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Post by chris on Jun 23, 2011 20:02:13 GMT -5
I have a pregnant cow, should be 4 months along now, who seems to be lactating. I caught her 1 year old bull calf nursing this afternoon. I reached down and pull the teat and sure enough, I got milk out. A search online found zilch. Anyone else come across this before?
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Post by copperhead on Jun 23, 2011 21:03:20 GMT -5
You've really got to watch them, a calf nursing can sure bring them back into milk. You need to get her away from the calf and let her dry off, I have one that won't wean her babies at all, we always wind up selling her calf because she will let them them nurse from now on. If you don't have a place to seperate them you can put a weaning "ring" in the calfs nose and that will stop the nursing problem.
P.J.
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Post by otf on Jun 24, 2011 6:40:15 GMT -5
You may have another problem, and that could be that her bull calf bred her. Yes, it could happen, even at 8 months of age! He needs to be separated from his mother.
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Post by Star Creek Dexters on Jun 24, 2011 7:13:41 GMT -5
Hmmm...this is interesting. I ditto the seperation of the bull calf because of the reason that he could have bred his mama. But, seeing as she is already 4 months bred, there's not much you can do about the possibility now.
But I don't see such a huge problem with her being in lactation while pregnant. I milk my cows until about 8 weeks before they calve again. I haven't seen a problem yet.
Just my experience.
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Post by chris on Jun 24, 2011 15:21:09 GMT -5
The cow has been dried off since September. And the calf didn't breed her, we had him in a separate pasture at the time. My confusion is I've never seen a cow start lacating again before calving, and I can't seem to fund anything about it anywhere else.
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Post by kansasdexters on Jun 24, 2011 17:27:44 GMT -5
Hi Chris,
We have two Dexter cows that never really "dry off". We can separate them from their calves at 8 or 9 months and they will have milk for several months afterwards, then they will calve again and they will have plenty of colostrum (so somehow it does convert over). Both of these cows maintain body condition, have plenty of milk for their new calf and they don't show any adverse effect from this. The older one, River Bend Fancy (ADCA #11147), is 11 years old now. She is due to calve in about 2 weeks. We had to separate her from her calf from last year, 6 weeks ago, because she was still nursing her. Fancy's udder is starting to appear full and she is expecting her 9th calf. Her body condition is very good and she will be bred back about 60 days after calving. I don't worry about her anymore -- she just does what comes naturally and normally for her. I'm the one that needed to learn her schedule.
Patti
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Post by Olga on Jun 25, 2011 17:08:10 GMT -5
As long as the cow is maintaining good body condition you don't have to worry about it - just make sure you separate her from the old calf when she is about 3 or 2 months away from calving.
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Post by ctownson on Jun 25, 2011 20:22:33 GMT -5
I think Olga is right. I would separate her about 3 months from projected calving date. That gives her time to condition and prepare for the calf.
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