Help drying off Jersey

[janij]

Hi all,
In Jan I bought 2 more jersey cows from a dairy man. One was in milk the other dry. He told me the dry one would freshen May 15th ish. Well she had a heifer calf last night. So now I have 4 jersey cows in milk and no need for it. I need to dry off 3 cows. All 3 are on once a day milking. One gives just shy of 2 gallons a day, one at 2.5 and one at 3 gallons a day. How do I dry them off? So to once every three milkings? Then down from there. Decrease food? At what point do you just stop milking? Any suggestions or pointers would be greatly appreciated.
Oh and the one who freshened. Do I just start milking her the first day? Save some for calf. Her udder is so huge I am worried to give her and the calf a couple days together with no interference.
Thanks,
Jani

[Farmer2B]

Consider renting one out, a lactating Jersey is worth it's weight in gold!

[springvalley]

Are these cows you want to dry off bred ?? When are they Due ?? Cut back the feed to the cows you want to dry off, milk every other day for a few days, then you could skip another day, and dry them off. If they are not giving much I just dry them off cold turkey, never have any trouble. You generally dry a cow off two month before the have their calf, if they are dry longer than that they can have problems when they calve, ie milk fever. And as I have said before, put your cows on grass hay for their dry period. Ever thought of selling your extra milk, will pay for some of your feed costs. Anymore questions, just ask. > Thanks Marc

[gone-a-milkin]

Maybe you need some more calves instead of drying up the cows?

[janij]

All the 3 are bred. One is due May/June so I need to dry her off anyway. I was told when I bought her mid July for the due date. The one I bought with her was supposed to calf mid May. She had her calf this am. So I had the other repalpated. May/June was the answer I got. The other 2 are due in Oct. Both of those have been milking for a yr. The breeding got done late this yr.
My husband will not let me sell the milk. I am in Tx and it is illegal to sell unless you are Grade A dairy. I could sell cheese too. I make really good cheese. But we feed out pigs and I am going to go get a few calves as well.
So no green grass during the dry period?

[kycrawler]

Grass and grass hay are fine I beleve what he meant was no alfalfa or grain , alfalfa leads to milk fever at freshening and grain leads to huge calves

I had the same problem you do i normally start bull calves and raise them out but this year i can't justify 2.50-3 a lb for holstien 3 day old calves I was dumping 40-50 gal of milk a day for a few weeks the pigs just couldnt keep up I bought 25 thin sows at auction they are gaining weight like crazy on the feed i mix for the cows mixed with milk Not going to get rich but not throwing away milk either

[linn]

Just start milking them once a day and then every other day and then every two days and so on until they have really slacked off production.

[Cliff]

Also don't milk them completely out. Milk is a supply/demand thing. Actually anytime a cow is making more than you need you can cut the feed back and stop milking them completely out and they will slow down.
For drying them off you need to cut the grain waaayyyy back then stop it altogether.
You will learn from experience, just pay close attention to their udders for signs of mastitis.
We've even let jerseys just raise their calves in the past, just took a little bit of the pressure off in the very beginning and watched their udders close for a bit. Of course keep a jersey you are doing that with just on grass/hay.
Only one that didn't work well with for us was an old ex dairy cow who had chronic mastitis.

[springvalley]

Originally Posted by kycrawler

Grass and grass hay are fine I beleve what he meant was no alfalfa or grain , alfalfa leads to milk fever at freshening and grain leads to huge calves

This is for sure what I meant to say, people on here know me purdy well. > Marc

[janij]

Thanks to everyone for their input. Marc, I figured that was what you meant but would rather sound stupid and ask for sure. I have decided to just dry up the one that is going too calf in May for now. So she got skipped this am and was pretty peeved indeed. Busted in the barn while I was trying to milk the one who just freshened. It didn't go well, but in some regards better than last night. Tonight will be better.
I have been cutting down the grain anyway since our grass is coming up well and they just weren't finishing it.
I will have to get some calves. When I bought these cows I made a plan of action. Then she freshens 7 weeks early and the other one the same things. But I guess we all know about the best laid plans.

[springvalley]

Seven weeks early is kind hard to plan on, get some more calves, they are worth growing now. > Thanks Marc

[janij]

The price of calves seems to be coming down, and for now east Texas has had rain and has grass.