A reader writes:

I was unable to download pictures of Bell due to some technical difficulties. however, I have not been giving her any feed; she has been on pasture only. She has also had mineral. So it seems to me the only thing that could be making her fat is maybe “baby fat” that she developed when she was with her mother. I am wanting to go to the KY state fair and I already have a stall reserved, How can I get her to an acceptable weight? My dad says that she probably weighs 600 lbs

Ellen Shipley

Hi Ellen,

It doesn’t sound to me like your heifer is grotesquely overweight. If, as you believe, that she just has a little baby fat, then a little extra walking might do the trick. Try putting as much space between the pasture and the water as you can, so she has to walk to it.

If you are having trouble uploading pictures to this site, let our webmaster know, and she will set you up your own account so you can upload here.

Let us know how you do at the fair.

Good Day,
Wayne
The Dairy Dude

A reader writes:

I am 15 and showing a Jersey born in Sept. of 2008. She stayed with her mother until about she was 6-months old, and now she is in a field with a Holstein steer, grazing 24/7.

The two shows I have taken her to, the judges said that she was too fat. How much should she weigh? Do I need to keep her up and give her feed or just get her up at night to keep her from grazing? She isn’t extremely overweight; you can see her ribs pretty well. Do you have any suggestions?

Ellen

Hi Ellen,

I am happy to see that you have an interest in dairy animals,me too.

From my experience your heifer should weigh in the 500 lb range at a year old, 750 at 16 months, and 900-1000lbs at 2 years. Being on her mother for 6 months, she put on more size before weaning, and more fat.

You didn’t say what kind of grain mix she is getting, or how much. I normally wean our heifers at 50-60 days, and give them 3lbs of ground shell corn twice a day. Don’t cut back on the pasture at all, but you can cut back on the grain a pound or so a day, until it starts getting cold.

Make sure she has access to free choice mineral and salt at all times, as well as a good supply of fresh water. Also, do you have any materials to learn how to score body condition? If not you can call your local extension agent, or your vet and they should be able to get you that info. Check back at www.thedairydude.com, our webmaster is working on getting that information posted.

Good luck at the shows. Email a picture if you can!

Wayne
The Dairy Dude

Another letter from a reader. Is it me, or is everyone just wound up these days?

Dear Wayne:

I just read your article from the March/April issue of Countryside magazine. I was surprized [sic]to find someone who presents themselves as an expert on cows to recommend that people feed them grains. As cows are ruminants, they are designed for one thing; eating grass. Grains to them are like candy to a child. It creates all sorts of health problems. Have you heard of grass-fed organic cattle? They don’t need antibiotics, etc. just to appear healthy, they are healthy.

Also, since you were writing about a dairy cow, do you recommend that all milk be pasteurized?

In Vibrant Health,

Frank
Frank W. Szabo
Pennsylvania State Coordinator
We The People Congress

Hi Frank,

Thanks for the response. I’m only an expert on my cows, not anyone else’s.

As a matter of fact, I have heard of grass-fed organic cattle. I am an award-winning producer for Organic Valley. We feed our cows grain here in northern Wisconsin in the winter. Grass is a little hard to come by at twenty below, you know?

Your concern about milk quality is much appreciated. Perhaps you would be interested in the following article: Epidemic: Two-thirds of the milk supply is infected.

As for pasteurizing milk, I believe everyone should have the same choice as I do–raw or pasteurized. It’s not my job to make food choices for others. (But I prefer mine raw and whole.)

Cheers,

Wayne
The Dairy Dude

Every cow is different, but there a few universal signs that you’re about to have an addition to your herd. Taking time to assess the situation can prevent the stresses of calving for you and your animal.

1. Nesting. When you notice the cow has moved away from the rest of the herd, and seems to be making a “nest” this is the time to move her to the birthing area or dry cow pen in a pinch.
2. Mucous Plug. You’ll notice a clear gelatinous-like discharge, sometimes tinted pink, will begin to show from the vaginal area. The darker the mucous discharge, the closer she is to calving.
3. Movement. The cow will lay down and push for a few minutes (sometimes longer), and then stand up and check for the calf. She will do this repeatedly.
4. Visual Confirmation. If the calf is coming correctly you will see two front feet and a nose, nose on top. If the calf isn’t presenting in this position you have a problem. Unless you have experience delivering breech or otherwise twisted calves, call your vet immediately.

Below is a short video of Jazz, a Jersey, calving. It was a Shorthorn cross:

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A Countryside reader sent me an e-mail with some questions about her Jersey cow.

Thanks so much for the article about watering cattle in the jan/feb Countryside magazine. My whole family enjoys reading the magazine, and we learn so much. At the end of your article, you stated that we could email you with questions about caring for dairy cattle. I have a Jersey dairy cow. She is bred and due in March. I am no longer milking her, as she was down to less than .5 gallon per day. I feed her 10 % sweet feed and good hay - grass hay w/clover and also alfalfa hay. She also has a salt/mineral lick block and all the water she needs. I’m doing my best to take care of her. She is skinny though. If I feed her too much, she gets diarrhea. But, I do want to make sure I feed her enough. Do you have any recommendations? What could I do better? I’d really like to fatten her up before she gets her calf.
Thanks for a great magazine, and I would appreciate any advice!

