feeding a pregnant Jersey?s PICS added

[texascowmama]

I am concerned that I'm not feeding our pregnant Jersey enough. She always acts like she is starving. She is in a pasture of 3 acres with another younger heifer and a baby donkey. We give them a round bale of hay and they get grain in the evenings. I give her probably 7lbs of feed per day. About 2-3 scoops so probably more than 7lbs. Is she getting enough? She is going to be 2 in Dec. Any advice appreciated. Oh yeah, I feed 12% protein sweet feed.

 

[amysflock]

If she's 2 she's still growing, so you probably would want to supplement her more. When is she due? It seems like a lot of folks feed alfalfa for the extra protein, along with the regular hay and grain rations. Hopefully someone with dairy cattle will chime in.

Can you post photos of her so we can see what condition she's in?

(I also just PM-d you.)

 

[texascowmama]

pics of Chloe Belle added. What do you think?

 

[WildRoseBeef]

LOL I think she's got ya trained!

She looks not terribly thin, actually she looks in pretty good shape for a dairy heifer. I'd say just keep on what you're doing. Jerseys are always going to be thin like that; she won't fatten up quickly like a beef heifer.

BTW, when was she bred? April?

 

[texascowmama]

She totally has me trained!! That is one rotten cow! I've gotten my dates wrong. She was bred on March 2nd and again on the 5th. Does that make her due on or around the 2-5 of November?

 

[Imissmygirls]

She doesn't look bad. When is her due date? You want her a little heavier but not much! Your pasture is gone, so you can't count that. I'd say give her as much good hay as she can clean up and hold the grain to what you are giving her. You don't want to grain toomuch during pregnancy.

 

[WildRoseBeef]

She totally has me trained!! That is one rotten cow! I've gotten my dates wrong. She was bred on March 2nd and again on the 5th. Does that make her due on or around the 2-5 of November?

Looking at the gestation calendar, if she was successfully bred on March 5th, then she'll be calving on December 16. Plus or minus.

However, if she caught in the 2nd, then she'll be due on the 10th of December.