I used to help my Uncle on his dairy far. He never had any milk fever problem. He did use blackstrap molasses when feeding them dry hay in the winter when the cows were in the barn (his place was in Indiana) and molasses contains not only glucose but calcium as well. He also used a freshening feed which contained molasses as well as other ingredients and never had a problem. Of course his best cows produced about 7.5 gallons of milk a day and now these "super cows" can produce 10 or 12 gallons. My Uncle a cow producing 7.5 gallons a day and being healthy was worth more in the barn than a cow producing 10 or 12 gallons a day and having the vet out once per week. Your extra income goes to the vet rather than in your pocket. I notice that you use apple cider vinegar. I see that done quite frequently.....must be great to use. Enjoy your channel. Happy Holidays!
Sounds like your uncle knew lots about dairy cows. My cows are grass fed and only produce 3-5 gallons daily. Yes, I feed apple cider vinegar and molasses to the cows. They seem to thrive, no vet visits in many years. Happy New Year!
@@texasfarmsteadliving-caren9517 Yes he did Caren. Thanks for your reply. You have a great you tube channel. Have a great year. I just subscribed yo your channel. Love it. Take care.
I hope this video will help all of you with family milk cows and those hopeful to have your own cow in the future. Milk fever is a subject each dairy cow owner needs to be aware of and have a plan of action in place if she were to present symptoms. Prevention is key! Thank you for watching and blessings!
I love how you dont wean the calf from the momma as you were saying in the video. I know some folks are all about the milk production, but its just stressful on both of them. You can still get a decent amount of milk.
If we leave the calf on the cow at all times then usually 1-2 gallons. Of course this depends on the cow, age of calf, stage of lactation, feed source. Some cows will not let their milk down if they are nursing a calf and this can be challenging.
I am curious if you feed any alfalfa in the last couple weeks? We have a family milk cow and have done it both ways, when we fed it our cow didn’t go down and when we cut it completely our girl did go down. We do a calcium bolus for prevention the day of labor and the next three days too
Our cows have their calves in the spring when spring grass is abundant and our cattle's diet is mostly grass, so they have lots to eat. We do somewhere between 4-2 weeks before calving quit feeding organic alfalfa pellets but due to having lots of grass we slow down feeding anyway. We never feed alfalfa hay anyway because we don't have a source for non-gmo. I am not a big fan of feeding too much alfalfa anyway so I am not sure even if we fed them a bit it would matter much. During this time we do continue to feed them 1/2 %/daily or less of their body weight of sorghum and oats soaked in ACV and molasses with a dairy mineral. They have salt blocks 100% of the time and a loose mineral free choice. We were completely grass fed for years and the cows didn't have the health they do today. For us, the tube before calving and after has worked for many years. When you cut out your cows alfalfa ration how did you replace it? Thank you for watching and I hope this helps! The learning curve is giant for dairy cows and they are so different than beef cattle. We are grass fed beef ranchers also.
Do you sell any of your Calfs or milk cows? I live in Texas too and will travel!!! I have an 11 year old jersey currently and love her. I’ve had her for almost 4 years now. She gets mastitis frequently and has had milk fever. Is high potency calcium gel the same as CMPK? I need another cow! Thank you for all the advice!
Hello, thank you for watching! We might sell some our cows because we are thinking of slowing down. I don't believe CMPK and high potency calcium are the same. Sorry your cow has mastitis frequently, no fun. Cows are like potato chips you can't have just one.😆
Hello Tracy, thank you for watching! I check the cow daily but we try to leave them alone quietly to avoid stress. If we see a problem we would milk her out. We usually start milking around two weeks after birth. Hope this helps!
