summer lactation: production and condition

With eight cows lactating -- or to be exact, three cows and five first-calf heifers -- the farm has a lot of milk flowing right now. Not all of it comes up to the house, of course: after starting the heifers in the stanchion for eight weeks or so, we usually put them out with the dry herd -- which includes yearlings, steers, and the bull -- and let them raise their calves until the fall. For the house, the livestock, and the farm shares, three cows will usually do the trick.

Last week, though, we noticed suddenly that the smallest of the 'teenage moms', as we think of the first-calf heifers, was 'way thin -- just too darn skinny for sure. It came on suddenly, and gave us a bit of a lurch -- especially as it coincided with another issue in the herd. I, for one, had an uncomfortable night. But morning brings better counsel.

She was skinny, yes -- but her coat was glossy, her tail clean, her appetite good, and her affect -- her posture, disposition, behavior -- were normal. On reflection, we conclude that this heifer, a good producer, had been nursing every opportunistic calf in the back pasture -- and there are six. Not that she was the only mama back there, she wasn't; there were five. But this heifer is the smallest, and her mothering instinct is strong.

So we moved her to the lactating herd, making four in all. We only milk her at the afternoon milking, and already her condition is improving.