Putting bottle calf on Cow while pregnant

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libertyacrefarm

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Hi Everyone,

I am new to this discussion board, glad to be here. I have a question I think I already know the answer to, but want someone to tell me if I'm crazy or correct. I am considering buying a Jersey cow from a local farmer with the purpose of raising bottle calves on her. She is supposedly bred back to an Angus bull but its only been a month. She's been turned dry for 3 months now. My question is this-I think I read on here or somewhere else that I could put a calf on her now, and as long as I feed her very well, she won't lose condition over her gestation and the calf will be fine as well. OR- should I wait till she calves in early fall to put any extra babies on her? Thanks for you time and any responses!
 
Hi Everyone,

I am new to this discussion board, glad to be here. I have a question I think I already know the answer to, but want someone to tell me if I'm crazy or correct. I am considering buying a Jersey cow from a local farmer with the purpose of raising bottle calves on her. She is supposedly bred back to an Angus bull but its only been a month. She's been turned dry for 3 months now. My question is this-I think I read on here or somewhere else that I could put a calf on her now, and as long as I feed her very well, she won't lose condition over her gestation and the calf will be fine as well. OR- should I wait till she calves in early fall to put any extra babies on her? Thanks for you time and any responses!

If you mean she's been dried off three months ago (turned dry) and is no longer lactating she won't be feeding anything till she calves again. You may have read on here that one of my heifers considers herself exempt from such laws of nature... that's a maybe one in 10,000 occurence.

The normal routine for a cow calving at twelve month intervals is milking/feeding calves from the day she calves, bred at about three months after calving and continues milking/feeding calves until 6 - 8 weeks before her next calf is due. She needs that short time dry for her udder to regenerate and start producing colostrum. Milking through early and mid-pregnancy is fine and yes, she needs enough feed to support herself, and her unborn calf, and her milk production.
If there isn't enough feed available then drying her off earlier will help her maintain/gain weight.

Make sure she is confirmed pregnant before you offer to buy her.
 
if she has been dryed up as you say,then she isnt giving any milk at all now.youll have to bottle feed the calf.
 

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