Ideas on Increasing Milk Production

Bubba1358 · #1 03/17/14, 03:53 PM

I've got a Jersey cow on her first calf. Had the calf in October. We brought them home about a month ago. He is now completely weaned. I'm hand-milking her 3x a day and pulling out maybe a half gallon per milking, often less. I'm milking til she's dry. This is up from what i was getting before weaning, when it was about 2/3 a gallon off one-a-day. We took a trip for several days and left the two penned together before weaning. This was two weekends ago, and he's been totally weaned for about 5 days.

I really want to get her production UP. Due some carefully considered personal choices involving family health issues, we are not feeding grain. She is currently eating free choice hay and minerals, although the hay isn't all that great. She's also staked out during the day to get what grass and clover is emerging this time of year.

So, WITHOUT feeding grain, and knowing I already milk at sun up, noon, and sundown, what else can I do to get her to produce more?

She never has that "big udder full of milk" look. How do I get her filled up?

Thanks,

G. Seddon · #2 03/17/14, 04:33 PM

Low quality hay, minerals, and a bit of emerging green grass may not be enough. Raising a calf really can take a toll on a cow. If she were mine, I'd supplement with some grain, building up the quantity slowly. Maybe some dairy cow people will contribute their thoughts here?

**gone-a-milkin** · #3 03/17/14, 04:42 PM

Bubba, what is your reasoning for not feeding grain?
Is it GMO or gluten, or something else?

In my experience cows need calories to make milk.
Could you use alfalfa pellets or oats or barley maybe?

haypoint · #4 03/17/14, 05:18 PM

A cow's milk production tends to go down as the time passes. The way to get a cow to stop producing milk is to stop milking.
Sounds to me that all she was required to produce from October to February was enough to feed a small calf. Then you were able to bring her production up from marginal to meager. Then you didn't milk her at all for two or three days ( six to nine milkings) and now she's about to dry up on you? Sounds about right.
In truth, if you want to milk three times a day, it should be at 8 hour intervals, not at 5 hour, 7 hour and 12 hour. (7am, noon and 7pm)
It takes a lot of energy to make milk. That is why even when cows fed lots of high quality alfalfa hay, chopped corn silage and ground corn still look like skin and bones at the end of a 305 day lactation.
And you want to feed minimal maintenance hay to a lactating cow? From what you are feeding and what you are getting, I'd guess she is losing weight.

Is she rebred, yet?

Jersey/guernsey · #5 03/17/14, 09:36 PM

For a heifer, without grain and that far into her lactation she's not milking bad. I never expect much from a first calf heifer. Often they are still growing, and making milk is HARD work. Our Jerseys don't really hit their stride till they are four or five.

If you want to skip grain you NEED very good hay (lots of it). I have experimented with no grain and didn't like the results. Some of the cows did okay without some just couldn't milk and keep up weight on hay alone.

haypoint · #6 03/18/14, 07:35 AM

Way back in 1976, there was an April ice storm. Electricity was out in most places for a week. My neighbor was milking 100 cows. Without electricity they did what they could. Feeding was disrupted because they fed silage and the Harvestor silos feed out from the bottom. They hand milked what they could. Within 24 hours they had a huge 100K generator powered by a big tractor PTO. That got everything back to normal. But every cow's milk production dropped and did not fully recover for the rest of their lactation. Great attention to proper nutrition and limited deviation to milking times is crucial.
Oats aren't GMO and quality hay sells at many livestock auctions.

Bubba1358 · #7 03/18/14, 08:53 AM

OK, thanks all. The reasons for not feeding grain are many, but the dominant one is my wife's hyper-sensitivity to gluten and grains in general. I've been feeding her some higher quality hay as well. And, grass is starting to pop out around here, too. Her condition is about what it was when we brought her home, so she simply dropped production when we went away. The calf was still nursing through that, although not very much. I don't know if she's bred back yet. If so, it's only been about 4-6 weeks.

haypoint · #8 03/18/14, 09:15 AM

Corn and oats are gluten free. Just because a cow eats something is no assurance that it will be expressed in the milk. But I'm sure there are other reasons as well. Early spring grass doesn't have much nutrients.

