butter bucket presented us with a beautiful little bull calf yesterday afternoon about 5:30. he is a beautiful dun even tho mom and dad are both red dexters. about 7 pm hubby worried that the calf wasnt getting any milk. he was right! her teats were swollen so much that they were cone shaped and the tips had glued themselves shut. he washed them with warm water and they began literally squirting milk! today we decided to try milking her out to get her more relief. we got almost 2 gallons of colostrum! it is very creamy yellow, is that right? there are no signs of lumps or stringyness. we dont know when the calf ate last but there was no way he was gonna take that hard thing in his mouth! we will try again in a couple hours. we arent really set up for her milking so it was really funny to watch! we have a bucket milker that we barely have instruction on using and no stanchion! hubby held her halter while i kept baby close and ran the milker. as soon as she realized what relief she was getting she actually layed her head on hubbys arm! we havent decided on once a day or twice a day milking. we need 1 gallon per day for the 3 of us and it would be a lot simpler to let baby nurse but that decision will be made in a few days. peace connie in alaska
Connie it is wonderful to hear from you and Congrat's on the new addition. Hope that the little one will be back on mom soon and I am sure all will work itself out.
You have been in my thoughts and hope to hear more....
Grace Gerber Larkspur Funny Farm and Fiber Art Studio
Sounds like you got a nice cow. Baby will get better at latching on and eating. At first it takes them a little bit. Once he does the cow should soften up. Colostrum will be yellow. I usually freeze a gallon or two, just in case another cow calves and has problems, that way the calf gets some colostrum. Good luck Michele
Congrats on the new baby! I hope the calf is doing well today! I envy you all that yummy sweet milk you will have soon plus all that cream! YUMMY. Every spring/summer I get intense farm-envy when you ladies get dairy animals that can be milked! LOL And I agree with Michele! It sounds like Butter Bucket is a super sweet cow.
Sounds like you will be swimming in milk soon. I hope the calf figures it all out. Did you bottle feed him the colostrum though? Maybe she will be one of those cows that you can milk without a stanchion. That would be great. If I milk Mazie I am hoping to just do it in the field. Good luck with yours. That milk is so good.
Oh....congrats!!! We always milk twice a day at first, even with the calf on her full time. Then we go down to once a day gradually...less likely to get mastitis that way. Sounds like she is a great producer for a dexter..thats nice!! It will be about a week until the colostrum clears. I am so excited for you!
sherry
bend in the high desert
oregon
USA
3775 Posts
Posted - Jun 21 2010 : 2:16:00 PM
oh happy days on your farm. so yummy. i love cow milk raw. hey jenny whats up with mona. still waiting to hear.no oalves here yet either. happy days sherrye
the learn as we go silk purse farm farm girl #1014
thank you ladies for all the good wishes. the calf has gotten on the program and is eating nicley. in fact tonight while i was milking he latched on lol it was so cute! it looks like we couldnt get too lucky tho, i think butter bucket has mastitus in one quarter. *sigh* i noticed a string of gunk hanging from it after i milked her out. getting her in the shed didnt go as smoothly tonight as it did with hubby helping but son did his best. i am freezing the colostrum because the baby wont take the bottle. when i take him offher i fiugre that i can thaw and give it to him at that time for a little "pick me up". i am just drooling thinkingn about the milk and cream we will sooon have! with milk at $3.49 a gallon and butter at over $3 a pound i can break even with only a gallon per day! we got a gallon tonight. i am now totally exhausted after the milking and clean up so am off to bed. sweet dreams ladies. peace connie in alaska
sherry
bend in the high desert
oregon
USA
3775 Posts
Posted - Jun 22 2010 : 07:46:06 AM
happy for you connie, is the calf with mom all day. she will keep her milked out. this will in turn help the mastitus. so cute when they latch on for sure. i never was able to get much milk and NO cream till i weaned calf. we would lock baby up at night milk in am and then give baby to mom for day. worked really well except no cream line really. heres hoping each days gets you a higher cream line. happy days sherrye
the learn as we go silk purse farm farm girl #1014
the calf is with momma all the time but her back teats get so severely swollen that he cannot latch on to them., they look like a pyrimid and even hand milking it you can barely get a hold of an inch of teat! i checked that milk last night and no sign of mastitus. after contacting a dairy farmer friend of mine it seems that the signs of mastitus are actually from inflamation rather than infection. he says it will go down soon especially if i rub bag galm on her every day. i dont know if i am getting all of the cream or not, i milk till it quits. peace connie
new calf and first milking
Posted - Jun 20 2010 : 8:34:26 PM
