Milk fever

Good for you. I think they are cute as buttons too. My jersey cows make me very happy!!!

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Only by His merciful grace,
Marci

Come check out our store full of homesteading kitchen supplies!!
Amazing Graze General Store

We also withhold alfalfa for the last two months then give one tube of paste just before or while in labor and one directly after. We didn't have milk fever with either of our calves.

We did have *&^(*&!^(*&! mastitis, though.

http://familycow.proboards.com/index...y&thread=21870

Since no one linked to it, figured I would.
We waited two years to get a cow down with MF so I could get this series. She was a cow we had owned for all of four months. Since then I think there have been maybe two cases of MF in our high producing Jersey herd.
MF is one of those things we don't tend to get overly anxious about because we don't lose cows to it. One 500mL bottle sub-Q right after they go down and they are back up and fine in less than 12 hours.
Now when I worked at the school farm, we lost cows to MF, but part of that was he would wait to call the vet until an hour that might be more suitable to the vet...that and they didn't always catch the early signs.

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Roseanna
Morning Mist Herd
Journey's End Jerseys
Jerseys, Jersey/Norwegian Reds, Beef, Boers, Nubians & crossbreeds

You beat me to it Roseanna.

Nice group of people over there.

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~Carla~

What a great resource. Thanks!!!!

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Only by His merciful grace,
Marci

Come check out our store full of homesteading kitchen supplies!!
Amazing Graze General Store

Donna, there's lots of good info here but the one thing they told us to keep on hand was a powder you mix with a 5 gal bucket of water I think.... I forget what it's called - let me do some digging... It's not easy to get them to drink it but it helps. I second the rule to keep alfalfa hay away from them and to use the calcium tube.... I will pm you if I find the name of it, ok? I haven't had to use it LATELY, thankfully, but it's really handy... Check at TSC for someone that sells for IBA - I don't remember what it stands for.....

HERE IT IS! "I'm not much for "magic powders and additives" but this one works. IBA sells a product called Rejuvenate. It is a powder that you mix with 5 gals of warm water. Its sweet tasting and most cows go nuts over it and suck it down faster than you can pour it out. I mix it in a pail and dump it in a rubber tub. It works best to get it to them as soon as they calve....the quicker the better. I have never had to give a bottle of Cal to a cow that drank it. Even those Fat Jerseys that look like they will need 2 or 3 bottles for sure......never miss a beat. We have a few cow families that are very prown to get milk fever. This stuff saves the day. It has dried whey for a base. It has Cal, Phos, DFM, Niacin and a bunch of Vits and Mins. I never thought it would work, but I won't be without now.

Scott"

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Be a fountain, not a drain!

^()^
http://tubbsfarmstead.com/

Don't PM it to her, please post it. Our vet also said ionic salts were good to feed the last bit before calving.

__________________
Only by His merciful grace,
Marci

Come check out our store full of homesteading kitchen supplies!!
Amazing Graze General Store

I appreciate everybody's input, and I do intend to copy and paste every bit of advice I've been given. No danger of giving alfalfa hay here; we feed a grass/clover mix (our pasture is also our hayfield), and I do NOT feed for production. Ideally, I'd have chosen a low-producing cow, because I don't milk that often anyhow, once the calf is able to take it all. But I took what was available. I milk twice a week at the most, and my cow gets a coffee-can of sweet feed at that time; that's it.

I'm SO enjoying my Jersey cow!

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People are more important than things.