I used to help my Uncle on his dairy far. He never had any milk fever problem. He did use blackstrap molasses when feeding them dry hay in the winter when the cows were in the barn (his place was in Indiana) and molasses contains not only glucose but calcium as well. He also used a freshening feed which contained molasses as well as other ingredients and never had a problem. Of course his best cows produced about 7.5 gallons of milk a day and now these "super cows" can produce 10 or 12 gallons. My Uncle a cow producing 7.5 gallons a day and being healthy was worth more in the barn than a cow producing 10 or 12 gallons a day and having the vet out once per week. Your extra income goes to the vet rather than in your pocket. I notice that you use apple cider vinegar. I see that done quite frequently.....must be great to use. Enjoy your channel. Happy Holidays!
Sounds like your uncle knew lots about dairy cows. My cows are grass fed and only produce 3-5 gallons daily. Yes, I feed apple cider vinegar and molasses to the cows. They seem to thrive, no vet visits in many years. Happy New Year!
@@texasfarmsteadliving-caren9517 Yes he did Caren. Thanks for your reply. You have a great you tube channel. Have a great year. I just subscribed yo your channel. Love it. Take care.
I hope this video will help all of you with family milk cows and those hopeful to have your own cow in the future. Milk fever is a subject each dairy cow owner needs to be aware of and have a plan of action in place if she were to present symptoms. Prevention is key! Thank you for watching and blessings!
I love how you dont wean the calf from the momma as you were saying in the video. I know some folks are all about the milk production, but its just stressful on both of them. You can still get a decent amount of milk.
Thank you for watching! Stress management is a priority at our farm, glad you agree.
very helpful- thank you!
Very good video and I'm going to take your advice for are milk cow! 🐄🐮 Thanks
Great video! Thank you for your knowledge! If you don't calf share, about how much milk can you still get per day? Thank you! Much love from Idaho!
Thank you! Our cows produce 3-4 gallons a day without calf sharing.
@@texasfarmsteadliving-caren9517 thank you!! And this is with leaving the calf on mama at all times?
If we leave the calf on the cow at all times then usually 1-2 gallons. Of course this depends on the cow, age of calf, stage of lactation, feed source. Some cows will not let their milk down if they are nursing a calf and this can be challenging.
Really awesome
Thank you for watching.
I am curious if you feed any alfalfa in the last couple weeks? We have a family milk cow and have done it both ways, when we fed it our cow didn’t go down and when we cut it completely our girl did go down. We do a calcium bolus for prevention the day of labor and the next three days too
Our cows have their calves in the spring when spring grass is abundant and our cattle's diet is mostly grass, so they have lots to eat. We do somewhere between 4-2 weeks before calving quit feeding organic alfalfa pellets but due to having lots of grass we slow down feeding anyway. We never feed alfalfa hay anyway because we don't have a source for non-gmo. I am not a big fan of feeding too much alfalfa anyway so I am not sure even if we fed them a bit it would matter much. During this time we do continue to feed them 1/2 %/daily or less of their body weight of sorghum and oats soaked in ACV and molasses with a dairy mineral. They have salt blocks 100% of the time and a loose mineral free choice. We were completely grass fed for years and the cows didn't have the health they do today. For us, the tube before calving and after has worked for many years. When you cut out your cows alfalfa ration how did you replace it? Thank you for watching and I hope this helps! The learning curve is giant for dairy cows and they are so different than beef cattle. We are grass fed beef ranchers also.
Do you sell any of your Calfs or milk cows? I live in Texas too and will travel!!! I have an 11 year old jersey currently and love her. I’ve had her for almost 4 years now. She gets mastitis frequently and has had milk fever. Is high potency calcium gel the same as CMPK? I need another cow! Thank you for all the advice!
Hello, thank you for watching! We might sell some our cows because we are thinking of slowing down. I don't believe CMPK and high potency calcium are the same. Sorry your cow has mastitis frequently, no fun. Cows are like potato chips you can't have just one.😆
Clove is a brown swiss??
thank you
So what are all the symptoms of milk fever?
What causes this milk fever?
Do you milk any at all when baby is born to prevent engorgement?
Hello Tracy, thank you for watching! I check the cow daily but we try to leave them alone quietly to avoid stress. If we see a problem we would milk her out. We usually start milking around two weeks after birth. Hope this helps!