Homesteading dairy cow

[TexasBred]

Good thing you all don't have to fill quota anymore, alot would be losing theirs . ;-)

Did I read that right?? 40 lbs. per head per day of milk?? I know grazing has always been the most cost effective way to produce milk and "all natural" I suppose allows you to charge more for it but a guy would starve to death down here on that kind of production. I've dried off cattle giving twice that much.

 

[Nesikep]

I agree with MlazyJ, these people sound like they have their minds set, it sounds like you can't suggest any sort of feed supplement, even organically grown, so I don't see much point... we have shares in a couple jerseys of our neighbors , and they feed organic oats, barley and wheat as a supplement.. those cows haven't freshened in a LONG time so their milk production is down to about 35 lb/day... If I were to recommend anything to these people, it would be to get a heavy producing beef cow... they'll get a better calf and the cow will look better when just pastured

 

[piedmontese]

Good thing you all don't have to fill quota anymore, alot would be losing theirs . ;-)

Did I read that right?? 40 lbs. per head per day of milk?? I know grazing has always been the most cost effective way to produce milk and "all natural" I suppose allows you to charge more for it but a guy would starve to death down here on that kind of production. I've dried off cattle giving twice that much.

u dried off cows giving 80 lbs a day? thats 10 gallons right?

 

[TexasBred]

Good thing you all don't have to fill quota anymore, alot would be losing theirs . ;-)

Did I read that right?? 40 lbs. per head per day of milk?? I know grazing has always been the most cost effective way to produce milk and "all natural" I suppose allows you to charge more for it but a guy would starve to death down here on that kind of production. I've dried off cattle giving twice that much.

u dried off cows giving 80 lbs a day? thats 10 gallons right?

Yessir, almost 10 gallons....but these were exceptional milkers and there were only 3 like that. But 50 lbs. at dryoff was very common. Fourty won't even pay the feed bill on grain fed cattle, not even back in the 90's. Looks like these folks have a good setup. I'd like to know what price they get for their milk compared to regular dairies. Continueing to use home grown bulls will require some new genetics to be added "someday" I assume. Only other thing that didn't make sense was worrying about acidosis on a grass fed operation with no grain and running a 4.10% or higher butterfat. Just don't happen. Cattle with acidosis have depressed butterfat numbers.

 

[vclavin]

Hubby said when he was a kid and living at home on the dairy, the cream on the milk was so think you could stand a spoon in it. Are there genetic or breed that still does that? Jersey milk from the Amish does not contain that thick of cream. Is it genetics or feed or both?
Valerie

 

[regolith]

so how much cream did you want exactly? I've never tried standing a spoon up in it, but you see what a Jersey can produce.

 

[cow pollinater]

Genetics is 25% of a cows ability to produce milk. The rest is management and most of the management is FEED. What we see over time is that the right genetics combined with the right management go above and beyond what the rest of the herd is doing. For example: a cow bred to produce 5% butterfat will produce 4.5% butterfat on a farm that doesn't feed to target butterfat but on a farm that DOES feed and manage for butterfat that same cow can blow her herdmates out of the water as she has the tools that she knows how to use.

 

[Nesikep]

Well, It's garbage-in-garbage-out, A neighbour has a pair of jerseys and he skimped out on the hay, it's just awful stuff, hardly any legumes, and doesn't smell nice either, so he got a hay chopper so they'd eat it, and has to supplement more grain no doubt. He's feeding worse hay to his 2 dairy cows than I do to my beef herd even when they aren't milking. Given a feed situation like that, I don't think he gets the benefit of the jersey breed. When I milk a couple of my beef cows, they give about 80% of a these Jersey's milk per day, and maybe about 80% of the BF content. So all in all, they give in the vicinity of 64% overall daily BF, and are fed no grain. Next year I might try feeding one my milkable cows a good dose of grain for a week and milk her for a while and see what she can do with it just out of curiosity.

