Ideas on Increasing Milk Production

That fresh green grass or the longer days (I don't know which) will really make them pick up. It really drives that home when you are milking something that is in the 600 to 900 day range of lactation, they will be almost dry and then they pick up like they just freshened. Just be careful that they don't get tricked into putting out more, and you're not putting enough in, they can get pulled down real quick on watery grass and peak production.

My first time heifer did the same thing this past week. I milk at 6:30am and 5:30pm, she was on free choice of hay and haylage, she was getting about 6 or 8 lbs of grain at each milking times. and was milking about 15lbs AM and 12lbs PM. Last week the grass really started coming on, and we put the cows out on the pasture. She is now milking 20lbs AM and 16lbs PM. Nothing else has changed, just a gate being opened and she is out on pasture.

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Everyone talks about feeding a few pounds of this or that to boost milk like it is a ''huge'' amount. When this cow went to new fresh grass she ate an amount every day that will dwarf the other feed sources. Sometimes we underestimate the amounts of forage that a cow will consume every day if it is available.

another thing that fresh green grass has lots of water in it .your cow needs plenty of fresh clean water ; milk is mostly water if your cow is visiting a taugh or distant pond once a day to drink she may just be getting the minimum +dry grain and hay suck up lots of this water good feed + good water = good n plenty o milk . an old trick to increase milk flow while on dry hay was to soak and sprout grain or to feed stock beets .mixing water into the ground feed into a mush helps to .

Gluten does not get into the milk from the grain. Milk, particularly unprocessed home grown milk, is gluten free. So don't worry about feeding grain.

If you do feed grain for next winter, roll the grains, or process it somehow. And research on relative feed value of the various grains you have available. Grain is not all built the same. And for goodness sakes, feed more than a couple pounds a day. Also, as mentioned, if you can find good quality alfalfa hay, that would go a long way to increasing milk production.

Good luck.