Milk? where did it go?
- Thread starter Nesikep
- Start date
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dun":wvon9x4z said:
You reckon just the fact that it was her second lactation made that much difference? What I failed to mention was I milked her out during her first lactation when the calf had pneumonia and she had more than enough milk then, so the quantity couldn't have played a big role.
rockridgecattle
Well-known member
Knersie,
It could have been that she was a not bad producer the first time, but with the constraints of growing still, growing a calf and you said the pasture was not great and parasite load was high, maybe it was to much for her the second time around. The following year "could be" better because she could put some condition into herself.
Second, studies have shown that a cow produces the majority of the milk when they are laying down and chewing their cud. If they are spending more time grazing to get nutrition, the milk quantity will decrease, as will the quality.
Lastly some hieffers can be as dumb as a sack of hammers and allow other calves to suck on her. This too would put stress on the calf and the cow and decrease the chances of good quality the next year. Just plain to hard the first year.
Nesikep, have you tried oxytocin with this cow. Some cows especially the dumb ones can hold that milk for all it is worth. oxytocin will help in this matter greatly.
Try a different brand of colostrum we get it from the vets, had good IGg and smells not bad. they come in individual servings. The bag names are Calf's choice total...for calfs that receive nothing from the momma (green bag) and Head start (red bag) for topping up when a cow has some but not enough or a heifer cow with poor qualtiy.
Beware of immatiations that also come in red and green bags. The local co-op here has some cheaper price, but the IGg is not the same amount and the amount of milk it makes is not the same.
Google: The saskatoon colostum Co ltd.
It could have been that she was a not bad producer the first time, but with the constraints of growing still, growing a calf and you said the pasture was not great and parasite load was high, maybe it was to much for her the second time around. The following year "could be" better because she could put some condition into herself.
Second, studies have shown that a cow produces the majority of the milk when they are laying down and chewing their cud. If they are spending more time grazing to get nutrition, the milk quantity will decrease, as will the quality.
Lastly some hieffers can be as dumb as a sack of hammers and allow other calves to suck on her. This too would put stress on the calf and the cow and decrease the chances of good quality the next year. Just plain to hard the first year.
Nesikep, have you tried oxytocin with this cow. Some cows especially the dumb ones can hold that milk for all it is worth. oxytocin will help in this matter greatly.
Try a different brand of colostrum we get it from the vets, had good IGg and smells not bad. they come in individual servings. The bag names are Calf's choice total...for calfs that receive nothing from the momma (green bag) and Head start (red bag) for topping up when a cow has some but not enough or a heifer cow with poor qualtiy.
Beware of immatiations that also come in red and green bags. The local co-op here has some cheaper price, but the IGg is not the same amount and the amount of milk it makes is not the same.
Google: The saskatoon colostum Co ltd.
Stocker Steve
Well-known member
dun":2g91enmn said:
What percentage of hiefers don't have have enough milk?
Stocker Steve":15l6mlu4 said:
A good milker is usually also an adequate milker as a first calver, very seldom do a poor milking heifer turn into a good milking cow although I have seen it happen once or twice. I have never seen a good milking first calver turn into a poor milker though unless it was caused by health issues.
Milk isn't as easy to improve (or breed away) as EPDs suggest, a heifer will usually take very much after her dam when it comes to milking ability. Although improvements can certainly be made by using bulls with good proven milk EPDs, don't expect fireworks in the first generation.
Stocker Steve":1g8eg616 said:
Very few if they should have the genetics to milk. We had one last year. Should have been a barn burner, just like her mother and her full sisters. She didn;t milk worth spit, but I'm sure she was good in the freezer.
mnmtranching
Well-known member
In my experience getting good size on those 2 year old first calves is important. Winter them separate from the cows, couple pounds of grain and the best hay. 1200+ pounds when calving, she will raise very nearly the same calf as a mature cow. She needs to be fed well after calving to.
dun":266wj971 said:
Well here is the deal. Ysterday she really took a nose diver and isn;t milking at all. Vet checked her today and she has a blockage in her guts. He's going to wack her open in a little while and we'll see what we can see. At least her calf has really taken to the bottle, just in case.
Here's the deal. She had fatty tumors that calcified. The calcified tumors abscessed. The abscess' caused peritonitos. Stitched her up, loaded her with antibiotics and are hoping for the best (least worse). If she can come back into ther milk and raise her calf we'll ship her as a killer at weaning, if not I'll shot her and drag her out back. Oh yeah for the penny watchers, 100 bucks, 2 1/2 hour operation. If she saves me 2 bags of milk replacer the operation is paid for.
regolith
Well-known member
Ouch.
Do you know what would cause the tumours in the first place - cancerous? Bone injury? It sounds a little like post-caval syndrome (linked with severe navel ill as a calf, I think I lost a beautiful heifer to it in late preg nearly three year ago).
Your vet has good rates.
Nobody seems to know what causes them. She just turned 9 in February so she isn;t an old cow. 3 years ago when I AIed her I felt something attached (seemed to be) to the side of her colon. Didn;t feel it after that when I bred her and the vet didn;t feel it when he preged her that year. Vet asked if she had been sick. Today was the first time in her life she's had antibiotics. So the answer to that is no. They are just a benign (supposedly) growth inside the animal. In her case the ranged from about the size of a pencil eraser to the size of a baseball. Some are on the exterior of the intestines, one large one is inside the omasum other fairly large ones are in and attached to her colon. I'm hoping she does well enough that she can raise her replacement this year.
Jeanne - Simme Valley
Well-known member
Knersie - sometimes the newborn never really gets going good - maybe didn't get right up & get enough colostrum - but, if calf doesn't keep after the bag & drain her out, pretty soon she only produces what the calf asks for. Since this calf got sick, I would say it was just a puny calf probably from the beginning.
Jeanne - Simme Valley":1mbo1pvl said:
Actually this calf took all of about 20 mins to be born and was up suckling within half an hour. The calf started out OK, but was just average at best and seemed to never quite catch up with the grow rate of his peers. He was about 3 months old when he had the pneumonia and only really started to catch up the last month before weaning. The cow was a good milker (quantity wise) the first time around and even better with her next calf as the next calf proved. I am more baffled at the enormous difference in calf performance between the first and second calf when the first calf was supposed to be genetically the growthier calf.
Jeanne - Simme Valley
Well-known member
I think some calves just don't have enough "will" or don't inherit a good appetite. Just seems like you can have a calf that's just a "dud" no matter what the breeding is - especially out of heifers.
