what you're going to do with LOTS of milk, because she's got really good genetics in her and she's going to be a good producer." Good to know, but kind of scary at the same time!
I told him of my plans to share milk with her calf, separating them for the day, and eventually milking once a day. He told me my plans were good ones.
I feel truly fortunate to have a dyed-in-the-wool, lifetime dairy farmer be so supportive of my efforts in having a family milk cow. Glen never went to college, but he is very intelligent, and very cow smart. He is also very willing to educate and is never condescending.
All in all, a very good day!
Karen