What's best way to dry off Jersey??

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Workinonit Farm

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Stupid question of the day, for which I should already know the answer.

Here's the deal, my jersey is one month into her lactation. Her calf died, this year I have no "extras" on her due to a temporary circumstance. Currently have a friend milking her for me (by hand) due to the temporary circumstance. We're getting an average of 5 gallons per day, one milking per day (the friend is only available to milk once a day). At present the milk is going to the hogs. (don't ask) At this point I think it wouldn't be a bad idea to dry her up,(due to temporary circumstances being what they are, she will not have any "extras" on her this year).

So, what would be the best way to dry her off without her getting mastitis? Or am I just being concerned about nothing?

When drying her off in the past, it was done when I weaned the last calf off of her and her production wasn't so high.

I've not needed to be concerned reagrding the beef cows because none are producing the amount of milk she does.

Thanks.

Katherine
 
since your jersey cow is 30 days fresh.drying her up would be trouble waiting to happen.b/c she is milking way to heavy.an drying her up will cause her to get a bad case of mastitis.an that is something you dont want.besides it could ruin her bad.
 
bigbull338":1pgvz7fa said:
since your jersey cow is 30 days fresh.drying her up would be trouble waiting to happen.b/c she is milking way to heavy.an drying her up will cause her to get a bad case of mastitis.an that is something you dont want.besides it could ruin her bad.

Yeah, that's pretty much what I was thinking. That has been my biggest concern at this point. That is the main reason why I had my friend start milking her right away after her calf died. My thinking about drying her off at this point in time is the fact that I am unable to milk her myself (due to temporary circumstanes) and I can see that it is getting old for my friend.
Well, I guess my friend will have several big favors coming their way in the future.

Katherine
 
rkm":3k7c1dgc said:
How about letting a local dairy farmer milk her this lactation.

rkm

That is a great idea. I don't know why I didn't think of that. There are 3 close to where I work as well as 2 not far from here. I will look into that.

Thanks for the idea.

Katherine
 
born2run":18o75mct said:
lol...just make sure it's a herd that runs small cows. A Jersey would never fit into the parlor I milk in.

Funny you mention that. :oops: Something that never occured to me, but has been brought up when seeing if any of the folks I mentioned would be interested in adding her to their strings. As she is a small Jersey.

For now, we have made a few small changes in the order in which we do chores around here and it seems to have made it a bit easier for my friend to do the milking. So, for now he is happy to help me out and things are looking up.

Thanks to everyone who replied with ideas and assistance.

Katherine
 

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