Drying Up a Jersey-I'm New!

[NaturalNicheMT]

Hello Everyone,
I am kinda new to this thread and couldn't figure out how to search for the information I am looking for.
I have two jersey cows that I have been milking since last year and it is time to dry them up but I don't know the best way to do that. I have raised dairy goats for a long time and have always slowly cut out their grain and spread out their millings until they were just not producing a lot of milk before stopping. But I have been told that with cows you just stop milking them and cut out their grain all at once. I am confused as to how that works if you are trying to avoid mastitis.
I would love to have some advice from all of you!!
Thank you

[Rosepath]

Our neighbors used to just stop milking them, which sounded harsh to me, having been a nursing mom when my kids were babies - eek, soreness x the max.
So what I do is what you've said, cut their grain back, milk once a day if they're used to twice,
after a few days, milk every other, etc. It only takes a week and a half, and so far no one has come down with mastitis, and I think they're a lot more comfortable with the gradual method.
At least I hope so
Are your girls due to calve in a few weeks? Good luck if so.

[NaturalNicheMT]

That is what I was thinking would work better for them then just stopping cold turkey. I think I will try that over the next couple weeks.
they are not bread right now because I am needing to plan out my breeding around a certain month every year so they are going to have some time off until next year! lol I am sure they are going to be happy for the break!!
Thank you for your help!

[PaulNKS]

Yes, with Jerseys you can just stop milking but do NOT abruptly stop the feed. It's a good way to cause acidosis. Gradually cut the feed back over one week.

You can gradually dry a cow. Cut back to once a day milkings for a week. Then cut back to every other day for a week. Then stop.

[NaturalNicheMT]

So if you do the gradual cut off of milking how would you do it. I was thinking of just pushing the night time milking back an hour every day until it is late at night and then just cut it out after about 3 days. Do the once a day milking for a couple days while cutting the grain down to about a third of the original amount then just stop cold after that. Does that sound fine? Or maybe over kill? LOL

[Cliff]

Originally Posted by NaturalNicheMT

So if you do the gradual cut off of milking how would you do it. I was thinking of just pushing the night time milking back an hour every day until it is late at night and then just cut it out after about 3 days. Do the once a day milking for a couple days while cutting the grain down to about a third of the original amount then just stop cold after that. Does that sound fine? Or maybe over kill? LOL

Maybe a little overkill. Cut the grain down immediately. Go to once a day milking. Don't completely empty the udder. After a few days go to every other day and stop the grain. Still don't empty udder completely. After a few more days just stop. Pay attn to her udder the whole time of course for signs of problems.

[springvalley]

Yes dry off gradual, cut grain back gradual. But the million dollar question is why are the cows not bred back yet ?? Next year your going to be back on here asking why your cows won`t breed back. Cows don`t need time off, we do. They breed back so much better when they are milking. Cows get to fat when they are dry and not bred back, and they cycle better when milking also. Sorry to be so hard on you, but I`ve been around cows a long time. And if you plan to AI it`s going to be even worse. I just have seen this to many times, and the end is allways the same. > Thanks Marc

[Cliff]

Related to what Marc said, if nothing else you could breed them and just leave the calves on them. Jersey cows do fine just raising a calf, and the calves grow like crazy.

[Ronney]

There are two schools of thought about this - and I prefer to take the old-fashioned school which is drying off gradually no matter what the breed is.

Once my cows have peaked for the season I go down to OAD milking anyway so drying off just involves going from OAD to every second day to nothing at all over the period of a week or so. I don't cut down on feed intake but then I grass feed and as the cows are in calf, I'm not wanting sudden highs and lows in food intake.

Go away and give some hard thought as to when you want your cows to calve in terms of climate, grass availability and what suits you best. Time and money are awasting while your grazing MT, dry cows. I personally aim for 365 days of the year (because I like my homegrown milk) so spring and autumn calve but your climate and lifestyle make not make this an option.

Cheers,
Ronnie

[NaturalNicheMT]

Originally Posted by springvalley

Yes dry off gradual, cut grain back gradual. But the million dollar question is why are the cows not bred back yet ?? Next year your going to be back on here asking why your cows won`t breed back. Cows don`t need time off, we do. They breed back so much better when they are milking. Cows get to fat when they are dry and not bred back, and they cycle better when milking also. Sorry to be so hard on you, but I`ve been around cows a long time. And if you plan to AI it`s going to be even worse. I just have seen this to many times, and the end is allways the same. > Thanks Marc

That is fine Marc! Well as for the breeding back we are needing to let them sit until Oct so that we have calves in June. We have obligation every May that we can not get out of and with both of us gone it is easier to find someone to take care of our place if we don't have any cow in milk. That is the only reason they are not bred yet, I would have already had them bred if we didn't have to plan around one month a year!
I will hopefully be able to keep their weight in order and we will see what happens, it will be a learning experience for us, we have never had cows before.

[coolrunnin]

Agree with drying them off slowly over a couple of weeks.