In one end out the other

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Alan

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While riding around on the mower and feeding the clippings to the cattle, (you know how brain dead mowing the yard can be :D ) I got to wondering, how long does it take, from the time grass enters a cows mouth to come out the other end as ............ milk?

Serious question, just having fun with it.
Alan
 
From the book "Functional Anatomy and Physiology of Domestic Animals" 3rd Edition by William O. Reece page 342:
"Because of the voluminous forestomach in cattle....(food) makes it's initial appearance in feces in 12-24 hours. About 80% of the initial amount is passed by 3-4 days, and final evacuation is complete by 7-10 days."
 
Oops, you guy are taking the wrong exit... :lol: my question was how long does it take grass to become milk?

Alan
 
Alan":12ylc0jq said:
Oops, you guy are taking the wrong exit... :lol: my question was how long does it take grass to become milk?

Alan
:clap: :clap: :clap: :lol:
Can't contribute any knowledge of this but I would think checking withdrawal rate of an oral medication might give you an indication??? At any rate...your wrong exit comment gave me a chuckle!
 
Alan":gh09h3ak said:
Oops, you guy are taking the wrong exit... :lol: my question was how long does it take grass to become milk?

Alan

About 48 hours. Don't forget the water. Dairy cattle especially require about 4 to 5 pounds of water for each pound of milk produced.
 
In humans it is 4-6 hours. Highly variable based on the digestability of the foodstuffs. Found one reference that showed in cattle the protein portion took 30 minutes once absorbed by the mammary cells from the blood stream to excretion into the udder. So I guess the answer is, it depends, based on how long the food takes to be digested and absorbed into the bloodstream. After that it's fairly fast.

There are entire books on the subject if you have trouble sleeping. :)
 
I don't know about the milk, but I turned some into a green pasture last week and every time they took a step and a bite in the front, they took a squirt out the rear. It doesn't take long to turn grass into fertilizer. :nod:
 
grannysoo":2oos7uhc said:
I don't know about the milk, but I turned some into a green pasture last week and every time they took a step and a bite in the front, they took a squirt out the rear. It doesn't take long to turn grass into fertilizer. :nod:
Granny, this gave me a chuckle..I've seen mine cough and blow out the back-side (glad I'm not standing there!) :lol:
 
redcowsrule33":17k6wh95 said:
In humans it is 4-6 hours. Highly variable based on the digestability of the foodstuffs. Found one reference that showed in cattle the protein portion took 30 minutes once absorbed by the mammary cells from the blood stream to excretion into the udder. So I guess the answer is, it depends, based on how long the food takes to be digested and absorbed into the bloodstream. After that it's fairly fast.

There are entire books on the subject if you have trouble sleeping. :)

True, some digestion begins immediately, but it's an ongoing process, much more complicated than protein alone. Increasing or decreasing protein may have no effect at all on milk production. Some feed ingredients are not only more digestible but more rapidly digested than others. As Red said, there has been a lot of research done especially on the "dairy" end and it's really good reading if you have time.
 
grannysoo":ta41yxvn said:
I don't know about the milk, but I turned some into a green pasture last week and every time they took a step and a bite in the front, they took a squirt out the rear. It doesn't take long to turn grass into fertilizer. :nod:

Now Granny that is multi-tasking in it's purist form. You should be making money "hands over fist". ;-)
 
Wisteria Farms":1x8mo32t said:
grannysoo":1x8mo32t said:
I don't know about the milk, but I turned some into a green pasture last week and every time they took a step and a bite in the front, they took a squirt out the rear. It doesn't take long to turn grass into fertilizer. :nod:
Granny, this gave me a chuckle..I've seen mine cough and blow out the back-side (glad I'm not standing there!) :lol:

Rule # 1....never stand behind a coughing cow. :help: :help:
 
One of my bosses (probably the only one who ever thought about it) reckoned the milk in the vat awaiting collection was from the grass eaten 48 hours ago.