Thanks for the e-mail. I read your questions, and without more detail I can only give you general recommendations.

Your ration (amount of feed daily) for a dry cow should run about 12% protein. Typically, Jerseys weigh somewhere around 1,000 lbs. Your cow needs about 4% of her body weight in dry matter intake (see formula) daily. From my experience, only 5-8lbs. should be from grain. The grassy clover that you spoke of should make up the rest of the ration.

DMI formula for dry cows

A 1,000 lb dry cow needs 4% of her body weight in dry matter intake (DMI). 1000 x .04 = 40lbs. This is the total amount of dry matter. For dry cows, grain should make up no more than 8 lbs. I find for my dry Jerseys, 5 lbs. of grain is about right. Once you have determined how much grain to feed, add enough haylage/dry hay to equal 40 lbs. DMI.

1.       Weigh your grain and hay separately. Multiply the weight of the grain by .13 (This is the average moisture content of most stored grains. If the moisture is higher it will mold and become unusable.)

2.       Multiply the weight of the hay by .15 (This is the optimum moisture level of properly stored hay.)

3.       Add the two numbers together. This is the Dry Matter Intake (DMI) of your animals.

4.       To determine the DMI for each animal estimate its weight and multiply by .04 to find four percent of the animal’s body weight.

On our farm, all dry matter for dry cows is haylage or dry hay of medium quality-120 relative feed value RFV)). To find the RFV, take a sample from the middle of each bale. Call your local extension office to learn how to send in the samples for testing.

I strongly advise you not to feed high quality alfalfa to dry cows, especially Jerseys, as you will end up with milk fever at calving.

As far as being skinny, is she skin and bones, or just slightly under weight? Remember, feeding too much protein will cause diarrhea, which in turn leads to weight loss.

If she is extremely thin you should have a vet check her out as it could be a metabolic issue, Johnes, or  sub-clinical ketosis.

Please resist the temptation the “fatten “her up. An overweight cow will have problems at calving. Over-conditioning often leads  to ketosis  and or  milk fever, not to mention  the physical stresses of delivering a large calf fattened in the womb.

This evening I was letting the cows in for the evening milking. As usual, I opened the gate and stood off to the side so that I was out of the way. This way I can observe the girls as they enter. This gives me the opportunity to check breeding status, and also look for sick or injured animals.

Everything was fine until Princess Leah (a recently fresh Jersey heifer) came in. I noticed that she was limping on her left rear foot. The ground wasn’t quite frozen yet, so I assumed that it was a rock wedged in between her hoof. She was in between 2 other animals so I decided to milk first, put everyone else back out, and attend to her.

After everyone else went back outside I grabbed a rope to restrain her (safer for her and me).

I got out my hoof knife and began probing for a rock, there wasn’t one. My next step was to clean the rest of the hoof off to determine if there was a puncture wound. It was during this process that the culprit was found, a broken hoof tip, tender but not overly serious. I cleaned it up, untied her, and gave her some alfalfa (her favorite treat). She will stay in for a few days, and then she can go back out.

If it had been something more serious, I may have called the vet if I was unsure, cheaper to pay the vet than lose one of the girls.

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Mike Collins, DVM, PhD, University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine and an internationally recognized authority on Johne’s Disease (JD), estimates that two-thirds of the nation’s dairy farms are infected to some degree with JD. This epidemic is being ignored because most of the contaminated farms are anything but farms; they are confined animal feeding operations. And don’t make the mistake of believing that just because a large farm is “certified organic” that the animals there a disease-free. They’re not.

I recently made the decision to have my entire herd tested—25 lactating and 5 dry cows and a half-dozen or so young stock. I made this decision after another organic producer, certified by MOSA, sold me a JD positive cow. I became suspicious right after she calved; my suspicions were confirmed by a test administered by our vet. The cow and her calf were sent to the dairy auction at a loss. I contacted the “farmer” I bought the cows from just to let him know he had a problem. He is on the board of Horizon Organic, and I thought he might be interested. I was wrong. This “organic” producer has hundreds of animals. Just like large conventional farms, he has problems managing such a big herd, and his quality suffers because of it, but he makes up for the loss in quality through quantity.

When another cow purchased at the same time from the same source began to lose body condition, I decided to have my whole herd tested. It will take some time, maybe a couple of years, but I’m determined to provide disease-free milk to consumers. This is an opportunity for small-scale producers to rid their herds of disease. The commercial dairies, organic and conventional, have no intention of culling their JD positive cows. They’re into quantity, not quality.

Emaciated cows with chronic diarrhea should be suspect if the condition fails to improve. However, the symptoms of JD in the early stages are so non-specific, if evident at all, that diagnosing the disease must be done by a veterinarian trained in diagnosing it. There are no sign of the infection until the animal is 2-5 years old. The disease most often “breaks” at calving time. Calves born to infected mothers are infected through ingesting colostrum or from contact with feces during the birthing process.

Bovine Veterinarian/October 2008 has an excellent article on the Johne’s epidemic. Well worth the read.

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