Our two year old Holstein heifer will be calving for the first time in May. We've never kept a cow before and feel a bit overwhelmed at the reports of all the milk she is supposed to give(although we've milked a goat for about five years).

We thought we would keep two (or more?) calves on her so we would not have to milk so much. We also thought this would enable us to leave for a day or two without finding someone to milk for us.

But we have read, and then been told, that milking and nursing a cow at the same time is likely to produce mastitis. Does anyone have any further knowledge or experience to share with a novice in keeping calves on milking cows (or any other bovine care tips)?

-- Jonathan Lindvall (Lindvall@BoldChristianLiving.com), March 26, 2000

Answers

Jonathon, the Time Bomb 2000 Preparation forum had a lot of interesting information. This subject (among many others) was addressed in question for farmers and rural people.

Don't forget the possibilities of cheese and yoghurt as well. I'm omnivorous, and I enjoy a good steak as much as anyone, but eating lower down the food chain is easier, and calcium-rich dairy foods address today's epidemic of osteoporosis as people live longer lives on average.

-- Don Armstrong (darmst@yahoo.com.au), March 26, 2000.

Jonathan me again. We let our first fresheners nurse their buck kids, and still milk them morining and night. As long as your milking procedure is clean, pre wash (I just use wetones with the goats) milk, then post dip, I use a chemical spray bottle that I mix with all water then add 3 or 4 tablespoons of bleach, to close the orifice after milking. Let her finish her grain, and that will give the orifice more time to close. The babies mouth saliva is very acidic so it naturally closes the orifice, we are trying to mimmick this with the use of a teat dip/spray that closes the orifice, with the last thing applied being a disinfectant. You do not want a strong chemical smell, just enough to close the teat. (How bleach prunes your fingers if you clean with it) same premise. Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), March 26, 2000.

We have had a family cow for almost 20 years. (The first one was with us for 17 yrs.) We ALWAYS have at least two calves for the milk cow.

We keep the cow away from the calves. When we bring her in, we clean her udder and nipples and milk a few squirts out of each nipple, then we take what we need for the house. After we get what we want, we turn the calves in to nurse.

Often, we don't need milk that day for the house. On those days,we turn the calves in and they take it all. When you are getting started with the calves, if they aren't big eaters, you may need to go back and finish milking her out, if they don't take it all. As the calves get bigger, they will be able to take all her milk.

Since your cow is Holstein, you may be able to use two calves. Remember the quantity of milk you would be feeding the calves if you were raising them on the bucket or nipple bottle. (1/2 gallon per calf). Yes, they will drink a lot more than that, and we let them have all they want LATER. When you start the new baby calves on your milk cow, stay right there and pull them off when you think they got about 1/2 gallon. You only need to do this for a few days, until they get used to her milk. If you let an aggressive calf gorge all he wants, he will get the scours and they can be very hard to save if they get it bad. (It is not bacteria scours, it is a nutritional scours.) If you keep them just a little bit hungry the first few days, you can save yourself a lot of heartbreak.

We have a couple of cows that are part Holstein that raise three calves for us. We keep the calves in the barn and bring the cows in morning and night. The calves have grain and water free choice. We take the calves to about 300 - 350 pounds and then wean them and start three more baby calves on her.

Most cows don't actually own the calves, except their own. They let them nurse because we feed them their grain. Fortunately, the calves are always done before the cows finish their grain. With some of our cows, - when the grain is gone, - it's all over as far as calves getting to nurse.

I mention that so you don't count too heavily on being able to kick the calves out with her when you have to be away. She might let her calf nurse and maybe not the other one. Some cows will let anything nurse them. Our last milk cow would.

Our new Jersey cow had her calf about three weeks ago. We got covered up in milk by the time we located the second calf for her. That's the catch. You can't always get a baby calf right when you need it.

-- homestead2 (homestead@monroecty.net), March 26, 2000.

Our cow is a three tap cow and we always let the calf have one teat and at the same time we would milk the other two teats! We were even milking on the wrong side her. Maybe she was just very tolerant! Anyway it worked for us:)

-- AbigailF. (treeoflife@sws.nb.ca), March 27, 2000.

All the above advice is very interresting. We have a jersey, 6 weeks fresh, and she has her calf by her side at all times. IT seems to be working very well, as the calf nurses all she wants whenever she wants it. The calf is very healthy. Never had scours. I think the reason calves separated from their mothers get scours is basically from two things: You are psychologically altering her attitude towards nursing, as she does not have it when she is naturally hungry, thus she develops a fear of not being able to get it. Thus, when she nurses, she drinks too fast and anxiously. We know that stress lowers the immune system. Making a small child go hungry until meal time is a stress that is totally unnecessary. (Reminds me of the bottle-feeding days in the thirties for human babies. They were put on strict schedules to avoid disease, too.) Of course, bottle-feeding is totally unnatural. God created the mother-infant relationship, and He knew what He was doing. We would do well to respect that relationship, and just observe, instead of interfere.

As I said, our 6 week old calf has always been with her mother, and has never had scours. Her coat shines. She spends her days sleeping and chasing the chickens that she shares a pasture with. (Not the best situation for egg production, but it helps keep the fly population down, as they scratch through the paddies eating the larvae.)

-- daffodyllady (daffodyllady@yahoo.com), May 08, 2001.