Recent content by nitai

Well, this morning things really are looking up! We milked 19 cups and the gal is improving in demeanor with each milking. So that is encouraging. Honestly, we did not do any of those checks that you mentioned. While we have had a number of cows, all but one of them were bought from reputable...

he was feeding quite a bit of an 11% mix. We have a 16% organic feed, but have been mixing it with a larger amount of 10% sweet feed to get her to eat. We feed her what we can while milking, but she gets a little frustrated because she does not have much slack, but so far we can't give it to...

Thanks for the further tips! Right now she is enclosed and only two of us are dealing with her. Things are progressing. We finally saw her lay down today. Where she is only has 2 small windows, so tomorrow we will pick up some lumber to bar the doors so we can open the big bay doors and let in...

For the milking we did not have a head catch or stall, so she was freaking out every few minutes at first, but not even from the milking. It is funny because our other cow is a bit of a kicker, and has to be tied for every milking. This cow, after a solid 60 hours of freak-out, did not even...

Hahaha! So right you are. So at 7:30 we brought in our other cow to milk. 6 of us had drawn out a gameplan (literally) and were hiding in different spots ready to corner the new cow when she followed our other cow into the stanchion. Not even close. She was not coming anywhere near it. After...

Aint that the truth! Thank you!

Thank you! These last two replies are quite helpful. She has access to feed and water in one spot (the area we want her to get comfortable with) and hopefully all will go alright in the AM. We can throw together a closed in space tomorrow if we have to.

We didnt get to see a milking due to the distance. He roped her and she is halter-broken and she loaded much easier than a lot of cows I have had. He did happen to call while I was out trying to get her in the field and we talked for a minute. He didn't have much advice because she was used to...

Sorry I should have included more details. We did fix the gate she slipped out of. We also brought in the other cow and tried to bait her. We also took the other cow away entirely as it seemed maybe she was intimidating the new lady. No luck on any account. These are not our first cows, but...

Not sure if this is the ideal section to post, my apologies if somewhere else would have been better. So yesterday we picked up what seems to be a great cow (giving 5+ gallons on first lactation) in Alabama and brought her back to NC. At the previous owners farm I took the time to rub her...

Thanks Alison, I do know about CaCl but actually completely forgot about it since I have never used store-bought milk and in the past my milk never needed it. I still have some in the fridge. Will have to see if it expires and consider using it. On the up side, even with the more acidic milk I...

Thanks Jaimie. I have 50# of sodium bicarb on the way to my ranch today. I am assuming it is just going to be like regular baking soda (very fine and powdery). Do you just put it out in that form and let them have at it as they desire?

I weighed the grain and we feed each cow 10.5 lbs per day. It is a dairy mix and it does have sodium bicarbonate. But I should still get some and add more, right?

Hmm, I see. We do feed a dairy grain so I will check if it has the sodium bicarbonate, but perhaps she needs an additional boost, regardless?

Hi all. I asked this on another thread I had started but wanted to make sure it would be seen. It seems like one of my milkers may have acidosis so I am wanting to give her sodium bicarbonate. I have a fair bit on hand in the kitchen and can get more tomorrow, but I am wondering how to determine...