How do you feed your dairy cow?

[ChasingDreams]

Hey all We are getting our first cow this month after dh finishes the fence... a 7 y/o Jersey that is bred and due in January. She is currently supplemented w/grain daily - but I'd like to avoid grain if at all possible. Is this doable? The pasture isn't the best, so I fully plan on supplementing w/quality hay and alfalfa - will that be enough for her to stay healthy?

THoughts?

[wwubben]

I would feed her good quality hay and some grain if she is milking.She needs access to salt and water at all times also.

[Eunice]

It is doable without grain, but you won't get as much milk, and the cow will probably lose weight after calving much faster than if she does get grain. I have friends with a dairy that no longer feed grain, but they have real good quality silage and alfalfa.

[CatherineE]

We're heading for the same goal. I gather that there are some cows that are easy keepers on grass, and others that are not. You will have to watch your cow and see which she is. Apparently, you can gradually transition some cows off of grain, but it may take a long while, like a year or more. Our Milking Devons were bought with the idea of them doing well on grass alone. Unfortunately, our 1 mature cow was being fed hay, supplemented with grain, through a drought, so she wasn't used to grass alone. We've been slowly moving her off of grain by substituting more and more beet pulp and alfalfa in it's place. We keep a close eye on her, as she seems to drop weight easily. Also, when you want to breed your cow, you might want to be sure to breed her to a bull that does well on grass. There are straws available here in the States from New Zealand Jerseys (they never got into graining cows in NZ) that maintain condition beautifully on nothing but grass, just fyi.