Calfkeeper · #9 03/18/14, 02:52 PM

Do some research on grass-fed dairying. To get high milk production she's got to get really high nutrient hay, oats, corn...etc. Good luck.

Bubba1358 · #10 03/18/14, 03:40 PM

Thanks, all. I'm not looking for a cow in the 5-6 gallon range. I guess I should have said this. I'm just trying to get from less than 1.5 gallons a day up to around 2.5 to 3.

I've fed some oats I keep for chicken feed, and i noticed it all passed through pretty much undigested. How is she pulling nutrition from it when the grain just comes out the other end looking the same? That kind of makes me fail to see the point of feeding grain.

myheaven · #11 03/18/14, 03:52 PM

The oats need to be rolled or ground. I use my lawn leaf hipper/shredder to chop up mine. You can add shredded beet pulp soaked in warm water. My girl loves it. I'm very sensitive to soy. My dd is allergic. We can't use it as we will react. That means not having it in feed. To bump protine we use distillers grains.
There are many feeds you can mix up.

mrs whodunit · #12 03/18/14, 05:41 PM

Can you feed alfalfa? It can up production.

The cow I cow sit is just feed alfalfa.... no grains. She is milked once a day, the calf is locked up at night, the cow milked the next morning and the calf has her all day long.

sammyd · #13 03/19/14, 02:53 AM

Your cow is halfway through her production cycle and she hasn't and isn't being fed for production You aren't going to see much of a rise no matter what you do this lactation. If the pasture comes on good let her hit thatand you may see a slight increase.
You can devise a grain ration that will be gluten free corn oats and soybeans are gluten free. Most feed mills can mix custom feeds and will work with you to figure out what will fit your circumstances.

idigbeets · #14 03/19/14, 07:21 AM

High quality hay and free choice minerals... that's about it.

How do you know your hay is high quality, sometimes look aint all that. If it wasn't tested when cut, you just do not know. ADF, NDF, protein, and % DM are all important. The RFV isn't much of an indicator as it is calculated on the NDF anyhow.

Bubba1358 · #15 03/19/14, 08:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by idigbeets

High quality hay and free choice minerals... that's about it.

How do you know your hay is high quality, sometimes look aint all that. If it wasn't tested when cut, you just do not know. ADF, NDF, protein, and % DM are all important. The RFV isn't much of an indicator as it is calculated on the NDF anyhow.

I'm feeding two hay sources, both local mixed grass. One (which I'm nearly out of) is bright green, and smells like summer. The other, larger supply is pale brown and smells stale. I'm giving her both, but neither has been tested. She's also out on pasture, eating what's popping up already.

Thanks everyone. Suppose I should just get used to this level for the remainder of the lactation.

sammyd · #16 03/19/14, 01:39 PM

Quote:

Early spring grass doesn't have much nutrients.

Our bulk tank sure rose in the spring when we opened up the pastures and got the girls out of the overwintering lot.

BlackWillowFarm · #17 03/19/14, 04:30 PM

Fresh grass will help. Until then all the alfalfa hay she wants will help increase her production.

haypoint · #18 03/19/14, 06:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sammyd

Our bulk tank sure rose in the spring when we opened up the pastures and got the girls out of the overwintering lot.

Key word "Early". While my pastures are under a lot of snow now, I doubt north central Indiana or Illinois had enough grass last week to justify pasture. I could be wrong. Often people rush their livestock to the first blades of grass of spring and the pastures struggle to recover.

myheaven · #19 03/19/14, 07:09 PM

Hayledge, or silage is also another great option.

Bubba1358 · #20 04/04/14, 10:36 AM

Just wanted to update this. I started feeding a very small amount of grain as a milking time treat (maybe a pound and a half a day total), and while she was still eating almost all hay, there was practically no improvement. She may have even declined slightly. Last week, the grass really started to grow in earnest, and within that time span, I went from 3/4 a gallon a day to practically 2 gallons a day. It's amazing how much of a difference the fresh growing grass makes. I appreciate all of the advice, and will be remembering this for next winter. Thanks again.