Maggie not herself this morning

Reading to learn her, but wanted to comment on the alfalfa hay at TSC, if its the standlee bales they are worth every penny. They are very compressed so make sure you have it where you want it when you cut the straps. Its very leafy so I would recommend a trash can

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Thank you!

I don't find the local vet overly helpful. He didn't ask about the mineral salt. He made some comment about the block, but when I said I gave the loose, he said; "good." However when we asked him about non-GMO organic food, he went a little squirrelly. "irradiated meat is a good thing." "Organic food is just a conspiracy to control the world's food."

Her poops are loose but not runny. They are also brown.

The other cow's poop doesn't really smell. They are mostly on hay. Maggie's poops want to gag you. She is on a lot of feed, way more than they get.

I also notice my chicken's poop doesn't smell, but when those chicken houses are cleaning poop or someone is putting that poop on their fields that smells for days, and it is nasty.

I have been watching for cycles, but since I know just about nothing, haven't noticed anything. The previous owners told me she should be cycling and watch for her being loud and rammy.

She was loud for the first couple days we brought her home, but I am pretty sure that is because she wanted to go home. She is not a loud cow, rarely moos.

She knocked me over a couple of times when I was squatting down to get her food out of the bin. Not hard, just a gentile push. That was just last week or so and she only did it two times.

she was burping while she was eating and then some after.

Cannon farms,

That is the alfalfa bales I was talking about. Thanks for the info on it, I will pick a bale up and try it.

I would cut back on the grain or calf starter if I were you. I only feed about 2# of grain to mine. Anything over 10# is excessive and the cow will get sick from too much grain. You need to be someplace in the middle. 2# is about the minimum for a good milk cow. Just figure if you have a 50# bag it needs to last you around a week if you are feeding 7# a day. I would want to get at least 10 days out of it, but I am pretty tight with the spendy feed. I feed a sweet feed mix. The one tractor supply has is not bad if I remember correctly. I don't know what is in calf starter, so I couldn't comment on if it is meeting her needs. I mix my own feed now. I am lucky and have a local mill about 10 miles down the road and he will mix up anything I want. I mix ground corn, oats, soybean meal, molasses, black oil sunflower, wheat bran, ADE.. Kelp if i have it. If I were you, I would try the alfalfa and get down to just two scoops of sweet feed. Change her diet slowly. Keep a half bag of calf starter and mix it 50/50 for awhile and in about the same amount. Then take 2-3 days to change it. I don't feed my cows until I am done milking. It took me a long time to get them to agree to that. At first they wouldn't come in and would step around a lot. But after a few times, they just let me milk them and as soon as I am almost done they start getting excited. they used to drive me crazy when they tried to get the last bit of grain out of the corner of the feeder when I was milking.

Try a local extension agent for the correct mineral mix for your area. I have no experience with what you need in AL. There might be some help online as well from one of your universities with an Ag department.

Your vet sounds about like mine. I told them I use garlic as a wormer and he looked at me funny and started his worming speach. So I told him I wanted him to take a stool sample and have it float tested for worms. He called me an hour later and said he found no worm eggs in the stool sample and "the garlic must be working". Hard to say if it is or isn't without knowing that I have worms.

Karen I agree with bigbluegrass, I would get some of the alfalfa hay and cut back the grain. I also use the Redmond trace min. salt, it is organic and has alot of good minerals in it, I also use a special mineral for my cows and put on their feed in the barn. Oh and happy birthday Karen. > Marc

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101 is a great temp...the temp tells more then anything else on my milk bar calfs......is also makes you fell better when you take the temp and it is right...I also listen to the belly with a stepiscope....when all is quite there in trouble.....hope this all works out but seems like it is going up hill now

I will gladly cut back on the feed. Neighbor said I needed to give her a bucket full, so that is what I did. It is calf starter from the Co-op, just says Dairy feed on the bag.

We like organic, so will look for Redmond. What I was getting from the Co-op was Sweet Liks. I didn't know I could put it right on her feed. I just had it in a roaster pan on the ground.

Don't know what her issue was the other day, but she seems OK now. Just as bratty as ever.

Thanks everyone for the help.

I know I'm a bit late here, but I think her problem was that she overdid herself on the molasses, plus the grain you've been giving her. Molasses is a rich supplement, and, coupled with the grain, and her bad eating habits (eating too fast) no wonder she got a bit of a belly ache.

Glad to hear she's feeling better, though.

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Depending on the bucket size, it sounds like you were overdoing the grain. I would weigh the grain and make a mark on my bucket. There are 1 gallon buckets, 2 gallon buckets and 5 gallon buckets. Our milk cows maybe get a gallon of dairy feed a feeding. If it is ground corn, they get much less.

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Just because of that funny stretch she made when you were milking, I'd put a magnet in her "just in case" she has hardware disease. It's cheap insurance.

Jennifer

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HHHHHMMMMM, some touched it just a bit. But, you may have gotten really lucky here. Yes cut back on teh grain and watch her real close. What happend is she had protein overload/poisioning. When her temp was down that was her body reacting to it. Keep a close eye on if she gets loose in teh next day or 2. You may want to feed a buffer to help her get the acid back down in her guts to. Arm and Hammer bi carb is a good choice.
Bob

I have cut her down to 3 scoops from 4. Should I go further? I figured I wouldn't cut it half right a way.

She seems to be better, hasn't been burping or anything anymore. Hear the normal gurgles in her rumen.