milking question

[Haggis]

Do the math on the amount of milk your cow is producing per hour.

My Lucy gives well over 6 gallons a day during her high production period. That's more than a quart an hour, or over a half pint every fifteen minutes.

If you are takng 45 minutes to milk, your cow has produced close to a quart of milk while you're milking; my backwoods logic at work here.

When I use my faster than by hand milking machine I can get Lucy pulled down pretty dry, but during the same periods if I do milk by hand I cannot get her stripped dry. She can make milk nearly as fast I can squeeze it out; well..., too fast for me to strip her dry.

[Paula]

Haggis is right. And at only 2 wks fresh, her udder will probably still have some swelling so you won't get that flabby feel/look even when you have her almost empty.
Remember, the more you milk the more she will make, so if you don't want 5 gallons don't milk her all the way out and she should start slowing down. Gotta cut her feed back at the same time.
Think about not weaning her calf till much later and just locking it up at night in a few weeks. That way you can milk just what you want in the morning and then let the calf out to clean up.
Mastitis isn't caused by leaving a little milk in the udder, although if a cow does get mastitis it helps to keep her empty. Sounds contradictory, huh. As long as there's no infection the extra milk doesn't cause a problem (now I'm not saying leave her bursting full, that can cause problems) but if there's infection present the milk feeds it.
With a few years experience things will get easier and you won't worry nearly as much. Hang in there!

[Christina R.]

Thanks Haggis and Paula. The feed thing is humorous and timely. I was just outside saying to my DH that I thought I could see Corabelles's ribs and I know I shouldn't be able to. He laughed and said wait until our vet (& obviously very dear friend) comes over for Thanksgiving, to tell him that one. Dh said Dr. Moore would respond by laughing his head off and saying there isn't a better fed dairy cow anywhere.

Thanks again for the reassurance!!!

[LuckyCharm]

What do ya'll mean when you say DH?

[Ronney]

Lucky, in my advanced years I have trouble with computer language as well - I think DH might mean Dear Husband or something of the sort.

Christina, other than the good advice that has already been given, have you thought about putting another calf on her? It sounds as though she is producing enough milk to feed two calves and do them well, as well as give a bit to you. I realise that you are going into winter so finding a calf may be easier said than done but it's worth a thought.

Cheers,
Ronnie