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CloversMum
3486 Posts
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 Posted - Oct 16 2015 : 7:58:25 PM
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Today was an off day for our milk supply via Clover ... we think Humble is nursing through the fence as they are separated during the night. But this morning we milked just over one quart, so Ethan milked again tonight and ... got just the same.
Any suggestions? We are going through the milk and would definitely like more than a quart at a time. No mastitis ... we've tested.
This whole week, Clover has given us less than a gallon each time, once a day milking (today has been the only day we milked twice for several weeks).
Is Humble really drinking that much milk from her? Does he need to? He looks very healthy ... and growing like a weed! Yikes! We need some of her milk, too!
I am beginning to see the need for more than one milk cow! |
Loving life and family on our Idaho farm, Meadowlark Heritage Farm; A few Jersey cows; a few alpacas; a few more goats, and even more ducks and chickens |
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maryjane
7074 Posts
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Posted - Oct 17 2015 : 09:11:21 AM
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They really do guzzle gallons (plural) of milk and they nurse through fences and gates quite handily. When was he born? First part of Sept. right? And does he have access when separated from Clover to his own fresh water and hay and grain pellets free-choice?
Also, make sure Clover is never without fresh, clean water. Cows will avoid stagnant yucky water until they absolutely must drink to stay alive as opposed to wanting to drink it because it tastes good to them. |
MaryJane Butters, author of Milk Cow Kitchen ~ striving for the stoicism of a cow standing in the rain ~ |
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CloversMum
3486 Posts
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Posted - Oct 18 2015 : 7:18:27 PM
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Humble is separated from Clover at night with everything you mentioned, MaryJane, fresh water, hay, and pellets.
Ethan cleaned out the water trough yesterday very thoroughly. It makes the barbarA waterer move up on our list of wants/needs!
We are also going to try something new, per MaryJane's advice today. After we milk Clover at 5:30 am in the morning, we are going to keep Humble still separated for a few more hours. This way Clover will have more milk for him as soon as he gets out and hopefully won't keep from letting down for us. We don't want Humble nursing an empty udder and injuring Clover's teats.The experiment will begin tomorrow morning and we'll see how it goes. Today Clover gave us a bit more, 1 1/2 gallons this morning. Enough to make some yogurt! Yum. |
Loving life and family on our Idaho farm, Meadowlark Heritage Farm; A few Jersey cows; a few alpacas; a few more goats, and even more ducks and chickens |
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CloversMum
3486 Posts
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Posted - Oct 19 2015 : 11:21:19 AM
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This morning went excellently. Clover gave us a full two gallons of milk, I let Humble out three hours after Ethan milked Clover and all seemed good.
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Loving life and family on our Idaho farm, Meadowlark Heritage Farm; A few Jersey cows; a few alpacas; a few more goats, and even more ducks and chickens |
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CloversMum
3486 Posts
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Posted - Nov 02 2015 : 12:48:49 PM
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We now have it on record that our little Humble is not so little and is a bit of a piggy! We took him over to WSU vet hospital this morning. He weighs 189 lbs at 2 months!
Poor little guy had a lot happen to him! He was castrated, and Dr. Parrish said that Humble even had fatty tissue in his scrotum .... obviously, Humble is eating well! The vets had to remove just a bit of the fatty tissue to be sure the wound from the castration would heal up quickly and completely. I got to watch the whole process ... again, so impressed with the veterinarians there and the care given to each animal.
Humble was also dehorned. It was fairly easy since his horn buds were still small and I so appreciate that the vets gave him a local block so there was less discomfort. Humble, however, did not like the squeeze shoot. He went down on his knees and would not get back up. Dr. Parrish is so good ... he was right on it, explaining that a cow can choke to death if left like that as Humble's neck was down in the V of the shoot. If you tickle a cow's nose or even stick your finger up his nose, he quickly gets up! Poor little guy ... he likes to act tough but he's really still such a sweet little baby!
He also got his vaccines. I will give him his boosters in 3-6 weeks so Humble doesn't have to have the stress of traveling back to the clinic. The vaccines he got were: Vision 8 and Elite 9.
I also asked that a fecal sample be taken for a parasite check. We have not had any problems, but I thought that since we were already there, let's go ahead and check. I'll get the results back from that in a day or two.
Overall, they gave Humble a clean bill of health and said he looked great! Which I knew but it always great to hear it from someone else ...
Now, we are hoping that Clover does not lick him and Humble can stay out with her to comfort nurse if need be or wanted. So far, so good. |
Loving life and family on our Idaho farm, Meadowlark Heritage Farm; A few Jersey cows; a few alpacas; a few more goats, and even more ducks and chickens |
Edited by - CloversMum on Nov 02 2015 12:53:01 PM |
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CloversMum
3486 Posts
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Posted - Nov 02 2015 : 12:55:45 PM
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Loving life and family on our Idaho farm, Meadowlark Heritage Farm; A few Jersey cows; a few alpacas; a few more goats, and even more ducks and chickens |
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txbikergirl
3197 Posts
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Posted - Nov 02 2015 : 4:10:38 PM
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| thanks for the info charlene, gives me an idea of what i need to do when miss sally o'mally has her calf next may. and humble is just adorable! |
_(199x300)_(66x100).jpg?v 93697001) Firefly Hollow Farm , our little farmstead. Farmgirl living in the green piney woods of East Texas on 23 acres with a few jerseys, too many chickens, a pair of pugs and my Texan hubby (aka "lover boy") |
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![[flourish]](/images/flourish-txt_mobius.png)
Humble is a pig, not a calf!
![Heritage Jersey Organization [logo]](/images/HJO-logo.png){kind=logo}
