i am pretty certain that butter bucket is now in labor. she is moving very slow, not eating much (only her grain) staying inside the shed etc. my question is this. which is the better way to proceed after it born (1) let the calf suck her for a day or two or (2) take it away right away and use milker on cow to get the colostrum? neither the cow nor myself have ever used a milker so its new to both of us. what i am thinking is that it will be easier on both cow and calf to seperate right away. any thoughts on this would be appreciated! this is her second calf and our first. she totally raised the previous calf on her own as she was just making babies for meat. they didnt wan tthe milk. this is good timing since milk prices just jumped 50 cents per callon to $3.49! that is store brand! thanks in advance! peace connie
I know most people suggest taking the calf away right away. I do it like this: I keep the calf with Mona for a couple weeks. 8 hours after she calves I milk her out and then ever 12 hours after that. She still gives 6 or so gallons a day at first...even with what the calf drinks those first couple weeks. The first week I feed the colostrum to my chickens> and always wish I had pigs..who would REALLY love it. I always freeze a couple gallons to have on hand if needed by me or a friend with a baby animal who didn't get any. Then I have sort of set the routine for milking. I use a surge milker now and Mona got used to it very quickly. Wow your milk there is alot more than here. I pay about $2.50 per gallon (whole milk) here. My problem is that with 4 teenagers in the house we go through about 2 gallons a day right now...that gets pretty pricey right there!! Good luck with the calving..be sure to give her a couple buckets of warm mollasses water after she calves..she will love you for that!!
calving answers needed asap!
Posted - Jun 10 2010 : 12:40:01 PM
