Questions re: Milk Volume

queenspromise · #1 09/05/13, 05:58 PM

All right...I have a 4 year old Milking Shorthorn X Brown Swiss that I purchased a few months ago. She had her 2nd calf at our farm Aug 11, and everything went smoothly. Cow and calf did well and are happy and healthy. I left the calf with my cow, and I did milk 2X daily any excess milk the calf was not drinking in order to keep her volume of milk as high as possible. As I had big plans with all the milk this cow produces (the old owner told me he had more milk then he knew what to do with). For the 2 weeks post birth I was getting about 1/2 a gallon of milk in total. I then unexpectedly had my baby 2 weeks early. Because of this a friend volunteered to feed and milk the cow and get the milk in lieu of payment. The cow was being fed free choice 2nd cut local hay as well as 2X daily 10 lbs of dairy feed (grain) and then during the day pasture graze if she wishes. My friend contacted me in the hospital after about 5 days and said that the cow was really hard to milk... that she took forever to have let down and was all over the place while trying to milk her, and kicking... I never had an issue with her, so I said I thought she should settle once she got into a new routine with her... So 3 or so weeks have passed, and I am starting to milk her again myself... The last 2 days in total I am lucky to get 4 cups!!! I called my friend, and she told me she was never able to milk her out.. she was just too difficult but because the calf was still with her she was never engorged and didn't seem uncomfortable... So she gave up milking her after a few days... She cut the grain out completely so that she wouldn't produce extra milk that the calf couldn't drink...

I am not very happy as I have this huge cow who has eaten quite a bit, and I was hoping that I would be getting a lot of milk out of her for butter, icecream and cheese... and I am getting 4 cups!!! My plan is to separate the calf at night so then I can get the most milk I can in the morning so at least I don't have to buy milk.... And then I am giving her grain now and will slowly increase it.... Is it possible to boost up her milk supply again...or is this all the milk I will get for the next 10 months? Any suggestions, advice will be welcomed !!!

kycrawler · #2 09/07/13, 08:02 PM

in my experience share milking with a calf doesn't work well . You never know how much the calf is actually getting and you dont know what the cow is making .

I would suggest seperating cow and calf for good , milk her out 2x a day and pan or bucket feed the calf and get the calf started on dry feed and wean it about 10-12 weeks old if your wanting the milk instead . i dont have a lot of experience with brown swiss but i do have jerseys and even a small first freshener old world jersey heifer on just grass will make 2.5 gallon a day we have a couple 4 year old old world jerseys that make 5-6 gallon a day on grass and a scoop of 16%feed and a scoop of soaked beet pulp without pushing them hard and these cows weigh 700ish lbs

In short i believe you have multiple issues be it a poor producer or management that just doesnt work with your cow and situation

Awnry Abe · #3 09/07/13, 09:43 PM

Any milk that you get with a calf on the side should be considered a blessing. I agree with crawler. I would either pull the calf entirely and feed it via bottle or go to a calf share where I get most of the morning milk.