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03/28/11, 07:11 PM
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Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Frankston, TX
Posts: 140
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Milking and underfeed cow help
Hello all,
I bought a Jersey cow and calf yesterday. The lady on the phone told me the cow needed "groceries." (The lady had only had the cow for 3 weeks so she is not the one who didn't feed her.) Now since I am new to this whole thing I did not know what that phrase meant. I do now. I could not leave that cow even though I knew I should. She is VERY thin. But she is small in height and about the sweetest thing you could ever meet. She has these quiet, peaceful eyes and I just couldn't help it. She also had a beautiful 3 week old heifer calf.
So I bought the pair. Her teats are so small you can't really hand milk her. So I have a milk machine coming. The lady warned me about that as well, but I just thought it would not be a big deal. It is. SO after much crying and feeling terribly scared, I have a milk machine on the way. In the mean time I am lucky enough to have a friend with a Brangus bottle calf. She is bringing it over this evening to keep her from exploding until the milk machine gets here. I am also doing as much hand milking as I can to get her some relief as well.
So I guess the real question is how do I get weight on Cocoa? It breaks my heart to think that someone didn't feed this beautiful animal. Why?
She has a hay bale all to herself and her calf. I am giving her 8 qts of mixed grains twice a day. Help! Any ideas will help. I do not want to up her production. I want meat on her. I can make cheese in time. I know I will still have lots of milk, but how do I get her to not looked starved? And how long will it take?
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03/28/11, 07:23 PM
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Join Date: Jul 2005
Posts: 3,441
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I think that eight quarts of grain a day is too much to start her out on. Start her out with about half that much and build up. Worm her with IVOMEC EPRINEX pour on. It is for internal and external parasites and there is no milk withdrawal. Make sure she has plenty of salt and high grade loose minerals. If she is going to be on grass, I would get the high mag mineral.
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03/28/11, 07:26 PM
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Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Frankston, TX
Posts: 140
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The lady I got her from said she was feeding her 6-8 qts a day. That is why I am scared to drop it. She said she wormed her when she got her, but I think I will worm her again. She said she wormed her with Ivormectin ? Is that the same thing?
Thanks you so much.
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03/28/11, 07:30 PM
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Join Date: May 2003
Location: Zone 7
Posts: 10,539
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Does this animal have parasites? An injection of a good wormer would rank high on my list for the cow. I would want her to have free access to a good mineral supplement in loose form, not a block. A good high protein hay free choice would be the forage provided. If I already had hay I would get some range cube to up the protein of the hay provided the hay was marginal. I would put the calf on a bottle if the cow's body condition is as bad as described. Since your are in Texas can I assume that you have green pasture? If so I would slowly transition from the hay to green grass with legumes. In 10 weeks the animal should not even resemble itself.
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Agmantoo
If they can do it,
you know you can!
Last edited by agmantoo; 03/28/11 at 07:38 PM.
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03/28/11, 07:33 PM
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Retired Coastie
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Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Monterey, Tennessee
Posts: 4,651
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Jani, don't believe half of what you hear...Why was she sold so quickly?
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03/28/11, 07:35 PM
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Retired Coastie
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Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Monterey, Tennessee
Posts: 4,651
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How about a photo? Lots of people trying to learn on this forum...Topside
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03/28/11, 09:44 PM
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Family Jersey Dairy
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Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Illinois
Posts: 4,773
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It will take time to put weight on your cow, it came off slow, it will go back on slow. And feed her good hay, not so so hay. I don`t mean you have to go out and get the best alfalfa you can get but the best mix hay to can get would be great. And as others have said worm her. .> Thanks Marc
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03/28/11, 11:07 PM
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Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: North East Alabama
Posts: 711
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What is "range cube"?
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03/28/11, 11:31 PM
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Join Date: May 2003
Location: Zone 7
Posts: 10,539
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__________________
Agmantoo
If they can do it,
you know you can!