 

[TexasBred]

Well, It's garbage-in-garbage-out, A neighbour has a pair of jerseys and he skimped out on the hay, it's just awful stuff, hardly any legumes, and doesn't smell nice either, so he got a hay chopper so they'd eat it, and has to supplement more grain no doubt. He's feeding worse hay to his 2 dairy cows than I do to my beef herd even when they aren't milking. Given a feed situation like that, I don't think he gets the benefit of the jersey breed. When I milk a couple of my beef cows, they give about 80% of a these Jersey's milk per day, and maybe about 80% of the BF content. So all in all, they give in the vicinity of 64% overall daily BF, and are fed no grain. Next year I might try feeding one my milkable cows a good dose of grain for a week and milk her for a while and see what she can do with it just out of curiosity.

Increasing the grain in the diet will increase production but will depress butterfat while raising milk protein levels. If you could test the milk from the beef cow it probably has a higher butterfat level than the jersey milk.

 

[vclavin]

Well, It's garbage-in-garbage-out, A neighbour has a pair of jerseys and he skimped out on the hay, it's just awful stuff, hardly any legumes, and doesn't smell nice either, so he got a hay chopper so they'd eat it, and has to supplement more grain no doubt. He's feeding worse hay to his 2 dairy cows than I do to my beef herd even when they aren't milking. Given a feed situation like that, I don't think he gets the benefit of the jersey breed. When I milk a couple of my beef cows, they give about 80% of a these Jersey's milk per day, and maybe about 80% of the BF content. So all in all, they give in the vicinity of 64% overall daily BF, and are fed no grain. Next year I might try feeding one my milkable cows a good dose of grain for a week and milk her for a while and see what she can do with it just out of curiosity.

Increasing the grain in the diet will increase production but will depress butterfat while raising milk protein levels. If you could test the milk from the beef cow it probably has a higher butterfat level than the jersey milk.

I guess what I heard was true... more milk then less cream...more cream then less milk.
What's best for the cow? How do you know how much to supplement and still get rich milk without hurting the cows condition? TB, will my feed formula work for the Jerseys?
Valerie

 

[TexasBred]

I guess what I heard was true... more milk then less cream...more cream then less milk.
What's best for the cow? How do you know how much to supplement and still get rich milk without hurting the cows condition? TB, will my feed formula work for the Jerseys?
Valerie

The high fiber ration you use will work better at both production and holding BF levels than the more typical grain ration fed to dairy cattle. Your milk protein level might drop a bit but you're not getting paid for it anyway. ;-) If you're simply producing milk for the calf and your own use just feed for the needed production. That's always easiest on the cow. Jersey down in this area seldom get over about 850-900 lbs. so most are not fed as heavily as holstein or other larger breeds. In a dairy situation I'd probably feed them about 24=26lbs. of grain ration per day and and equal amount of grazing/hay/ other roughage.

 

[jedstivers]

Cottonseed

 

[regolith]

That''s 50lb intake TB - my Jerseys have a maximum intake of about 18 kg dry matter, 16.5 to 17 per day is more realistic, which is about 40lb. We don't successfully get intakes up higher than that by substituting supplements for grass, though possibly no-one here uses TMR in sufficient quantities to overcome the rumen bulk/time grazing restriction with grass.

 

[TexasBred]

That''s 50lb intake TB - my Jerseys have a maximum intake of about 18 kg dry matter, 16.5 to 17 per day is more realistic, which is about 40lb. We don't successfully get intakes up higher than that by substituting supplements for grass, though possibly no-one here uses TMR in sufficient quantities to overcome the rumen bulk/time grazing restriction with grass.

Only about 44 lbs. of actual dry matter. They can eat it that much. Good feeds have lower NDF than poor quality feeds thus higher intake. Divide it into multiple feedings. Most high producing holstein dairies strive for 55 lbs. or more of dry matter per head per day.

Since Val will be milking this cow for her own use she could get by with less feed. I keep thinking "Dairy" and high production.