permaculture

["Lisa Rollens" <rollens@fidnet.com>]

Hi Amy,

What you would like is exactly what I have done thru 3 lactations with my 
cow.  I started off at about day 3 putting the calf up in the barn at night. 
I then milk in the morning, bringing the cow in and tying her right across 
the gate from her baby.  After a few days I put a rope on the calf and tie 
him near the cow's head.  You end up with a halter broke calf in just a few 
days, but watch him carefully because he will about kill himself before he 
understands the leadline.  Get a regular calf halter.

I grassfeed the cow, but give her a half scoop of alfalfa pellets after I 
milk her.  She has to stand and be nice before she gets a treat!  I leave 
the calf with the baby all day in the pasture and then separate them again 
at night.  It's not long before the calf almost goes in by himself, and 
mother goes out to pasture willingly.

Yes, the cow will give a whole bunch of milk at first and the calf is not 
big enough to use it.  Cow's production goes down esp when she is grassfed. 
I think that we are limiting the production by only grassfeeding. 
Industrial ag folks feed lots of carbos to increase milk production to the 
max.  But our cows should live much longer healthier lives!

The cow will be producing her maximum at 3-4 months lactation because that's 
when the calf is getting most of his nutrition from the mom.  After about 4 
months he gets a substantial portion from pasture and mom's milk tends to go 
down.  You will not want to wean the calf till about 8 months or so, but 
don't wait too long or you might have a calf that turns into a cow and has a 
calf of her own and still thinks she needs to nurse her mother....not a good 
situation!  You may have a problem trying to wean only one calf, and if you 
have a friend who has a similar aged calf, you might want to put them 
together for a while.  They will keep each other company and not even notice 
mom is no longer around.

Anther thing to expect...that mom might not let down her milk willingly when 
it's you who wants it and the calf is standing right there.  Sometimes I 
have to let the calf have a suckle or two and then wash mom and milk her. 
That's when the halter and lead come in handy.  Just pull the calf away and 
tie him back up again.  After the calf is weaned and out of the picture she 
drops her milk just fine for me.

Good luck!  If you have any more questions, just ask.  Hope this helps! 
Lisa

PS  At this calf's age, when you milk in the morning milk it all out!  She 
will make more for the calf during the day and that will help increase 
production a little.  Besides, you won't get it all anyway!  Also, if you 
let the calf loose after milking, you won't have to strip and teat dip and 
all that....the calf will do it for you.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Amy Little" <amylittle@hvc.rr.com>
To: <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Monday, June 28, 2010 6:59 PM
Subject: [permaculture] Milking a single dairy cow with calf


> Hi Folks,
> Any of you with experience with a dairy cow: We have a single mother with 
> a 3 month old calf who is with her and nursing. She was giving us 2-4 
> gallons twice a day but has slowed up to barely a gallon in two milkings.
> So... the questions:
> Is this something we should expect?
> What is the best way to wean?
> Could we cut back to one milking a day if we wean?
>
> We would really like to keep calf with mother, keep mother grass-fed, and 
> keep getting milk for us.
>
> Any advice welcome,
> Amy
>
> _______________________________________________
> permaculture mailing list
> permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
> Subscribe or unsubscribe here:
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/permaculture
> Google command to search archives:
> site:https://lists.ibiblio.org/sympa/arc/permaculture searchstring