I am so Happy! She had a lovely little heifer around 6:00pm last night. She is so dainty and petite but a real spitfire! I've never seen a calf get up that fast after birth, literally only 2-3 minutes. I went down as soon as it was light enough this morning, and she was actually GRAZING with Mom. So far no sign of milk fever. If Happy gets past the danger period with no milk fever, I'm gonna post about my new milk fever prevention protocol. This is the 3rd cow I've tried it on since May, and so far so good. I'll post a pic when I go to get them for milking.
This also means I will have quite a bit more milk available in a couple days.
Just happened upon your blog - very nice.
ReplyDeleteWe have a 2yr. old Jersey cross heifer about to calve any day (hour?). In the past (20 some years ago) I always took the calf away and fed it a bottle. I really would like to leave this calf with mom all or some of the time and just milk once a day or so. What is your method? Thanks! Marcia in Wyoming
wow- how come baby cows are so cute and ours look like worms when born? anyhow, congratulations! she's beautiful.
ReplyDeleteMarcia,
ReplyDeleteFor the first 2-4 weeks you can just let them run together, assuming your fence is calf tight. But you will still need to milk twice a day at least in the beginning, she will make too much milk for the calf to take care of for you. Once the calf is older and taking more milk, ( it doesn't take the little pigs long to start scarfing it ALL! )At about 4 weeks or so, just put the calf in a stall with hay and water, and keep them seperate overnight. Milk your cow and then turn the calf back out and cow and calf can spend all day together. You'll have a healthy calf, and much less risk of mastitis with sharemilking. Beware though, she'll probably hold back a fair amount of cream until you wean the calf. Good luck!
It's Not You, It's Brie,
I don't know, they are adorable though aren't they? Thanks!
what a beautiful baby!!!!!!
ReplyDelete