Family Cow 101

I asked my friend, Matron of Husbandry, my cow mentor, to have a look at Joy. Her milk suddenly dropped and of course the grass is gone….covered in snow at the moment and with all my recent issues with my health, I forgot to increase her grain ration for the winter. Matron commented one day that Joy was looking a bit lean. So I sent her a few photos and she chose two to help me get Joy’s condition stronger heading into winter. Here’s what she had to say….and with her permission, I’ve copied it so you too can learn and do what’s best by your cow girl!

“I think the hardest part of family cow management is the perceived notions of how a dairy cow should look compared to a beef cow, and this is often perpetuated by the simple fact that many, many dairy cows are too thin, and so it is accepted as fact.  It is fact, but a symptom of getting information from an industry, and also dairy cows are now fed too much grain which of course, ups production, whereas grass produces less milk, but allows the cow on her natural diet to be healthy, maintain condition and give milk.

Left side view:  At a glance to see if your dairy cow is fat or not, you need to concentrate your gaze above the yellow line to the topside of the cow.  The stomach area below the yellow line has to hold and process around a 50 pound bale of hay a day.  Just picture a small square (which is really a rectangle) bale of hay plus 20 gallons of water in the cow’s stomach and you get the picture.  That area should be big.  It helps if you check daily the red triangle area which shows you how full the rumen really is.  You want it to look a little fuller than Joy’s appears in this photo.  Too full, extended above the short ribs would be bloat, and that is bad, so you want to see a happy medium.  The blue larger triangle is where you check the back and rib bones.  You know the bones are there but they should not be so pronounced.  You want to see a little bit of fat covering and definitely not a ribby look where the ribs are clearly defined.  This area is where the milk reserve is, and Joy has about used hers up. For Joy I think a combination of things is happening that this is the path for this lactation.  She freshened in mid-fall when the available grazing is going downhill, just like our gardens, and Buddy has nursed at will for most of this time.  Cows make milk on demand and will produce themselves into chronic sickness.  The first three months a cow will really produce and peak and then the milk production levels off or declines depending on genetics, feed availability, and how much milk you take.  Joy being a good mama, like you, wanted to feed her baby no matter what. So she most likely is producing more than she needs too.  You can look at her missing flesh on her back and see it on the little guy.  He is beautiful and in good shape.  To remedy this somewhat you can only let him nurse twice a day.  He is plenty big and old enough for that type of schedule.  And make sure her udder is completely empty each time either milked out by him or you.  That should slow down her production some and help her keep some of the groceries for herself.  She may not gain weight at this point in her lactation though, too much extra grain could just stimulate more milk, remember hay and grass for condition, grain for milk production.

3 weeks after

Back view:  Looking at the blue square on Joy’s back to assess her body condition to see if she is thin or not, lay a ruler on her backbone extending over her short ribs.  If there is a gap underneath she is thin, if there is no daylight showing under the ruler her body condition would be fine.  Another good way to tell is to look at a photo of this same area pre-calving, compare the two and I think you will see a stark difference.  I drew the red squares also just because her hook and pins should have some fat padding.  It’s a good sign she’s coming in heat.  She will probably pick up over time and be in great shape by the next go around.  What a sweet girl you have – and she is lucky to have you!” (emphasis mine! I like that part)

3 weeks after

With my untrained eyes (and Matron agreed) it looks like Joy has started to put on a little meat to help her get through the winter AND feed Buddy Burger AND us. I’m trying to find a good ration for her and hopefully I have at Countryside Naturals. This feed is labeled for both beefers and milkers, so Joy is being supplemented with Crystal Creek Dairy Glow, because the ration is probably more for the beefer. Thank the Lord Countryside has a “local” drop within an hours drive so I can save the shipping cost!!!! Too bad I didn’t know about this for the past year since I’ve been paying royally for UPS to drop it at my door….oh well, they need jobs too.

I hope this has helped you as much as it has helped me.

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