all4ahorse
Member
I have a beef cow who calved for the 1st time 2 weeks ago. She does not have a very large udder and I am concerned that her milk production is low because the calf doesn't seem to be gaining the weight/growing at the rate previous calves have. This time of year in our area (Pacific Northwest, Oregon) our pastures are dry but there is plenty to graze on, we are also providing grass hay twice a day to her and some grain. Is there anything else can we do to boost her milk production? We do provide alfalfa a few times a week. Also, the teats are getting raw (scabbing up) due to the calf's constant sucking and I was hoping someone could give me advice on what to put on them to ease her discomfort but not cause the calf to not want to suck. Is it advisable to try & feed the calf a few times a day with milk replacer, if we can get her to take a bottle?
We are new to raising beef, learning alot by reading, asking our vet and talking to old-time farmers around the area but "little" things like this are hard to get advice on sometimes! We don't know if 1st time calvers tend to have small udders and then gradually get better with each calf or is this the way she is going to be for every one. Not sure if we should breed her back this Fall or send her to auction??? She is a cow that we shouldn't have bought last year but needed some cows on the pastures when we bought our 20 acre farm. She is a Simmental x Hereford, calf is out of a very nice Hereford bull. Any suggestions/advice would be greatly appreciated. I don't quite know how to post images here so the links to the photos are below.
Thank you,
Connie
http://www.allforahorse.com/teats9-6-08.jpg
http://www.allforahorse.com/daisy&mom9-6-08.jpg
We are new to raising beef, learning alot by reading, asking our vet and talking to old-time farmers around the area but "little" things like this are hard to get advice on sometimes! We don't know if 1st time calvers tend to have small udders and then gradually get better with each calf or is this the way she is going to be for every one. Not sure if we should breed her back this Fall or send her to auction??? She is a cow that we shouldn't have bought last year but needed some cows on the pastures when we bought our 20 acre farm. She is a Simmental x Hereford, calf is out of a very nice Hereford bull. Any suggestions/advice would be greatly appreciated. I don't quite know how to post images here so the links to the photos are below.
Thank you,
Connie
http://www.allforahorse.com/teats9-6-08.jpg
http://www.allforahorse.com/daisy&mom9-6-08.jpg