Checking milk before calving?

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

On a different thread, a poster said they had been getting milk for a week before the cow calved. :shock:
You should never, ever, open up the teats prior to calving. They have a plug in their teat that keeps any bacteria out - it's mother natures way of protecting the cow. If you open her up, you are opening her up for possible mastitis. Not saying you will, but why risk it????
This is what I've always been told by vets/univ/other breeders. How do others feel about this?
I've heard others say they can tell within 24 hours of calving by the change in their milk/colostrum. I think it's not worth the risk. Sooner or later, she'll calve.

 

[Ryder]

Agree.
Milking days before calving I believe would mess up the timing of colostrum production.

 

[TexasBred]

On a different thread, a poster said they had been getting milk for a week before the cow calved. :shock:
You should never, ever, open up the teats prior to calving. They have a plug in their teat that keeps any bacteria out - it's mother natures way of protecting the cow. If you open her up, you are opening her up for possible mastitis. Not saying you will, but why risk it????
This is what I've always been told by vets/univ/other breeders. How do others feel about this?
I've heard others say they can tell within 24 hours of calving by the change in their milk/colostrum. I think it's not worth the risk. Sooner or later, she'll calve.

I can't see where it would serve any useful purpose other than to satisfy your curiosity.

 

[Lon]

On a different thread, a poster said they had been getting milk for a week before the cow calved. :shock:
You should never, ever, open up the teats prior to calving. They have a plug in their teat that keeps any bacteria out - it's mother natures way of protecting the cow. If you open her up, you are opening her up for possible mastitis. Not saying you will, but why risk it????
This is what I've always been told by vets/univ/other breeders. How do others feel about this?
I've heard others say they can tell within 24 hours of calving by the change in their milk/colostrum. I think it's not worth the risk. Sooner or later, she'll calve.

I can't see where it would serve any useful purpose other than to satisfy your curiosity.

:tiphat: couldnt have said it better

 

[Isomade]

Agree.
Milking days before calving I believe would mess up the timing of colostrum production.

I would have to agree. A cow produces colostrum usually for about four days. I would think that opening her up prior to calving would decrease colostrum and increase the chance of calf mortality.

 

[dun]

Agree.
Milking days before calving I believe would mess up the timing of colostrum production.

I would have to agree. A cow produces colostrum usually for about four days. I would think that opening her up prior to calving would decrease colostrum and increase the chance of calf mortality.

Those 4 days are when it's available but the making of it takes weeks before hand.

 

[hillsdown]

It is not that uncommon to milk dairy cows a week or so before they calve (especially if they are late) if the udder has become huge and sore and has started to leak.
You can freeze the first milking and use it to feed the calf when it is finally born.

You do not know the circumstances of each incident ;-)

 

[TexasBred]

It is not that uncommon to milk dairy cows a week or so before they calve (especially if they are late) if the udder has become huge and sore and has started to leak.
You can freeze the first milking and use it to feed the calf when it is finally born.

You do not know the circumstances of each incident ;-)

Might not be unusual up your way HD but never heard of it being a practice around here. I know we never did. Sounds like some folks up that way need a better close-up dry cow feeding program.

 

[hillsdown]

It is not that uncommon to milk dairy cows a week or so before they calve (especially if they are late) if the udder has become huge and sore and has started to leak.
You can freeze the first milking and use it to feed the calf when it is finally born.

You do not know the circumstances of each incident ;-)

Might not be unusual up your way HD but never heard of it being a practice around here. I know we never did. Sounds like some folks up that way need a better close-up dry cow feeding program.

Don't think so, since they win milk production awards every year ! Also have one of the top herds in the industry .

When it costs you a 2-3 million dollars in quota alone just to be able to milk 100 head you usually pay attention to all aspects of the farm. I know our mineral program alone was 1/3 of our feed cost alone . We have never had to milk before she calves but sometimes it does happen , we also never had a cow that gave us over 100 litres a day either . Closest we got was Jethro a 4 yr old she gave us 89 liters a day during peek lactation. You should have seen the DHI guys mouth drop when he read the results .. :lol:

 

[TexasBred]

Don't think so, since they win milk production awards every year ! Also have one of the top herds in the industry .
When it costs you a 2-3 million dollars in quota alone just to be able to milk 100 head you usually pay attention to all aspects of the farm. I know our mineral program alone was 1/3 of our feed cost alone . We have never had to milk before she calves but sometimes it does happen , we also never had a cow that gave us over 100 litres a day either . Closest we got was Jethro a 4 yr old she gave us 89 liters a day during peek lactation. You should have seen the DHI guys mouth drop when he read the results .. :lol:

Don't think so, since they win milk production awards every year ! Also have one of the top herds in the industry .

When it costs you a 2-3 million dollars in quota alone just to be able to milk 100 head you usually pay attention to all aspects of the farm. I know our mineral program alone was 1/3 of our feed cost alone . We have never had to milk before she calves but sometimes it does happen , we also never had a cow that gave us over 100 litres a day either . Closest we got was Jethro a 4 yr old she gave us 89 liters a day during peek lactation. You should have seen the DHI guys mouth drop when he read the results .. :lol:

A cow can have a problematic dry cow ration and still milk like a champion a few weeks later. Dairies having to milk a cow out before calving need to have their nutritionist explain "why". It shouldn't be happening regularly. I've had cattle drip occasionally a few hours pre-calving but never had to milk out one.
As for the 100 liters. That would be about 200 lbs. Never came close to having a cow milk like that but consistently had over a hundred milking 85 lbs. or more. I would love to have had a few like "Jethro". :nod: There's a lot of good things to be said abotu Canadian dairying.

 

[rockridgecattle]

I know nothing on the commercial side of dairies, had a couple holstiens for farm milk, that was it. I don't think we ever pre calving milked them...but then we treated them like one of the beef cows. Probably not the best thing to do, but she just fed her calf and a couple of families.
Beef cows however, only pre milked if there were signs she got matitis. Otherwise never touched the bag. That was for the calf to do.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

I brought this subject up because we do have posters that "test" the milk to determine her calving time, and I wanted to point out that it was not a good practice. I wouldn't want "newbies" to think it was normal to open up a teat. Best to leave them alone, mother nature knows best!

 

[TexasBred]

I brought this subject up because we do have posters that "test" the milk to determine her calving time, and I wanted to point out that it was not a good practice. I wouldn't want "newbies" to think it was normal to open up a teat. Best to leave them alone, mother nature knows best!

I agree 100%. A huge amount of bacterial invasion occurs during the final two weeks prepartum. No need to put it in the express lane.