Lynn’s Dairylike Ruler
Dairy cows are meant to be milked. In order to be milked they need to reproduce. Your aim is for your cow to calve every 12 months on roughly the same day from the age of 2 years. Failure to keep her in calf may make her infertile. It isn’t cruel, it’s what they have been designed to do. Provided you are kind and patient; feed and house her well and give her at least 8 weeks maternity leave each year she will love you. You are her special calf.
The timetable below is roughly what you should try to achieve for the lifetime of your dairy cow.
| Date of Birth | Your new heifer is born. |
| 2 weeks | De bud, ear tag and tattoo if registered or ear mark |
| At 3 months | Vaccinate with 7 in 1 injection 1 |
| 3 months 1 week | Vaccinate with 7 in 1 injection 2 |
| Approx. 6 months | Wean. I sometimes leave mine on the cow for longer if it is convenient not to milk each day.
WARNING : any sudden drop in milk quantity or quality (or the body weight of your cow) indicates something is wrong. You may need to feed her more or call the vet as she may have a condition called Ketosis which can be fatal. Your cow will become unsteady on her legs and stop eating. Her milk will also start to dry up. This can be rectified with Ketol administered orally but you may also need an appetite stimulant as they lose interest in food. ANY ANIMAL WHO ISN’T INTERESTED IN FOOD IS A SICK ANIMAL. CALL THE VET. If you haven’t already, now is a good time to get a halter on your calf and tie it up for an hour or so. I put halters on mine quite young and try to handle them regularly. Remember if they are wearing a halter you MUST check it often to make sure it doesn’t get tight and damage their little noses. I use weaning clips. They look horrible but in fact they seem to be quite harmless. You can then leave the calf with its mother for a week or so without it being able to drink. Then when I separate them into different paddocks they don’t seem to be as traumatised and don’t bellow. Don’t leave them on for more than 2 weeks as they will make the septum sore in the nose. Remember, if you wean your calf you will need to milk every day or else find a foster calf.
|
| 13 months | Think about getting her pregnant. AI or bull. You want her in calf by 15 months and she may not conceive first time. |
| 24 months | Your heifer should have her first calf |
| Calving | When my cows calve I wait 24 hours then I milk them until they are quite soft and even in all 4 quarters. The first 24 hours ensures the calf gets its colostrum but it is important to relieve the pressure. Some maiden cows won’t be very full but others like my Stacey are huge.
A couple of days after her first calf I thought Stacey was lame but her udder was so large it was rubbing against her legs making her sore. I applied hand cream which helped.
In her case I milked her twice a day until her udder settled down.
The first milk is very yellow as it contains the colostrum. Most people don’t drink this but others consider it to be very beneficial due to the anti bodies. It makes wonder egg custard.
|
| 27 months | She needs to be pregnant again. |
| 27 months | AI/Bull, vaccination booster |
| 7 months pregnant | Dry her off, vaccinate in order to cover the calf – 7 in 1 – I put a tube of Dry Cow intra mammary paste into each teat to ward of infections during the dry period and help prevent mastitis.
I feed Lead pellets during the last 4 weeks of pregnancy to increase the calcium and phosphorus levels which will help prevent milk fever and ketosis.
I always keep 2 sachets of a calcium, magnesium & Phosphorus solution in the fridge just in case.
|
| 3 years old | She gives birth to her second calf. |
Local House Cows 