Skip a milking or Once-a-day options

[Awnry Abe]

I have an out of town wedding that I must attend in 16 days. I plan on heading out of town after the AM milking and returning in time for the following AM milking. The cow in question freshened March 29 (100+ days) and has been milked since. no calf. she is giving 2 1/2 gallons per milking, less a quart in the AM. I am considering these options, in this order. I would appreciate your input.

1) going to once a day milking in the AM. I have read that some folks go cold turkey. I can go this route, but want to know if this is wise, and what I should do to prepare in these 16 days to keep her healthy in the days following. We really have a surplus of milk, and a deficit of time. So this option sounds very nice to me.

2) skip just that one PM milking and resume as early as possible in the AM, possibly a red-eye milking. Would same immune boost protocol as if going to once a day.

3) have a milking friend come over and hand-milk just to get by.

Peaches is a FF and has been absolutely awesome to milk. I don't want to booger her up.

[gone-a-milkin]

It wont hurt her to just miss ONE milking or have it be rather late.
Do not get into the habit of it,obviously.

On every single farm I have ever worked at "these things happen"
that keep schedules from being perfect.

I dont see why you would go to once a day so soon in her lactation.
Is she bred back yet?

You might consider raising some calves or hogs if you have too much milk.

One of the things I am baffled by on this forum is the number of people who get a dairy cow,
then dont want to milk the cow or use her milk.
I dont understand it.

I *do* understand a rare family obligation or a car wreck or the power going out for a day though.

[Awnry Abe]

Originally Posted by gone-a-milkin

It wont hurt her to just miss ONE milking or have it be rather late.
Do not get into the habit of it,obviously.

Thats good to know. It was grilled into me as a youth to never miss a milking ever. Of course when I think about it now, the person doing the drilling skipped a milking or two per season for breeding.

I am strongly considering making a bee-line back after the reception. It would be a 4 hour bee line, though. I am thinking that an hour or three of sleep would be smarter. Its a tough call.

Habit forming? Nah, I enjoy milking. It is the big negative, as far as I can tell, to going to once a day milking.

On every single farm I have ever worked at "these things happen"
that keep schedules from being perfect.

I dont see why you would go to once a day so soon in her lactation.
Is she bred back yet?

Not bred back yet. Probably worthy of another thread. The question on timing gets to the heart of my post. I wouldn't at this point, other than the circumstances at hand. What do I need to understand about her lactation cycle to make a wise choice?

You might consider raising some calves or hogs if you have too much milk.

One of the things I am baffled by on this forum is the number of people who get a dairy cow,
then dont want to milk the cow or use her milk.
I dont understand it.

With all due respect, maybe you are assuming too much? I really appreciate your help on this forum and this thread in particular, so I don't intend for that question to rub you wrong. I have an excess, but I am not wasting a drop. At least not in my opinion. Some may role their eyes when the see me water the tomato plants with it or renovating lawn, but it is a good use of it, to me. And those are the last resort uses. Hogs are on the drawing board for next year. If I did it now, I would have less time plus they'd be sleeping on my porch.
As for the wanting to milk, well, fair enough. We all have our days, and today is mine. I'm shorthanded this week, and when I heard about once a day milking when googling "can I skip a milking", visions of fishing in the evening started dancing in my head.

I *do* understand a rare family obligation or a car wreck or the power going out for a day though.

So, to keep this on track, is there anything I should do in either case to help her through the upcoming bump in the road? I am concerned about mastitis. And production. (How ironic).

That 3rd option really isn't any good. As good as she has been in the past 30 days, early on she had a pension for trying to reach up and scratch a fella behind his ears. I'd hate to come back and find someone face down and stone cold. So no matter what, she is gonna miss a milking.

[waterbuffy]

I agree with goneamilking. Missing 1 milking isn't going to hurt. It happens to most everyone at some point. Due to power failure, bull won't leave cow alone to get milked, the cow that hides in the morning fog out in the pasture and you don't see her etc. She will just be very happy to see you in the morning.

[janij]

Hi. I have been milking cows for only a little over 2 yrs. I milk my girls once a day from day one. Can they produce 5 gallons a day? Probably. Do I need them to or want them to no. So I feed them enough to produce the amount I need and can use. Yes, we drink the milk, I make yogurt in gallon batches, all our cheese butter etc. It has worked well for me and my cows.
I don't think it will hurt your girl one bit to miss one night milking. She won't be getting the feed she would be getting so that will help. Enjoy the night off and like goneamiling said, don't make it a habit. If so get her down to OAD milking.