farmerjan
Well-known member
Nurse cows and calves are work... especially in the beginning... Every cow is different... but it normally takes about 1-2 weeks to get a cow to fully accept a grafted on EXTRA calf. Once that is accomplished, then they can be turned out with the calves full time and you don't have to milk or can pen up the calves for 12 hours and milk the cow then not milk her again for 2 days as long as the calves are with her...
They are flexible once established, but are work to get to that place. It is like grafting a calf on a beef cow that lost one... but many cows will accept a calf after a couple days... but it becomes "their calf"... adding a second calf to a cow often is hard for her to "get it" when her own is standing right there. That is why separating the cow from the calves and then making sure they both (or how ever many you give them according to their milk production) go on the cow together so the cow accepts that there is more than one giving her "relief" from the pressure...AND... it is important that the calf gets that milk through their system so that their manure smells the same to the cow as her own calf... Watch how cows will sniff calves butts and identify their own calf that way... so this way the butt on the grafted calf smells the same as their own calf... and they say ... okay I guess this is mine, it smells right...
Some cows, like @MurraysMutts Bessie, will take anything anytime... I have had some that will mother anything you give them. I have had them where I put the cow in with the calves twice a day for 2-3 weeks and then when the calves are a little more aggressive and stronger/older, they finally learn to go on her together ... when the natural calf goes on the cow, the grafted one is smart enough to go on her at the same time... and they do fine.
But they are work... especially for the first couple weeks.
You might want to think about only having 2 as nurse cows and yes, to stagger the calves... it will keep Zeke and Miss Mattie, in milk and be about all that they need to do... having several calving at the same time is alot of work... I had 5 come fresh within a month of each other... with a total of 17 calves in the barn... but I was younger, stronger, and could shove and push calves around to go on certain cows and luckily a couple of the cows would let anything nurse them. There was one in that bunch that would not let any but the 3 I started on her, get anywhere close to her... but the others would have calves going from one to another ...
Switching out to start new calves on them and weaning their "original calves off" is a tough row for some cows, and some people... it might be too hard on Zeke to manage it... because he is going to feel sorry for the original calves and they have to be taken away so they cannnot get back to the cow... and there are cows that just won't accept switching out... and some do fine with it also. But it is a balance of getting the new ones started and gradually weaning off the bigger ones and you have to have ways to separate them and control nursing time for the new ones so they don't get too much milk in the beginning, letting the older calves "finish up" the cow and then letting the new ones have more milk and the older ones getting cut back until the new ones are getting all the milk and the older ones get weaned.
Plus, doing that, the older ones will often try to go back on the cow if they are put back together later on.... I never let the raised up "nurse" calves near any milking cows until after they have their own first calf... by then they usually quit trying to suck... but sold one that would not quit sucking her "sisters" in the group even after they all calved... I would catch her sucking another of the first calf heifers from the back when their own calf was sucking from the side... nose flap and all in the cow did not deter her... I got totally pissed off and shipped her and her calf... maybe she quit after she got somewhere that she was not in familiar territory... maybe she just got sent to slaughter... didn't care at that point. Fact is, grafted on calves, put on dairy cows, will very often become like bummer lambs and go around and suck off anything that stands for them... so there is a down side to raising calves on nurse cows...
The easiest way is to get them to accept 1 or 2 extras in the beginning... and let them raise them up until they need to be weaned and sold and the cow goes dry. That is the way I do it now because of the work. The calves grow real good, and by the time you are ready to wean them, the cow is ready for a break and it usually goes pretty well...
The amount of milk they make will be dependent on the amount of, and the quality of, the grass they are eating and usually some supplemental grain to keep them wanting to come in for milking and such.
They are flexible once established, but are work to get to that place. It is like grafting a calf on a beef cow that lost one... but many cows will accept a calf after a couple days... but it becomes "their calf"... adding a second calf to a cow often is hard for her to "get it" when her own is standing right there. That is why separating the cow from the calves and then making sure they both (or how ever many you give them according to their milk production) go on the cow together so the cow accepts that there is more than one giving her "relief" from the pressure...AND... it is important that the calf gets that milk through their system so that their manure smells the same to the cow as her own calf... Watch how cows will sniff calves butts and identify their own calf that way... so this way the butt on the grafted calf smells the same as their own calf... and they say ... okay I guess this is mine, it smells right...
Some cows, like @MurraysMutts Bessie, will take anything anytime... I have had some that will mother anything you give them. I have had them where I put the cow in with the calves twice a day for 2-3 weeks and then when the calves are a little more aggressive and stronger/older, they finally learn to go on her together ... when the natural calf goes on the cow, the grafted one is smart enough to go on her at the same time... and they do fine.
But they are work... especially for the first couple weeks.
You might want to think about only having 2 as nurse cows and yes, to stagger the calves... it will keep Zeke and Miss Mattie, in milk and be about all that they need to do... having several calving at the same time is alot of work... I had 5 come fresh within a month of each other... with a total of 17 calves in the barn... but I was younger, stronger, and could shove and push calves around to go on certain cows and luckily a couple of the cows would let anything nurse them. There was one in that bunch that would not let any but the 3 I started on her, get anywhere close to her... but the others would have calves going from one to another ...
Switching out to start new calves on them and weaning their "original calves off" is a tough row for some cows, and some people... it might be too hard on Zeke to manage it... because he is going to feel sorry for the original calves and they have to be taken away so they cannnot get back to the cow... and there are cows that just won't accept switching out... and some do fine with it also. But it is a balance of getting the new ones started and gradually weaning off the bigger ones and you have to have ways to separate them and control nursing time for the new ones so they don't get too much milk in the beginning, letting the older calves "finish up" the cow and then letting the new ones have more milk and the older ones getting cut back until the new ones are getting all the milk and the older ones get weaned.
Plus, doing that, the older ones will often try to go back on the cow if they are put back together later on.... I never let the raised up "nurse" calves near any milking cows until after they have their own first calf... by then they usually quit trying to suck... but sold one that would not quit sucking her "sisters" in the group even after they all calved... I would catch her sucking another of the first calf heifers from the back when their own calf was sucking from the side... nose flap and all in the cow did not deter her... I got totally pissed off and shipped her and her calf... maybe she quit after she got somewhere that she was not in familiar territory... maybe she just got sent to slaughter... didn't care at that point. Fact is, grafted on calves, put on dairy cows, will very often become like bummer lambs and go around and suck off anything that stands for them... so there is a down side to raising calves on nurse cows...
The easiest way is to get them to accept 1 or 2 extras in the beginning... and let them raise them up until they need to be weaned and sold and the cow goes dry. That is the way I do it now because of the work. The calves grow real good, and by the time you are ready to wean them, the cow is ready for a break and it usually goes pretty well...
The amount of milk they make will be dependent on the amount of, and the quality of, the grass they are eating and usually some supplemental grain to keep them wanting to come in for milking and such.
