To keep or not to keep?

RockyRidgeFarms · #1 10/09/12, 10:36 PM

I've posted here a couple of times over the last few weeks about some issues I've had with our mini-jersey and have greatly appreciated to helpful insight. Unfortunatley, due to her stubborness lack of milk flow,she has decided to shut down on milking. This has happened over the last couple weeks and she has finally slowed to the point of no production. As much as that is disappointing, I'm ready to move on from that.
My question is this: Since she has not been a huge producer for me and has what appears to be poor udder attachment, stance, etc, do I keep her? She is bred and is due in April. I have not ever had her with a fresh calf and maybe she will produce better when fresh? If she throws a heifer, will that heifer carry all the poor traits as the mom? I guess it's kind of a gamble to hope for a better calf, but at least we can freezer the calf if it's a boy or a cull girl.Or do I just cut my losses and try to sell her as a cull? Her temperment is fine, as well as attitude in the stanchion.
We are just small timers here and one good or bad cow is a huge deal for us.

myersfarm · #2 10/10/12, 01:40 AM

before I could say cull her I would need to know

How much and what kind of feed were you feeding her and how much did she give ?

haypoint · #3 10/10/12, 07:14 AM

What is the quality of the bull she is bred to? In a few generations you can breed away from some faulty traits, IF you use a properly selected superior bull.
Apparently, while breeding for smaller frame, other important characteristics have been overlooked?

genebo · #4 10/10/12, 09:44 AM

Haypoint makes some good points.

Careless breeding can lead to a loss of quality. Everything you see about this cow plus a lot you don't see, but don't like, can be passed along to her calf.

That's half the picture. The other half is the bull. He passes his traits to the calf, too.

The best calves come from high quality parents. You can recover from and eliminate a poor trait with a good breeding program, but it may take several generations to do it. Having more than one bad trait to recover from greatly increases the difficulty of doing it. Having several poor traits means you should throw in the towel and start over.

Now that you know what you don't like, use that experience to help you pick out a better one.

pancho · #5 10/10/12, 09:53 AM

Many times people will decide on a mini cow instead of a real cow.
Mini cows are mini because they are bred for their size. Anything else is not necessary. Small size is. If size is the most important thing you should keep her. If production is important you should get rid of her and buy a real milk cow.

MARYDVM · #6 10/10/12, 10:47 AM

How long has she been fresh? If she was late getting bred back, a lower producing cow might just dry up early. A lot of small cattle being sold as "Mini Jerseys" have Zebu or Dexter in them, and don't milk like a true Jersey.

RockyRidgeFarms · #7 10/10/12, 11:26 PM

Now for the history of her as I know it.
She is not a "true" mini-jersey. She is a result of a couple of generations of Dexter bull to Jersey cow.
Dairy cows in milk are really hard to come by here, or they are $2000, so we really got her due to lack of choices.
We did get her from a very nice facility,(multi million dollar horse facility), where the cattle are more of a hobby for the proprietriss. Very clean. Very well cared for.
She is six years old with multiple calvings.
I saw the bull she was bred to. He is a very well built, registered Dexter. That works well for the future, as I also have Dexters.
The day we picked her up was the day she weaned her calf,(calf was 4mos). She was on grass hay and dry pasture at the time. After a few days of getting used to her new home, she was producing about 2 quarts per milking, which is twice daily. After 4 weeks of our feed, which consists of irrigated pasture, free choice grain hay and 3lbs sweet cobb w/some alfalfa per milking, she increased to 5qts per milking and leveled off there. After a couple weeks of being consistant, she just began to decline. Not from lack of milk, but she started withholding it. She would let down, and then you could literaly watch her suck it back up. I didn't even know that was possible. Each day it got a little worse, until she just wasn't even swelled up at all.
Her looks, temperment, stool, and everything about says she's healthy.

We knew she wouldn't produce like a real dairy cow, but what she was producing was more than we needed, so we were happy with that.
(Incidently, our Dexter cow with calf is in the same pature on the same exact feed regiment, started at the same time and is fine.)

G. Seddon · #8 10/11/12, 07:44 AM

Unfortunately, I don't know what to tell you about your particular problem. I will say that I wish people wouldn't wean their calves so early and so suddenly (trailer ride).

thequeensblessing · #9 10/11/12, 09:06 AM

Was she milked previously or was her calf with her and nursing her? You say you weaned the calf, something that makes it sound like her calf was still sucking. Is that correct? Did you teach her to milk or was she used to being milked 2 times a day every day? Do you hand milk or machine milk her?
Our full blooded Jersey gives us 4 gallons of milk a day at her peak, and eventually evens out at about 3 gallons a day, finally only tapering off to just under 2 gallons a day by the time we dry her up 6 to 8 weeks before her next calf is born.
We feed grass/mixed clover hay free choice, 1 gallon of 18% dairy pellets twice a day, and all the water she wants.

MARYDVM · #10 10/11/12, 09:49 AM

My opinion: if she's bred back to a Jersey, a heifer calf would have some potential to be a better milker. If the sire is a Dexter, I wouldn't raise the calf for a milker. Yes, some Dexters can make OK milkers, but many don't, and the genetics the previous owner is breeding from don't seem geared for that.

matt_man · #11 10/11/12, 03:40 PM

Sounds like she is more Dexter than Jersey by your description and it doesn't surprise me then that she is not a big producer and doesn't have a long sustaining lactation.

All our cows are producing much less right now for lack of nice lush green grass. Milk flow can vary greatly with the availability of green grass.

RockyRidgeFarms · #12 10/11/12, 11:07 PM

I'm with you on the quick weaning. We've had good luck with natural weaning ourselves. The problem here was that she was 3hrs away and no way to do that easily. Looking at her, she's all Jersey except for a smaller frame and a black face. She did not share milk with a calf on but the previous owner did hand milk her once daily when she wasn't with calf. We hand milked mostly, machine milked some, but seemed to get better results hand milking.
Whatever the case is, she's done now. We'll go ahead and keep her for the calf at least and see how she freshens. Thanks for al the info and help. This is a great site!