Lots of dairy cow questions *Update*

[Cowgirl71]

I agree, bag size is not always an indicator. Maybe she's thoroughly milked out by the calves in the pics. But still, her bag's small because she's young. Judging by her bag, I would guess she produces about two, maybe three gallons a day. A calf needs a minimum of one gallon a day to do well, or supplemented with grain and/or hay.

Our milk cows have large bags. Jenny, our highest producer, is a six year old Jersey. She gives 6-8 gallons a day. Her udder at milking time is about 18 inches wide, 24 inches long, and 18 inches deep (I feel so weird describing her... um... dimensions, LOL). Her teats do not drag in the mud at all, in fact far from it, and she gets along just fine. Dairy cows are bred to have well shaped udders that can handle the large size. Unlike beef cows, who usually get long and floppy, and not very well contained or connected...

 

[Katy]

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I'm not going to turn Hound's thread into a debate about cows' udders and whether beef or dairy cows have the better shaped udders. I will say that I've seen more dairy cows with huge misshapened bags than I have beef cows by far. If you want to continue the conversation I'd be glad to by pm.

 

[herfrds]

She is sure pretty.

Don't worry too much about trying to put weight on her while she is milking it is all going into the milk.
Once she is dry she will put on weight.

The teats look to have a nice length on them for hand milking.

I would milk Chocolate once a day. I would pull the calf off at around 6pm and milk her at 7am.
I would get a gallon and a half from her. She was less then 2 years old and had been prematurely bred.

Here is a picture of Honey Girl my new Jersey. She is due to calve the end of Febuary.
Hopefully this helps you out. This will be her first calf.

 

[Hound]

Her name is Bluebell, the calves don't have names yet.

I don't know how much she gives, I couldn't even give you a ball park figure. I was concerned because she always looks empty, but the calves don't seem to be hungry and haven't bawled at all. Last week when I looked at her she'd been away from her calves for a few hours and her udder was 30-50% bigger. I figured especially with our brush and cacti that small and high was better than low and saggy!

Bringing them in tonight was a pain in the butt. Bluebell isn't exactly 'halter broke'. She will lead if you pull hard enough. The calves wouldn't follow, so I brought her in to the barn and then went to get the calves. The calves don't follow each other either, so I had to make two more trips. They don't lead and they don't follow, and they don't drive either. So there was a combination of carrying, pushing, and at one point walking backwards holding his front feet like I was dancing with him. I'm glad I started bringing them in early.

Tomorrow I think Bluebell can go out to pasture during the day and they can stay in the barn, then i'll milk her after lunch. They wander a little way at a time but they're not strong enough to walk all the way back LOL

Don't worry I am not turning her loose haltered. That would be a death sentence out here, and it's a real pet peeve of mine. Thankfully she bellows when she sees me and comes to me. Haltering is a little tricky but not terrible, and she has only been out of the dairy for a week.

She did come from the sale, but I bought her from someone who bought her at the sale. She basically buys them cheap and sells them a little higher. I'd rather she took the risk than I did! We'd have to drive 3 or 4 hours each way to a sale where there might be dairy cows, and if we ended up with a useless cow we'd still have to haul her all the way home then figure out what to do with her. This way I could give her a good look over and see what her temperament was like before buying. She's a real sweetie and just stood for us to give her a shot this morning.

Neither of the calves are hers, I don't know when she freshened. We'll get her AI'd probably sometime in January so that she can calve while it's still warm here.

 

[Hound]

Herfrds your girl looks like a more well-cushioned version of mine! I'm just not used to seeing the bones on anything, our beef heifers are literally round.

Bluebell is eating well, she has grass/alfalfa hay in her barn to last overnight until she goes out to pasture and then grazes all day. She loves the wild sunflower heads. She had breakfast, lunch and dinner today; a coffee can of sweet feed for breakfast, one for lunch, and one with half a can of alfalfa pellets and half a can of cake fines for dinner.

 

[Cowgirl71]

I bet she enjoyed her tasty meals!

Bluebell's a real good name for her.

I can sympathize with you about your... ummm... enjoyable time bringing in the calves, LOL. I've been there a few times myself...

When Jerseys are third stage pregnant and not lactating they can actually put on quite a bit of weight...

 

[herfrds]

Bluebell I like that name.

My mom tried to tell me to call Honey Girl; Bossie instead. Nnooo.

It does take some getting used to. You just have to remind yourself that she is not a beef cow.
Drove me nuts with Chocolate for quite awhile til I finally got used to it. I have a picture of Chocolate somewhere, she had been dry and was out on grass. She makes both of ours look thin in that picture.

Sounds like Bluebell has fallen into some tall grass with you.
Try taking a can of feed out with you when you go to get her, bet she will lead much easier.

 

[andbab]

With the calves try putting the rope around their bottoms and back through the halter. It works as both push and pull then. Good luck.

 

[hcammack]

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Action is an awesome typey bull! You should get some good stuff from him.

 

[hcammack]

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What do you mean "too low"? Udder was too low to the ground?

We had a couple Holsteins and their milk was bland. The Jersey's milk tastes so rich and yummy! We figure that our two heifers are bound to make good milk cows or good momma cows. Lizzy's such a sweetie I'm hoping she'll make a good milker!

I really don't like the Hostien Milk anymore and I love the Jersey type and temperament.