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Beulah Petunia, lumbering across the field when she sees me.
Does this cow look pregnant? Anyone have a clue?
Here’s how she looked in April:
She looked big. She’s a cow.
Here’s how she looks now:
She looks big. She’s a cow.
Back in April, a vet and his assistant said they thought she was three months pregnant. They went in there and said they felt a calf.
By the way, after that episode, which took place in the milking parlor, it was days before I didn’t have to push, pull, prod, and beg to get BP to go back into her milking parlor. Lesson to you: Don’t let a vet go there in the same place you milk the cow. The cow doesn’t like it and they won’t want to go back there, just in case you have some other fun in mind. How do they know what you’re up to? You might be planning anything! So do the pregnancy testing somewhere else!
If the vet and his assistant were right, then she’s about six months pregnant now. The vet predicted she was due sometime between mid-October and mid-November. (Cows are pregnant about nine months.) One would think that the vet knows what he’s doing….. But she looks the same to me!
What do you think?
Loading ...Notice I didn’t give you an I don’t know choice. Somebody around here’s got to be decisive, and it’s not going to be me.
Assuming she’s pregnant, she should be dried up at least two months before she has a calf. Since I’m going out of town (again) in a couple of weeks (for Ross’s boot camp graduation), I decided it would be best to go ahead and dry her up now. It’s hard on a cow to have a substitute milker. I’ve got all kinds of milk and buttermilk, cream and butter, put away in the freezer along with 20 pounds of cheddar aging in the cheese fridge. I’m ready to be without my milk cow for 3 months. (Or as ready as I’m going to be–I’m about out of freezer space.)
When I first got BP and was getting started milking, I had trouble getting enough. It took me a week or two to really get up to speed. I heard lots of dire warnings that she would dry up if I didn’t milk her out, and I was worried about it. Ha! The faucet is ON. The problem is with turning it OFF! I’ve been trying to dry her up for a month, and in particular really ramping up the efforts in the last couple of weeks. I’ve stopped giving her any high-protein feed at all and I only give her just enough corn (about half a coffee can) to get her to stick her head in the headlock so I can shut her in. I’ve got her down to just under a half-gallon of milk a day (milking once a day).
(While I have periodic thoughts of–is she really pregnant?)
Beulah Petunia, wondering if bothering with me is really worth a mere half coffee can of corn.
I’ve heard and read all kinds of conflicting advice about drying up cows. If you want to dry up a cow, you should: 1. Milk them in ever-lengthening intervals. Or– 2. Milk them out completely the last time and give them Go-Dry (dry cow antibiotic treatment.) Or– 3. Milk them every other day. Or– 4. Just stop milking, abruptly.
Conversation with Georgia’s brother, Nelson. He used to milk 5 cows before he went to school and he’s had cows all his life.
Me: “I don’t know how to get my cow dried off.”
Nelson: “Stop milking her.”
Me: “But I’m worried she’ll get sick.”
Nelson: “Stop milking her.”
Me: “But don’t I have to–”
Nelson: “Stop milking her.”
Me: “But–”
Nelson: “Stop milking her.”
It could be that I’m making this too complicated. And maybe there’s so much conflicting advice because different methods work for different people in different circumstances. I don’t know. But since I’m already confused, I might as well get some more conflicting advice while I’m at it. If you know how to turn off BP’s faucet, I want to hear about it!
Update: I posted Beulah from behind pictures here.
Posted by Suzanne McMinn | Permalink
