Head start on a cow with little milk

[Alan]

Some of you may recall I have a Moler daughter (Polled Herefords) that on her first calf as a heifer she had no bag development and very little milk. Without looking up the data it seems she weaned off about a 300lb heifer calf, about half of my avg weaning weight. I decided to give her another chance since she is a Moler daughter, which means high dollar for me. She is due in about 3 weeks, she is showing "pudding butt" but no udder development again. She's bred to Rib Eye so I'm hoping for the best, if she has a bull calf I'll just steer him and let nature take its course (unless he needs help to survive). Her first calf was normal and had plenty of energy just very slow growth, I sold her as a weanling. If she has a heifer I would like to give the heifer all the help I can to grow as I can short of making her a bottle calf. Assuming the cow has a problem producing milk again what tips do you have on supplementing the calf to help her grow better? Will simply leaving her alone and then feeding her up from weanling to 15 or 16 months be enough to get her to breeding weight as a heifer? I'm trying to solve a problem before it happens, but I figure I better be ready if I want to keep a Rib Eye daughter out of a Moler daughter..... and yes I'm also hoping Rib Eye will fix some of the milking problems this cow seems to have.

Thanks for any tips or help you can provide an advance,
Alan

 

[KNERSIE]

If she doesn't milk again I would not even consider keeping her heifer, trying to breed milk into the first generation offspring of a really poor milking cow is only possible on paper and computer spreadsheets.

 

[rockridgecattle]

get a bag of powdered colustrum. We like the green back of calfs choice total. It has 100g of immuglobins. One bag is one serving and a complete one at that. I think the maker of the colostrum is called head start. Then if the cow does not have enough, supplement with milk replacer or else the calf will steal from other cows, more thank likely the ones with just enough milk which will lower the wean weights of the other cows and slow down breed back because they are putting extra energy into making more milk.
Here is the manufacture's website. They may be able to tell you if it is available in your area
http://216.197.193.12/Colostrum/about_quality.htm

 

[Alan]

If she doesn't milk again I would not even consider keeping her heifer, trying to breed milk into the first generation offspring of a really poor milking cow is only possible on paper and computer spreadsheets.

Thanks Harley, I was hoping you would give me a hand with this. I have culled pretty heavily the past three years and haven't added much to my herd, so I have lots of room and grass, I hoping for a good AI year with lots of heifers :roll: . So with all the room I have I'm willing to throw the dice on this breeding if it is a heifer. If the cow doesn't milk again she's gone at weaning. With that said do you have any suggestions on aiding this calfs growth if it needs it? or an answer to my second question?

Thanks for your help,
Alan

 

[KNERSIE]

If she doesn't milk again I would not even consider keeping her heifer, trying to breed milk into the first generation offspring of a really poor milking cow is only possible on paper and computer spreadsheets.

Thanks Harley, I was hoping you would give me a hand with this. I have culled pretty heavily the past three years and haven't added much to my herd, so I have lots of room and grass, I hoping for a good AI year with lots of heifers :roll: . So with all the room I have I'm willing to throw the dice on this breeding if it is a heifer. If the cow doesn't milk again she's gone at weaning. With that said do you have any suggestions on aiding this calfs growth if it needs it? or an answer to my second question?

Thanks for your help,
Alan

I'd rather creep feed the calf than supplementing milk replacer, depending on how the cow milks this time you could either seperate them from the herd when the calf is 6 weeks old and feed both of them a little just to get the calf started on feed and then set up a creep feeder with the rest, the other calves is likely not even going to be interested in the feed till they are 4 months old. As soon as the calf starts eating i would use a commercial calf started that dairies use to raise their replacements from 4 months onwards you can basically just supplement the energy using corn or barley.

 

[bigbull338]

heres what you do calve the cow.if its a heifer go buy a nurse cow an put the calf on it.then load the momma up an send her to the sale.

 

[Alan]

get a bag of powdered colustrum. We like the green back of calfs choice total. It has 100g of immuglobins. One bag is one serving and a complete one at that. I think the maker of the colostrum is called head start. Then if the cow does not have enough, supplement with milk replacer or else the calf will steal from other cows, more thank likely the ones with just enough milk which will lower the wean weights of the other cows and slow down breed back because they are putting extra energy into making more milk.
Here is the manufacture's website. They may be able to tell you if it is available in your area
http://216.197.193.12/Colostrum/about_quality.htm

Thanks Rock, not only did you give me a good suggestion you remined me to check the dates on my colostrum, I pretty sure she'll get a bag after I check with my Vet.

Alan

 

[Alan]

heres what you do calve the cow.if its a heifer go buy a nurse cow an put the calf on it.then load the momma up an send her to the sale.

Sometimes there's a answer that is so obvious it makes one (me) feel stupid, my friend that helps me AI runs a small herd of Holsteins..... I'll start bugging him a lot tonight.... or at least plant a bug in his ear. :D

Thanks again,
Alan

 

[KNERSIE]

heres what you do calve the cow.if its a heifer go buy a nurse cow an put the calf on it.then load the momma up an send her to the sale.

I wouldn't sell her without knowing first how she'd milk this time around. I've seen some remarkable improvements from the 2nd lactation onwards. If the heifer calf is going to be a dud I want to know it while she is still a calf and not find out when she is 2+ years old.

 

[Beef Man]

To me a cow is a methoid we use to convert roughage, that is things thatwe cannot use, into either milk or beef and do it with a minimum of assistance. Don't keep her around if you have to make excuse's for her, Its like ownning a combine that only thrash's half the grain.

 

[Nesikep]

I'm with knersie.. I wouldn't keep a heifer from that cow, however, if you're bent on it for the genetics, I'd try grafting it to a better milking cow... I've never seen a calf with a poor milk supply turn into anything... if the cow doesn't do better this year, I'd get rid of her too. we had a heifer last year who weaned off a 375 lb steer, and that is absolutely miserable by pretty much anyone's standard... the ONLY reason i kept her for another year is the calf prices are good (that 375 lb'er got 1.70/lb) and I have plenty of hay.. we had a cow with twins last year who weaned off 2 450 lb'ers, which is a bit more like it