Going to oad?

[raeleigh26]

Copper is 2 months old, bottle baby (dexter jersey)
Dude is just under 5 months, has been on a tad nursing schedule, and I've been cutting him to oad so I can milk Maggie for 2 weeks now,
Maggie is putting out just under half gallon tad, the other weaned calves are getting 1 1/2 lb grower tad, as I've been working on moving them all to pasture to cut my feed bill, all doing well on pasture for 3 weeks, though I'd like to see Yubie gaining faster.
Anyway. My boys are ready to wean, planning on copper being off MR by 11 weeks , so my thinking is that I'll put copper on oad bottle with dude nursing oad, and feed everyone oad.
What effect will this have on Maggie if she's only milked or nursed oad? She's the only variable.

[zephyrhillsusan]

Just to clarify, you're milking Maggie TAD and getting half a gallon each time and Dude is nursing her OAD for two weeks, having cut back from TAD? Is that the total production you and calves are taking from Maggie? How long ago did Maggie freshen? Just trying to be sure before giving any advice.

[raeleigh26]

4 months, Dec 18 th she lost her calf, dude was getting all of it until about a week ago(little more, but I didn't record it as our start was shaky), when I started milking at night, nursing him in the morning. They weren't separated, but she won't allow him to nurse unless it's at the feed bin. So it's been supervised nursing from day 1.
I have milked her am, and production is exactly the same, almost half gallon.

[zephyrhillsusan]

I think, raeleigh26 , that I would probably pull the calf, then keep milking TAD for a week or two to see how it goes before dropping down to OAD.  She should start to decrease her production with less demand.  It's really hard to guess how much Dude was taking, so you can't really judge her total production to know how much extra milk you'd be leaving in her.  I think that omitting one milking AND omitting the calf nursing at the same time is a big jump and might contribute to a potential for mastitis.  Then again, I tend to be a bit more of a worrywart.    hoperefuge , do you have any advice?

[hoperefuge]

Yes, zephyrhillsusan is definitely a worry-wart!  LOL

Sounds to me like she's producing about a gallon/day, and at that rate you're really not going to risk mastitis by going to OAD.  What you *might* risk is her drying off because of the decreased demand, but only 4 months in, I would HOPE she'd keep going for a bit longer for you.

How badly do you want the milk?  You could milk TAD for a while, freezing the extra to use later when she's dried off, and see how she does before trying OAD.  Switching to OAD, they usually drop their production by about half pretty quickly.

I personally never milk more than OAD, even with my Jersey/Dexter cross.  She'll usually keep going for me about 2 months after weaning a 7mo calf, tapering slowly off from about 1 1/2 gallons to 1 gallon, and then I dry her off. (If that helps you at all)

Kim

[raeleigh26]

Awesome, ty.
I've frozen store bought milk before, but real milk is totally different, is there a process? Or do I just put it in. ..jar? Bag? Surely not plastic?
Should I remove air, or freeze as is after pastureizing? Maggie doesn't give much cream, but if she did, would it be best to skim the cream first?
I know. ..I'm kind of anal about details...
Will a jar break? That'd be best for the space I have, but I don't want to risk them breaking.

[hoperefuge]

I don't bother pasteurizing or skimming cream.  I've used either washed & sanitized plastic 1/2 gal. juice jugs (just not from a strong flavored juice...the plastic will absorb the flavor & smell of the juice, then so will your milk), or gallon freezer bags.  Once the milk is chilled, I put it in the freezer...plastic jugs with the lids on loosely (leave plenty of extra space at the top for expansion when it freezes; tighten lids down once frozen), bags lying flat, extra air removed (they can be stacked once frozen).  The only problem with the bags is they get holes poked in them very easily, and then it's a pain when thawing them out.  Canning jars should be fine for freezing, too, I just never have enough extra to use.

When you thaw it out, you just need to get it back up to about 100*, or the cream will stay chunky.  The flavor is usually a bit different from fresh, but it's still better than store milk!

Kim

[Deleted]

I agree with you i also use it