My name is Theresa we have listened to a few interviews of you both on podcasts, we just completed your dairy cow course through the school of traditional skills and we are reading your book “the independent farmstead” right now.
That being said I have a bit of a cow equation for you if you wouldn’t mind lending some advice!
We are getting our first dairy cow this spring. She is a 2 1/2 year old Jersey who is due to calf in April/may and she will be placed on our homestead the first of March. We are purchasing her from the lady we currently buy raw milk from. She is older and a wealth of information but she practices slightly different than we will on our farmstead (bottle feeds calves, machine milks mostly, gives grain treats during milking, washes her dairy containers in bleach etc etc)
This will be this cow's second year calving, her first calving was a “breeze” she is very well mannered and milks well, her teats are good size. We would like to eventually wean her off grain and potentially only hand milk her. My question is would transplanting her onto our farm in March, her getting acquainted with us , weaning her off grain, switching her to hand milking, and keeping her calf on her be “too much” for her in a short span of time? Should we have a milking machine for insurance incase she doesn’t do well with hand milking and letting her calf nurse ? Would cutting her completely off grain be stressful or could I wean her in her final month of pregnancy ?
We should have atleast 4-6 weeks of her on our property getting acquainted to us, our barn, milking stanchion and everything before she calves.
Thank you for any input you have to give!
God Bless,
Theresa & Nick Thomas
Hi, Theresa, Goo d to hear from you! With such a young cow, we wouldn't hesitate to wean her off grain as soon as she comes to the farm. That will put her in a negative energy balance going into calving, which is good. Switching to hand milking shouldn't be a problem since you're going to let her calf nurse, too. I wouldn't expect her to have any problem nursing her calf, even if she hasn't done it before, and if her teats are big enough for hand milking, they're big enough for the calf. If she's used to treats when milking, you may have to show some creativity to train her out of that expectation; our young cows are often ticed with hay as their special treat, but we expect them to learn quickly not to expect treats. Dairy cows like to be milked, so they can do fine without enticements. Hope this helps! Let us know if you have any more questions. Blessings, Shawn and BEth
