Post by josiegirl on Oct 22, 2020 13:26:28 GMT -5
Ok, so if you haven't seen the other thread I have up already our Josie's production has plummeted from around 2 3/4 gallons OAD with calf sharing to a gallon and a half with supervised nursings in about a week. We have ruled out that the calf was taking it all since theyve been separated for 2 days now with supervised nursing and im still getting less and less, and I don't think she's holding up on me I can see how wrinkled her rear quarters get. I've been advised to milk 2-3 times a day but that's difficult calf sharing because of course she doesn't let down without the calf. So in order to actually be able to milk her out 2-3 times a day I am thinking we'd have to wean him.
My neighbor's pony recently died and when he was over he suggested we put yippee(the calf) on his property to wean him and he could keep his goat company. We would like to do that as it would probably be the easiest way to separate without having to keep the poor guy in a stall all day. He's already been drinking less milk than he normally does because of the supervised milkings and i've ben giving him calf starter to replace it. So I've got a few questions. How much grain should we give him? How gradually do we phase out nursing sessions? Will he be at risk for scours from the stress of moving? How long should we keep them separated before reintroducing him? We weaned our other steer from formula easy enough but that was from a bottle...
And one last question, has this happened to anyone calf sharing before? I am obviously hoping milking 2-3 times per day will help get her production and keep her milked out but I would thiink the calf was doing a very good job of it already, so maybe this won't even work?? I would hate to wean the calf and him get sick and have her dry herself off completely anyway or something. At least after a few days if she lets down for me alone I'll well and truly know what she's giving.
Since I'm sure these questions will be asked anyway I"ll address them now lol:
Calved July 1st (or june 29th but whatever)
She gets 14 lbs per day 16 percent dairy rations, free choice dairy mineral, selenium salt block, big round bale of green 1st cutting hay available, very nice 2nd cutting grass/clover mix replenished whenever she's out. I don't know how we could up her feed anymore since she already gets both choices of hay free feed.
Her condition is OK, she calved on the thin side cuz we didnt know what we were doing and so she's still on the thin side but has been getting this diet for a couple months now, minus fresh green grass obviously (and hay was only free feed at night) also she was getting beef mineral until two weeks ago cuz thats all i thought they had.
My neighbor's pony recently died and when he was over he suggested we put yippee(the calf) on his property to wean him and he could keep his goat company. We would like to do that as it would probably be the easiest way to separate without having to keep the poor guy in a stall all day. He's already been drinking less milk than he normally does because of the supervised milkings and i've ben giving him calf starter to replace it. So I've got a few questions. How much grain should we give him? How gradually do we phase out nursing sessions? Will he be at risk for scours from the stress of moving? How long should we keep them separated before reintroducing him? We weaned our other steer from formula easy enough but that was from a bottle...
And one last question, has this happened to anyone calf sharing before? I am obviously hoping milking 2-3 times per day will help get her production and keep her milked out but I would thiink the calf was doing a very good job of it already, so maybe this won't even work?? I would hate to wean the calf and him get sick and have her dry herself off completely anyway or something. At least after a few days if she lets down for me alone I'll well and truly know what she's giving.
Since I'm sure these questions will be asked anyway I"ll address them now lol:
Calved July 1st (or june 29th but whatever)
She gets 14 lbs per day 16 percent dairy rations, free choice dairy mineral, selenium salt block, big round bale of green 1st cutting hay available, very nice 2nd cutting grass/clover mix replenished whenever she's out. I don't know how we could up her feed anymore since she already gets both choices of hay free feed.
Her condition is OK, she calved on the thin side cuz we didnt know what we were doing and so she's still on the thin side but has been getting this diet for a couple months now, minus fresh green grass obviously (and hay was only free feed at night) also she was getting beef mineral until two weeks ago cuz thats all i thought they had.