Butter Fat and No Cycling Questions

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Put a stick or something in the tank to check the level of nitrogen in the tank. You can't glance in and see liquid and forget about it.
 
Butter fat is now increasing.

Crazy cow. She will withhold some of her milk during milking so I do a couple different tricks.
I wash her bag with warm water and dry it before attaching the milking bucket and then I will wash her bag again with a clean rag and warm water. A few times that doesn't work so I stand there and slap the quarters she is not letting down. Just seems to be the front 2 quarters.
Increased the speed of the milker and that has also helped.
No sign of mastitsis.
 
She's a slow milker in the front quarters or she has high residual milk?
I don't think it's hormonally possible for a cow to let some of her milk down normally and hold on to the rest.

I did have a cow that I presumed had high residual milk - she never looked milked out when the cups came off. I did milk her right out a couple of times by giving her oxytocin, but the cow's gone now and I never kept any calves from her. That's why she left. Her production was below average.
 
I cut the calves off at night and then milk her in the morning. when I'm done I turn the calves back on her and she lets down just fine. Should see the milk slobber flying. After they are done she looks milked out even more.
The front quarters are what the calves hit first.

Ok question. What is high residual milk?
How can you tell a cow has that?

She is putting out 3 gallons a day on once a day milkings.
 
Well, 'high residual milk' is a term I made up to fit that particular cow.

When a cow is done milking, there's always some milk left in the udder. And it varies from individual to individual - usually I think it's about 1/2 pint per quarter, and that's called the residual milk. We say a cow *should* look floppy like a wet rag when she's milked but some don't, and this cow never looked more than half-milked.
Maybe it looks like when a cow first calves and there's a lot of swelling in the udder, but after about a week or so she starts milking out fully and the swelling's gone. If there's a lot of residual milk, she'll just keep looking like that, like she's not properly milked.

It does sound like your cow is holding her milk for the calves. Just doesn't quite make sense with the way I understand the let-down process to work.
 
That is why I take a full calf bottle of warm water with me. Also got some inflator plugs and i will stick those on the back teat inflators and put the front ones on first and let the milker work on them for several minutes before I put the back ones on.

Yes she gets very floppy in the rear after I milk her. Slapping the front quarters works too to be the milk out. Just annoying when she is whacking me back with her tail.
 
Try massaging the udder instead of slapping it. Reach up high and massage with your thumbs.
She may stop hitting you with her tail.
 
chippie":2atryhne said:
Try massaging the udder instead of slapping it. Reach up high and massage with your thumbs.
She may stop hitting you with her tail.
This may have been why she was "on the market". Nothing messes up a good milking routine like a slow milker or a cow that the teat cups aer always falling off.
 
I luv herfrds":36bptlbu said:
TB this is her first year freshening.

hmmm...then you may as well get used to doing a lot of that "udder slapping". Just for a little test one time, give her a shot of oxytocin just before you start preping her for milkin. See if she really lets her milk down or if she can hold it like she's been doing.
 
TB I found out why she was milking slow on the front and it was so STUPID!!!!!!! I could just about kick myself.

I was looking at how the inflator cups were on the front and realized it was pinching the teats off so the milk couldn't come out. :bang: :bang: :bang:
So I adjusted the way I hang the can and changed the belt placement and she milked out fine this morning.
Yes you can kick me in the butt later. ;-)
 
I luv herfrds":2ndlq356 said:
TB I found out why she was milking slow on the front and it was so STUPID!!!!!!! I could just about kick myself.

I was looking at how the inflator cups were on the front and realized it was pinching the teats off so the milk couldn't come out. :bang: :bang: :bang:
So I adjusted the way I hang the can and changed the belt placement and she milked out fine this morning.
Yes you can kick me in the butt later. ;-)

lolol, naw..I'm sure you've already kicked yourself enough. Just glad you found the problem. Now go apologize to her and bump the feed up today as a treat. ;-)
 
Vets coming out next week to do an ultrasound to see if she did catch. Haven't caught her in heat and she hasn't been a royal butt pain. So she might have caught.

Have taken her out a fresh grass bale of hay.
I have also changed up her feed too.
She is now getting bull developer, cob with mollasses, soy bean meal high fat and ground barley.
Noticed today the cream on top was thicker then it has been for quite awhile.
She is still out on pasture.
 
I luv herfrds":ajt0f009 said:
Vets coming out next week to do an ultrasound to see if she did catch. Haven't caught her in heat and she hasn't been a royal butt pain. So she might have caught.

Have taken her out a fresh grass bale of hay.
I have also changed up her feed too.
She is now getting bull developer, cob with mollasses, soy bean meal high fat and ground barley.
Noticed today the cream on top was thicker then it has been for quite awhile.
She is still out on pasture.
Go easy on the Soymeal....it's 48% protein so doesn't take much. And really push the roughage. That's where you get your butterfat.
 
I put the bale out where she and the steer normally graze and they are eating it.

Pulled her calf off yesterday. Calf is just over 6 months old. She still has the other calf on her though.
 
She is 30 days bred! :banana: :banana: :banana:

Vet said she is in great condition for being milked and raising 2 calves.
We discussed when I should start drying her up and how to safely do it.
 
Been milking her since the end of Febuary.
Just discussing it because you never know what the weather will be like in Febuary.
Also her first year milking just want to give her a nice break to kick back and relax before the next milking starts.
 

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