Arranged for a new cow!

[niglefritz]

We will be getting a milking shorthorn in 2 months. I am SOOO excited! She is 60 percent M.S. and 40 Brown Swiss. She will be bred to M.S. Hopefully...she has a heifer calf next spring.

[Peppygal]

I'm so excited for you. My mini Jersey is due to calve in mid July and this will be my first experience milking. I'm hoping it goes well for both of us.

[niglefritz]

You have a mini jersey? How us that like to milk? Regular jerseys have such small teats. I can only imagine.

Where did you get her? How much was she? What is she bred to?

Are you aware how to feed her in her last month before calving? You feed lesser quality feed, no grains, and have calcium drench on hand.

when you go to milk her, give her only a tiny bit of grains to start 1/2-1c. Build this up slowly over a couple of weeks. Milk fever is nothing that you will want to deal with.

What we find works well to reduce some kicking and greed, as well as calm the cow is to feed the cow first in the milking stall, let her finish (talk gently to her & brush her all over including the udder with a stiff brush...it may take her a bit to get used to this), and when you both are finished, milk then. We use a large hair clip on a piece of twine tied to the wall to help hold the tail back.

How exciting! Let me know how things go.

[Peppygal]

Yes, after years of searching, I finally got a mini Jersey. Actually, I'm up to 4 now, 3 heifers and a bull. I was unable to find any in Canada, so I imported them from the states. Oh, that was fun;) As far as I know, I will be the first breeder in Canada of mini Jerseys, unless they are very well hidden. I am working closely with my vet since this will be the first calf I've ever had. She is bred to another mini Jersey. I am quite nervous and hoping everything goes well. I'm not sure what she'll be like to milk, never done that before either.

[niglefritz]

We are always nervous when calving gets close. You can't control all of the variables. Usually everything goes well.

If I hear of anyone wanting a mini jersey, what might you be asking if and when you plan to sell? If you don't know or don't wish to post publically that is fine.

We toyed briefly with the idea years ago, but like you, could only find them in the US and They were pricey. We also were not willing to do the border hassles either. So...we bought a regular one when we found a source. ; )

[Peppygal]

Too wet outside to do much, so getting some updates done. My heifer had her calf a week ago today. Little fawn bull calf. Took 3 days to get him to nurse but seems to be off to the races now. He is 53 pounds and 23" tall and cute as a button. So glad the heifer had no problems.

[niglefritz]

Good to hear.

We pick up our new girl on Saturday.

[niglefritz]

Update on our new cow...she is an odd one in some ways, but that could be due to her conditioning to a dairy barn with very modern facilities/a supplement that we may be missing.

She will not come to rolled barley and so we have been tricking her to get close to a fence (long green grass works...for now), then grabbing a rope hanging from her halter and then attempting to lead her into the tiny barn.

Her milk dropped substantially when we got her home, but she had to get used to A LOT of changes...new small herd (she is a princess and is at the top), being outside, hand milking, not getting pushed to the milking parlor with a herd, hand milking, our "new and improved"...yuck...municipal water and more.

The milk has now finally picked up a bit, and as much as it is a whole lot less than she gave before, is an ample supply for our use. We think that she figured that that water is the only stuff she can get and so just started drinking it anyway. She is eating lots of hay (the pasture grass is short).

The leading is getting easier. We still need to see what supplement she had...she might take to the grain better then...and our cream would increase. My dh gave her a bit of duckling food as an experiment and she had a couple of tastes and seemed to like it. Maybe it has something she is missing. Molasses did not interest her one bit.

She leads okay and stands very well. A tiny bit of fidgeting happens, but no kicks. Milking is easy, and she is very curious about us.

Her name is Princess Buttercup, by the way, after the lead character in The Princess Bride.

She is brindle colored, which we found very unique.

[Peppygal]

Finally found time to check out the forum. Happy to hear you finally got your cow. Sounds like she will come around nicely for you. Don't know if you have a Masterfeeds near you, but they carry a Dairy Ration. My cow enjoys it and it's suppose to help with milk production. Love the name. Can't tell you how many times I've watched that movie;)

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