I disagree. If the cows are kept off pasture or are given less than usual, you'll see the drop in production at the next milking; certainly within a day. Likewise, if given more than usual the increase in production is at the next milking to my observation. That suggests to me that the grass is making milk almost as fast as it's eaten.
 
regolith":21k4uu56 said:
One of my bosses (probably the only one who ever thought about it) reckoned the milk in the vat awaiting collection was from the grass eaten 48 hours ago.

I disagree. If the cows are kept off pasture or are given less than usual, you'll see the drop in production at the next milking; certainly within a day. Likewise, if given more than usual the increase in production is at the next milking to my observation. That suggests to me that the grass is making milk almost as fast as it's eaten.

No...the grass eaten earlier makes the milk. Starving or overloading the system when you cut rations or increase rapidly will change the milk production but "hours latter". Check your lab results and you'll also probably see a big shift in your milk components as well. Look at her as a fine tune engine. You can play with the fuel system all you want and it may increase speed but you'll suffer somewhere else. Dairy cattle especially need a constant food source as close as possible to the same every day and hopefully no big change in outside factors to maintain most constant milk flow. Weather can effect milk production as much as feed changes.
 
TexasBred":1qfjwrq1 said:
Wisteria Farms":1qfjwrq1 said:
grannysoo":1qfjwrq1 said:
I don't know about the milk, but I turned some into a green pasture last week and every time they took a step and a bite in the front, they took a squirt out the rear. It doesn't take long to turn grass into fertilizer. :nod:
Granny, this gave me a chuckle..I've seen mine cough and blow out the back-side (glad I'm not standing there!) :lol:

Rule # 1....never stand behind a coughing cow. :help: :help:


Rule #1 never stand behind any fertilizer sreader. :cboy:
 
Starving or overloading the system when you cut rations or increase rapidly will change the milk production but "hours latter". Check your lab results and you'll also probably see a big shift in your milk components as well.

I'm not sure I understand this. Are you agreeing or disagreeing with the 'hours later' change?
Volume shifts quickly either way but total components tend to stay the same unless the change in ration is severe (that is, if they have an unusually good feed they'll come in with heaps more milk but the fat and protein percentages will be down and vice versa).

This last week is a rather bizarre example of this. I usually reckon if the pasture management is right there will only be gradual changes in both volume and components (excepting heavy rain or majorly uneven grass growth or something like that) but on my milk receipt I've got a row of about five days 161.7, 161.6, 161, 161.2... that's kg fat + protein while the volume on those days fluctuates by as much as 200 litres either way - the feed hasn't been consistent. Last milk pick-up, 140 (I cut a break through that paddock a week ago to give them water, because the council cut off their water trough at the back of the farm, so about 1/6 the area they should have had was already grazed), the one just gone will probably be between 100 - 120... the herd is now dry. That's purely from restricting the feed... probably shouldn't have sent that last milking, but it seemed a shame to leave the vat half empty for 24 hours before the tanker arrived.
 
Only disagreeing on how rapidly the feed change "Only" will effect milk. As I said....if you change to something highly digestible and more rapidly digestible protein content the result may be more immediate. Don't understand your numbers tho...is that volume, plus bf and protein? Are they not broken out separately? Slug feeding of grain especially will change butterfat and components due to accidosis.. you end up with heavy intake one day, reduced intake the next because of the upset rumen ph. You'll have a yoyo effect in both bf and protein and many times in milk volume as well.
 
We're solely grass, so sudden changes in intake - aside from weather influences or holding the cows on the yard for ages- are usually the effect of changing growth rates creating a 'shelf' between one paddock and the next in line (exactly what we've had with the 1 inch of rain then nothing for four or five weeks that's typified this season).

This is the last milk collection:
Current Season Litres Fat Test Fatkgs Protein Test Proteinkgs MilkSolids
1,051 6.96% 73.1 4.98% 52.3 125.4
125.4 kg is the fat + protein from 1,051 litres (kg milksolids).
The milk payment is worked out approx ('x' times fat + 'y' times protein) less 'z' times litres so it is all kept track of separately, but we use the 'milksolids' figure to compare production. And we give the lactose and mineral content away for free...
 

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