Post by fieldcow on Sept 18, 2020 14:28:50 GMT -5
Hi all,
I’ve admired and relied on this forum for many things since getting my cow about two years ago. This is my first time posting. I think I’ve backed myself into a bit of a corner and am curious if anyone has any advice. I have a Jersey/Brown Swiss and a 12 month old calf.
So I’ve been sharing milk with the calf for about a year and it’s gone ok. I can usually get some milk out of her, some days as little as a half gallon, but she‘ll hold up the rest, including the majority of the cream. So far I’ve gotten by with milking, then getting the calf on her and then moving him out of the way and getting the rest of the milk. But that’s gotten trickier and trickier as he’s caught onto my plan. At this point, it’s become a difficult process, really.
I’ve tried a number of things to get her to let down including killing her with kindness (long, long, long brushing sessions before milking) and holding the calf off her for a longer period of time (separating them midday, the day before, rather than in the early evening). Nothing has really worked.
The calf has a date with the butcher in mid January, so I’ve become a little worried that once he’s gone, she’ll dry up on her own, no matter what I do, since she relies on him for her letdown. So I decided I’d try to wean him now, to see how the process goes. Well, it’s gone pretty poorly...
I put a nose clip on him on Tuesday and got a gallon Wednesday morning and two gallons Thursday morning, but today I went in and he has the scours and she has mastitis in one quarter.
I believe the mastitis could have been solved had I weaned with twice-a-day milking (which I’m honestly kicking myself for not having done-it feels like an obvious thing to do in retrospect), but the scours are concerning. I’ve been reading this morning that it may be due to a copper and selenium deficiency? I also keep sheep, so I only use a salt lick due to the toxicity of copper to sheep.
The two are also extremely attached to one another. I don‘t have any other cows, so they spend their days grooming one another and staring blissfully into one another’s eyes. When they’re separated, there’s lots of drama. I thought the nose clip would be the lowest stress way to wean because they’d be together.
The cow is not pregnant. I regret not AI-ing her right after the calf was born, but we had a lot going on and felt it was too much to deal with at the time. Our plan is to AI her soon, once I dial in her heat cycle.
So I guess my issues are with getting her to let down for me, and not the calf. If that involves weaning, my question is how to do that in a way that’s safe for the cow and calf.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading.
I’ve admired and relied on this forum for many things since getting my cow about two years ago. This is my first time posting. I think I’ve backed myself into a bit of a corner and am curious if anyone has any advice. I have a Jersey/Brown Swiss and a 12 month old calf.
So I’ve been sharing milk with the calf for about a year and it’s gone ok. I can usually get some milk out of her, some days as little as a half gallon, but she‘ll hold up the rest, including the majority of the cream. So far I’ve gotten by with milking, then getting the calf on her and then moving him out of the way and getting the rest of the milk. But that’s gotten trickier and trickier as he’s caught onto my plan. At this point, it’s become a difficult process, really.
I’ve tried a number of things to get her to let down including killing her with kindness (long, long, long brushing sessions before milking) and holding the calf off her for a longer period of time (separating them midday, the day before, rather than in the early evening). Nothing has really worked.
The calf has a date with the butcher in mid January, so I’ve become a little worried that once he’s gone, she’ll dry up on her own, no matter what I do, since she relies on him for her letdown. So I decided I’d try to wean him now, to see how the process goes. Well, it’s gone pretty poorly...
I put a nose clip on him on Tuesday and got a gallon Wednesday morning and two gallons Thursday morning, but today I went in and he has the scours and she has mastitis in one quarter.
I believe the mastitis could have been solved had I weaned with twice-a-day milking (which I’m honestly kicking myself for not having done-it feels like an obvious thing to do in retrospect), but the scours are concerning. I’ve been reading this morning that it may be due to a copper and selenium deficiency? I also keep sheep, so I only use a salt lick due to the toxicity of copper to sheep.
The two are also extremely attached to one another. I don‘t have any other cows, so they spend their days grooming one another and staring blissfully into one another’s eyes. When they’re separated, there’s lots of drama. I thought the nose clip would be the lowest stress way to wean because they’d be together.
The cow is not pregnant. I regret not AI-ing her right after the calf was born, but we had a lot going on and felt it was too much to deal with at the time. Our plan is to AI her soon, once I dial in her heat cycle.
So I guess my issues are with getting her to let down for me, and not the calf. If that involves weaning, my question is how to do that in a way that’s safe for the cow and calf.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading.