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<blockquote data-quote="Lannie" data-source="post: 1771333" data-attributes="member: 8202"><p>Regarding calf-sharing, I do it with all my cows and calves. For me, it's because of winter weather. I'm not going out to milk, even with a belly milker, when it's below zero.</p><p></p><p>What you suggested, milking 3 quarters and leaving one for the calf, sounds logical, however, the cow will hold up for her calf, so you'll get all the skim milk from 3 quarters and the calf will get one whole quarter and all the cream from the other 3. If all you want is skim milk for drinking, that works, and you'll have a very fat calf to sell at weaning time. If you want cream for butter and cheese, then you have to trick the cow.</p><p></p><p>The day the calf is born, put a little foal halter on him. Also, you need a safe place to stash him overnight. We have a stall in our barn, butted up against the front of the milking stanchion so when the cow comes in for milking, she can see her baby and isn't distressed. I leave the calf with his mom the first night (in a pen attached to the barn, so not out in the pasture), then beginning on night two, the calf spends his nights in his calf stall.</p><p></p><p>The first milking of the cow, I don't really worry about where the calf is, because he's too little to bump the inflations off the cow anyway, and if he's nursing while I'm milking, I get a good, full letdown. But after the first day, I leave the calf in his stall while I milk out three quarters on the cow. When the milk stops, I take the milker off and get the calf out of the stall, on a lead rope, and steer him to mom's udder. Sometimes it takes a minute or two at the beginning, but after a few days, he'll run right to it. Anyway, he nurses his full quarter while I'm sitting on my stool on the other side of the cow (the lead rope is over her back, so I still have hold of the calf), covering "my" three quarters with my forearm. A very young calf usually can't empty a whole quarter, but sometimes they can.</p><p></p><p>When I feel the cow's udder swell up again with the second letdown, I get up and tug the calf off and put him back in his stall. Then I wipe the slobber off the calf's teat (just for cleanliness' sake) and finish milking out my three quarters. Quite a bit of additional milk, and a significant amount of cream is in that second letdown. When that milk runs out, I take the milker off and turn the cow loose with the calf, so he can finish his quarter, if he's still hungry, and he'll also have the rest of the udder to sip from during the day.</p><p></p><p>In the evening, I call the cow in for a little treat (to get her in), and then I put her calf to bed in his stall with a tub of water and some fluffy green hay. He won't eat much, but it gives him something to do during the night. Then, if there's milk in the cow's udder, I milk again, just what she lets me have. As the calf gets older, there will be less and less milk in the udder in the evenings, so I drop that milking and just milk in the mornings.</p><p></p><p>The way I do it, her udder gets emptied once a day, and I've never had a mastitis problem from not milking all the way out. Edema can sometimes be a problem, and the cow literally can't let all her milk down but it's usually only a few days and doesn't cause a problem. </p><p></p><p>I depend on the calf to help me milk through the winter, so I don't mind the extra work of having the calf jump-start the second letdown. Lots of people do. It's a personal decision. You can live with skim milk, or you can use the calf. And honestly, calves are just as much slaves to routine as their moms are. I once had two steers, similar in age (two cows calved close together) that would come running to the barn in the evening when I said it was "Time for BED!" because they knew there were treats waiting in the stall. In the morning, I milked one cow first, then the second cow, and the first cow's calf learned to wait at the stall door, because he was going out first. After he and his mom were outside and I'd milked the second cow, her calf would be waiting to be let out. It was kind of amazing, and I often wished I'd had a video camera back then. Oh, well.</p><p></p><p>After the first few days, week at most, the calf will come out of his stall in the morning, go to his assigned teat, and come off again with a tug of the lead and right back into his stall again, because he knows that in just a few more minutes, he'll be going outside to spend the day with his mom. That's his routine.</p><p></p><p>Sorry that was so long and wordy, but it took me a good many years to actually refine this routine into something that works. I made a lot of mistakes, but I learned from them. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /> And it should go without saying that you should have a selection of larger halters to use for the calf as it grows, if you decide to use the calf the way I described.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lannie, post: 1771333, member: 8202"] Regarding calf-sharing, I do it with all my cows and calves. For me, it's because of winter weather. I'm not going out to milk, even with a belly milker, when it's below zero. What you suggested, milking 3 quarters and leaving one for the calf, sounds logical, however, the cow will hold up for her calf, so you'll get all the skim milk from 3 quarters and the calf will get one whole quarter and all the cream from the other 3. If all you want is skim milk for drinking, that works, and you'll have a very fat calf to sell at weaning time. If you want cream for butter and cheese, then you have to trick the cow. The day the calf is born, put a little foal halter on him. Also, you need a safe place to stash him overnight. We have a stall in our barn, butted up against the front of the milking stanchion so when the cow comes in for milking, she can see her baby and isn't distressed. I leave the calf with his mom the first night (in a pen attached to the barn, so not out in the pasture), then beginning on night two, the calf spends his nights in his calf stall. The first milking of the cow, I don't really worry about where the calf is, because he's too little to bump the inflations off the cow anyway, and if he's nursing while I'm milking, I get a good, full letdown. But after the first day, I leave the calf in his stall while I milk out three quarters on the cow. When the milk stops, I take the milker off and get the calf out of the stall, on a lead rope, and steer him to mom's udder. Sometimes it takes a minute or two at the beginning, but after a few days, he'll run right to it. Anyway, he nurses his full quarter while I'm sitting on my stool on the other side of the cow (the lead rope is over her back, so I still have hold of the calf), covering "my" three quarters with my forearm. A very young calf usually can't empty a whole quarter, but sometimes they can. When I feel the cow's udder swell up again with the second letdown, I get up and tug the calf off and put him back in his stall. Then I wipe the slobber off the calf's teat (just for cleanliness' sake) and finish milking out my three quarters. Quite a bit of additional milk, and a significant amount of cream is in that second letdown. When that milk runs out, I take the milker off and turn the cow loose with the calf, so he can finish his quarter, if he's still hungry, and he'll also have the rest of the udder to sip from during the day. In the evening, I call the cow in for a little treat (to get her in), and then I put her calf to bed in his stall with a tub of water and some fluffy green hay. He won't eat much, but it gives him something to do during the night. Then, if there's milk in the cow's udder, I milk again, just what she lets me have. As the calf gets older, there will be less and less milk in the udder in the evenings, so I drop that milking and just milk in the mornings. The way I do it, her udder gets emptied once a day, and I've never had a mastitis problem from not milking all the way out. Edema can sometimes be a problem, and the cow literally can't let all her milk down but it's usually only a few days and doesn't cause a problem. I depend on the calf to help me milk through the winter, so I don't mind the extra work of having the calf jump-start the second letdown. Lots of people do. It's a personal decision. You can live with skim milk, or you can use the calf. And honestly, calves are just as much slaves to routine as their moms are. I once had two steers, similar in age (two cows calved close together) that would come running to the barn in the evening when I said it was "Time for BED!" because they knew there were treats waiting in the stall. In the morning, I milked one cow first, then the second cow, and the first cow's calf learned to wait at the stall door, because he was going out first. After he and his mom were outside and I'd milked the second cow, her calf would be waiting to be let out. It was kind of amazing, and I often wished I'd had a video camera back then. Oh, well. After the first few days, week at most, the calf will come out of his stall in the morning, go to his assigned teat, and come off again with a tug of the lead and right back into his stall again, because he knows that in just a few more minutes, he'll be going outside to spend the day with his mom. That's his routine. Sorry that was so long and wordy, but it took me a good many years to actually refine this routine into something that works. I made a lot of mistakes, but I learned from them. :) And it should go without saying that you should have a selection of larger halters to use for the calf as it grows, if you decide to use the calf the way I described. [/QUOTE]
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