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03/29/11, 06:05 PM
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Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Frankston, TX
Posts: 140
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Re
@ Topside- I think the lady sold her just cause I wanted a cow and that was the one she would sell.
I do realize that everyone does things differently. I just had someone here tell me she needs 35-50lbs of grain a day. I think she is insane!!!!! Plus I need moral support. I am new to farming and I know I should have not bought her, but I couldn't help myself. I knew I could give her the care she needed even if I had to sort of stumble along. She looks better in the last couple of days. She is out on the pasture part of the time. The milk machine arrives tomorrow. I have gotten some milk out of her and have 2 calves on her but her back teats are so short. I just have to get her to tomorrow on the milking and hope we don't get mastitis.
How do you post pics? I almost hate to since she is so sad looking.
Oh and I got a the pour on Ivormectin and will worm her tomorrow. It is raining right now and well I don't want it to just wash off, even though it probably doesn't.
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03/29/11, 06:06 PM
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Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Frankston, TX
Posts: 140
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Pics
It says I can not post attachments. Is that how you do pics?
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03/29/11, 06:30 PM
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HillHippie
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Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: NE Alabama
Posts: 383
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janij - you have to upload pics to something like photobucket, then copy and paste the image code to your post.
With all this good advice, she may just turn out to be a star milker (with the help of your milk machine  ) I wouldn't say you did a bad thing buying her. Sounds like something I would do! 
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03/29/11, 06:37 PM
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Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Frankston, TX
Posts: 140
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I posted them to my mobile me account. Let's see if this works. She looks bad.
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03/29/11, 06:49 PM
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Join Date: Jul 2005
Posts: 3,441
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If you are going to use the milk make sure you have the right pour on. Ivormectin is not for dairy cattle that are of breeding age. You will need IVOMEC EPRINEX
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03/29/11, 06:55 PM
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Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Frankston, TX
Posts: 140
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Can I just withhold the milk? The feed store did not have the Ivormec Eprinex. Should I not use it at all?
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03/29/11, 07:22 PM
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Retired Coastie
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Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Monterey, Tennessee
Posts: 4,651
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After seeing the photos, I'd let her calf nurse and allow her to naturally dry up....She really needs a break to gain weight and achieve a normal weight. Milking her will only keep the demand up and the weight off...Let her raise her calf only...I'm not in the dairy business...It's just my opinion.
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03/29/11, 07:23 PM
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Retired Coastie
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Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Monterey, Tennessee
Posts: 4,651
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One more thing, Bravo to you saving her...good luck
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03/29/11, 07:24 PM
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Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: N.W. Washington
Posts: 40
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My two cents here.
In the past I have played around with increasing milk production on my milk cow and also trying to keep the butter fat up. What I found while feeding my milk cow was that if I increased the protein her production would go up. Feeding a high quality grass hay and giving her access to plenty of grass would increase butter fat but production would go down.
With that test in mind I would suggest that you NOT feed a high protein diet but instead try to give her plenty of grass and grass hay and feed a grain mix that is high in fat. Also keep in mind that the milking system of a cow is in part based on demand. So if you are milking this cow, and she is feeding a calf she will do her best to supply you with the milk that is needed for both jobs. If you decrease the amount of demand, she will slow production and give more back to her body. You may try doing a once a day milking, separate the calf at night, if Morning milking works best and then after you milk (not taking all the milk) give her the calf for the day.
It will take a several days for the production to go down, sometime it takes a few weeks. Her udder will look like it is going to burst but that is how the message is sent to the mind for it to reduce the amount of milk to make. Kinda like when you wean a calf by taking the calf away and not milking the cow.
Good Luck!
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03/29/11, 07:27 PM
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Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Austin-ish, Texas
Posts: 5,000
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It is hard to put weight on a cow that is already lactating. They will put most of their calories into producing more milk, which is not what you want. If she were mine, I would slowly reduce her milk production by only milking about half of what the calf is leaving behind. She will stop producing so much milk if you ease her back. Then I'd wean the calf as soon as possible, dry up the cow and feed her back into condition, then get her bred for next year.
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