Brandy

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faster horses said:
Looks like you hit the jackpot, so did the calves and so did she.
I love what Peace said, "almost all of them are kept in sheds and fed whatever they want whenever they want it". So glad she has a good home and lots of feed!!! That will make
her last longer for you!! Here's a hint: remember to give her loose mineral. 😊
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Very good! Thanks!
The calves definitely hit it big! And mama acts like she was so born to do this. She loves these lil things that nurse on her!!!
I plan on turning her loose with the calves in about 2 weeks. I have loose mineral available in pasture. Perhaps I'll pick up a block to keep in the pen for these occassions.
I need a use for the block holders I have anyway!
 
Is Brandy the one we were talking about the other day? That I wasn't sure would even know what a baby was, much less take several? If so, I'm so happy to have been wrong about her! What a nice cow she is!

I love seeing your girls with all their babies! It's so sweet! :)
 
Glad you got another good nurse cows. I have to ask why they sold a 5 year old sound Jersey milking 200lb. At current prices she would have been paying them $30 a day,
$900 a month.
 
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Lannie said:
Is Brandy the one we were talking about the other day? That I wasn't sure would even know what a baby was, much less take several? If so, I'm so happy to have been wrong about her! What a nice cow she is!

I love seeing your girls with all their babies! It's so sweet! :)
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Yep. This is her!


kenny thomas said:
Glad you got another good nurse cows. I have to ask why they sold a 5 year old sound Jersey milking 200lb. At current prices she would have been paying them $30 a day,
$900 a month.
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This cows production was down. And for whatever reason she's gotten a bit thin even tho she's on the same feedstuffs. After doing some research, I think someone may have exaggerated just a tiny bit on production numbers or I understood wrong!
😆 perhaps 200lbs at peak? Idk

Also from what I understand, dairy folks can't use some of the wormers and meds that cow/calf folks can.
This one will get a good dose of wormer and watched for a couple weeks for sure. She seems perfectly healthy. Just thin. Especially compared to the other cows I saw in the milking herd.
 
I agree with that.
A heavy production Jersey will not usually hold condition or gain weight.
Years ago we bought jersey cows to use for nurse cows. Normally one they would cull would have 3 tits or would have dropped in milk production. Most of them would still raise 3 calves.
Don't lower her feed too fast and as said keep a good high calcium loose mineral out. High productivity takes a lot of mineral out of the system.
 
kenny thomas said:
I agree with that.
A heavy production Jersey will not usually hold condition or gain weight.
Years ago we bought jersey cows to use for nurse cows. Normally one they would cull would have 3 tits or would have dropped in milk production. Most of them would still raise 3 calves.
Don't lower her feed too fast and as said keep a good high calcium loose mineral out. High productivity takes a lot of mineral out of the system.
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They have a heifer about to calve that they think is only gonna have 3 spigots.
I may be interested in her especially if she has a heifer and they are willing to sell the pair!

I'm gonna get right on top of that mineral. I don't normally keep mineral in the pen but it seems like a good idea!
 
MurraysMutts said:
Very good! Thanks!
The calves definitely hit it big! And mama acts like she was so born to do this. She loves these lil things that nurse on her!!!
I plan on turning her loose with the calves in about 2 weeks. I have loose mineral available in pasture. Perhaps I'll pick up a block to keep in the pen for these occassions.
I need a use for the block holders I have anyway!
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Just don't depend on the blocks. They never lick on blocks enough to get their daily requirement. They get tired of licking and walk away. She will need the calcium she can get from loose mineral, plus the other ingredients to keep her system balanced and so she will breed back as you want.

Anyway, I'm glad she is in good hands!
 
MurraysMutts said:
I'm gonna get right on top of that mineral. I don't normally keep mineral in the pen but it seems like a good idea!
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Good advice from Kenny. Milk fever is the term for the condition. With dairy cattle calving and with some of them maybe a little thin and stressed when you get them, you might read up on milk fever symptoms. Lots of calcium going into the colostrum production will decrease the calcium in the bloodstream of the cow. Ends up sometimes with the cow going down and not able to get up. A bottle of calcium given IV will usually solve the problem. The sooner the better if the cow is down. The condition presents itself similar to grass tentany in that the cow goes down. But the issue is calcium as opposed to magnesium in the case of tetany. Dairy cattle produce more milk, so more calcium needed for the milk. But also happens in beef cows sometimes. Seems to happen more in older beef cows. Advisable at calving time to have a bottle of calcium gluconate and an IV set handy or a vet close by. And magnesium/calcium solution when grass goes green in the spring for tetany treatment.
 
MurraysMutts said:
They have a heifer about to calve that they think is only gonna have 3 spigots.
I may be interested in her especially if she has a heifer and they are willing to sell the pair!

