Milk cow question

JDog1222 · #1 05/19/11, 10:56 AM

I have a jersey cow due, to my knowledge Aug. 19. She was with the bull only one month. I was planing on drying her by June 19, However; today when I went to milk her she had about an 8" long strand of goo coming out her YOU KNOW WHERE! After she went to the bathroom, after getting up, it came out. I seen her in standing heat on NOV. 19. Could she have stood for the bull even if she was already bred? Is the goo a sign she is going to "go" early?

Also, what is the best way to dry a cow. Is it too hard on them to just STOP milking them. This girl gives 2.5gal every milking. Poor thing gets HUGE if we just stop all-together.

Thanks

linn · #2 05/19/11, 11:32 AM

Are you sure that your cow is bred? The best way to tell is to have a vet check her. I have never seen a cow stand for a bull if she was already bred. I dry off our milk cows very gradually. I first skip every other milking and milk once a day. After several days of this, I skip a day. I do this for several days and then skip two or three days and so on. Keep checking her udder to make sure she doesn't get mastitis during the dry off. I would not dry her off until I was sure that she is bred.

Tad · #3 05/19/11, 02:50 PM

If you are feeding grain cut way back on her grain, our dry cows get about 6 lbs per day, we do this about 7-10 days pre dry-off. We let the cow decide how long it takes to try off. We skip one milking and if she is really full we do that a few more times, if she isn't REALLY full we then skip two, three, four milkings then milk her out and dry treat.

JDog1222 · #4 05/19/11, 02:57 PM

O YES, she is prego! The calf can be felt kicking when we are milking her.

I dried her off slowly last year and it seemed to take forever. I was just worried that maybe she would go early and she wouldn't b dry for the 60 days that they recommend.

She is getting about 12lbs. a day now, before it was about 24. The cut back in feed didn't seem to help reduce milk at all.

tinknal · #5 05/19/11, 07:18 PM

Vaginal goo isn't all that uncommon at any time during pregnancy. I'm guessing that your date is correct.

springvalley · #6 05/19/11, 09:29 PM

Your going to get all kinds of answers to this so I`ll keep it short. As far as dry off it depends on the cow, if she is milking well the everyother milking, then every other day, then every three days or so. If she isn`t milking that well I just stop milking them, but keep an eye on them to see if they get mastitis. I do no dry treat, and if she isn`t prone to getting mastitis I wouldn`t bother. I would also cut the grain out, dry cow doesn`t need grain during the summer, they get to fat(Not good). > Thanks Marc