cut-off volume for cold-turkey dryoff, general dryoff ?s
Oct 7, 2017 11:13:05 GMT -5
Meadow Creek Mama likes this
Post by Sarah on Oct 7, 2017 11:13:05 GMT -5
Dr. Karreman recommends iodione teat dipping in his book 'organic cow care for the seasons' while the keratin teat plug develops over two weeks after dry off and two weeks before calving while it is softening. I'm not sure how many people do it, but I decided to try it. On day two and three without milking, Tirzah was leaking from being so full, I did teat dip her on those couple of occasions that I saw milk coming out but I tried not to touch her udder too much while I did it on those days. He says they need to have the udder not touched for 5 days for their brain to get the message to stop making milk. AFTER that initial 5 days is when Dr. Karreman recommends starting the twice a day teat dipping for two weeks. I took Tirzah about 7 to start deflating, probably because I did touch her udder to check for hardness and did those couple of teat dippings in the first couple of days. My experience is that once the deflating starts, she's not going to let down. I've even brought her into the stanchion to brush her and do the dippings at that point. I only managed to teat dip once a day too.
I did cut grain out for her, but wasn't able to give her poorer quality hay because of the way our barn is setup, I can't really separate her from the others for too long. I just did the best I could and all seems to have gone well.