I'm gonna get right on top of that mineral. I don't normally keep mineral in the pen but it seems like a good idea!
Click to expand...

Unless things have changed, those heifer calves are gold to dairys. They don't usually leave the calf on the cow, in most of the bigger dairys they take the calf from the cow before the calf ever nurses and feed them colostrum they've saved from other cows. They then teach the calf to drink from a pail and feed those calves "junk" milk, that's milk they can't sell because they've medicated the cow or day 2 and 3 after calving.

To me, you've struck a gold mine if you can get a cow to raise 3 calves, actually, if you can discipline yourself, you could get them to raise 5 or 6 a year for you. Put a plan in place to take advantage of the 305 day cycle, she calves, you add 2 to her while she is fresh. Take away those 3 after 5 months, give her 3 new ones for 5 months then dry her off and and repeat....that's 6 a year in my book. There is a youtube channel, farm and hammer, that did a video within the last month basically stating it's his most profitable beef venture. He's using angus holstein cross and and a holstein to pull it off...your results and ideas may vary...but it might be a real money maker for you.
 
Peace said:
Unless things have changed, those heifer calves are gold to dairys. They don't usually leave the calf on the cow, in most of the bigger dairys they take the calf from the cow before the calf ever nurses and feed them colostrum they've saved from other cows. They then teach the calf to drink from a pail and feed those calves "junk" milk, that's milk they can't sell because they've medicated the cow or day 2 and 3 after calving.

To me, you've struck a gold mine if you can get a cow to raise 3 calves, actually, if you can discipline yourself, you could get them to raise 5 or 6 a year for you. Put a plan in place to take advantage of the 305 day cycle, she calves, you add 2 to her while she is fresh. Take away those 3 after 5 months, give her 3 new ones for 5 months then dry her off and and repeat....that's 6 a year in my book. There is a youtube channel, farm and hammer, that did a video within the last month basically stating it's his most profitable beef venture. He's using angus holstein cross and and a holstein to pull it off...your results and ideas may vary...but it might be a real money maker for you.
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I totally agree. When my wife was in her 20's she had 5 Jerseys. Turned them in and out to the calves and raised 6 a year on them. But we could get baby calves easy back then. All the dairies are closed here now so a baby calf is rare.
 
Buck Randall said:
A cow that gives 200 lbs. is rare - there probably aren't any in Oklahoma. They sure as heck wouldn't be a Jersey or a grazer.
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World record milk production for a crossbred cow in 24 hours is 167.55 lbs
A Wisconsin holstein holds the world record of 78,170 lbs in 365 days = 214 lbs day
To say 200 lbs per day is rare is an understatement!
 
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MurraysMutts said:
Yeah I've been looking around a bit. Apparently that's a LOT LOT LOT of milk.
10 gallon per milking, twice a day is still less than 200lbs.
Gawd, can u imagine hand milking 10 gallons twice a day??? And then again on 20 or 30 more cows?!? That's why they have machines I reckon.
No thanks!

O! And idk if she's putting out 5 gallon once or twice a day. I'll let the calves handle that math for me for now!

Learning experience for me guys. Appreciate ya'll!

And where my friend @farmerjan
I bet she's been busy as heck now that them knees are fixed!
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Maybe the 200 lbs. represents butterfat produced during one milking season
 
One of the dairies I test for is AVERAGING 96 lbs per cow per day. Many are in the 125 lb range. This is an average over 500 cows.. so you have some just fresh, some in full production and some getting ready to go dry.
Have seen just a couple making 200 lbs a day on test day over the years but that is exceptional.
The average butterfat -per year- for high producing cows is 6-900 lbs fat. Depends on the percent fat....right now many dairies are shipping 4% butterfat which is VERY GOOD. And most of my herds are all holstein or 90% holstein.
 
Lannie said:
What's her name?
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I think I'll name her 182... lol.
I've no plan on keeping her. Hopefully she's just a bill payer... 😆
farmerjan said:
One of the dairies I test for is AVERAGING 96 lbs per cow per day. Many are in the 125 lb range. This is an average over 500 cows.. so you have some just fresh, some in full production and some getting ready to go dry.
Have seen just a couple making 200 lbs a day on test day over the years but that is exceptional.
The average butterfat -per year- for high producing cows is 6-900 lbs fat. Depends on the percent fat....right now many dairies are shipping 4% butterfat which is VERY GOOD. And most of my herds are all holstein or 90% holstein.
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Hey gal! Good to hear from ya!
Hope all is well!

Thanks for the info. I'm pretty sure I'm not remembering correctly about that whole 200lbs a day thing!! 🙃
It happens...

I'm looking for another one still! Bottle calf market is flooded and there is some VERY cheap black calves around lately. The new one is one of those. She's nursing well. And this morning has lots more energy!
 

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