Just bought skinny milk cow. Help with feed pls

[freetodream]

Hi, I'm a newbie here but wondering if you all could help me and my inexperience We just brought home our first milk cow last night and she's verrry skinny. Like bsc 1.5 as far as I can tell. She's a 5yr old Guernsey and was fresh in March of this year. She was at an organic dairy and being fed rolled barley, pasture and a little alfalfa at night. She's milking about 4-5 gallons/day and also about 30 days bred and I'd like to keep her that way if possible. I've had show horses for years so I'm fairly well versed on feeding them but I don't know what if anything is different about feeding a milk cow. Obviously she needs to gain weight but I'm not sure the best way to do that safely. She's not fond thus far of my grass/alfalfa mix hay so I bought some straight alfalfa today and so far she likes that much better. I have COB as well and the feed store guy sold me some Purina Show Chow grower (apparently meant for steers but he said it's high energy and would work for me too) because he didn't have any dairy mix. I'm open to any and all suggestions I just want to do this right lol. Thanks for any help I appreciate it.
Kjersti

 

[Wolf-Kim]

Can't help on the feeding, but I would love to see pics of her. It may help those more experienced in this area to evaluate it themselves. She may not be as bad as she seems.

-Kim

 

[freetodream]

Ok thanks here's a picture of her this morning. hope this works
http://s115.photobucket.com/albums/n293/freetodream/?action=view&current=0723090836.jpg

 

[Farmer Kitty]

Your link didn't work but, I think I have it corrected except they say they are doing a little work right now and your image will be back soon. Use the IMG code when posting to the forum

As for feeding her, feed a good quality hay and grain. Go slow with the grain so as not to over do it. I'd start with 6 pounds twice a day.

 

[freetodream]

Ok this time worked. So is she too skinny then or am I just not used to seeing bones lol?
Will the show chow beef steer feed be ok till I get some dairy mix or is plain COB better?

 

[jhm47]

I'm not an expert on dairy, but to my eye, she's very thin. I would think that the show ration would be fine for her.

One of the first things I'd do is to worm her. Be sure to control external parasites, including flies. Fighting flies can sap a lot of energy from a cow.

Another thing--- Is her stool very loose? Runny, almost like colored water? If so, she may have some type of infection in her digestive tract.

Actually, I'm very surprised that she cycled, let alone getting bred. With her BCS, they don't usually cycle.

Whatever you do, don't skimp on the feed. She needs to gain weight, and it's hard to do when milking heavily. Good luck!

 

[PattiXmas]

Wow - I don't know cows, but she looks like she could eat a couple (dozen) sandwiches.

 

[Farmer Kitty]

She's skinny. Why oh why do people let their cows get like that?

Like I said, start her at 6 pounds a couple times a day. Once she's been on grain for a few days you can up it. You don't want to start to heavy where she isn't used to getting it. We use an 8 qt(I believe that's it's size) grain scoop and feed 1 scoop for every 20 pounds of milk per milking. So a cow giving 20 pounds of milk get 1 scoop of grain. 30 pounds of milk gets 1 1/2 scoops. 40 pounds of milk gets 2 scoops of grain, etc. There are 8.6 pounds of milk per gallon of milk. With her you could give a little extra than that until the weight comes on but, remember not to do to much to fast or you could make her sick. And once she gets back to where she should be remember not to over grain as that can cause health issues too.

If you don't have a grain scoop it's an 8 qt calf pail full per scoop.

 

[freetodream]

Ok good to know I'm not just seeing things. Poor girl I feel so badly for her. The feed Store guy also said that he's surprised that she cycled let alone even caught. He suggested preg checking again in 30-45 days or so as she's so thin she may abort it. Is that what you all would recommend? I'm amazed she's milking as much as she is.

So what is safe to worm a milk cow with? Any withdrawal period? I seem to remember it's usually a dry cow thing?

She's in our barn right now with a clean stall and all the hay she can eat. She's got box fans on her as well to help with the heat and flies too somewhat. Can you use the same type of fly spray on a milking cow that you do on horses? Mine is a Pyrethrin formula and it works ok on the horses. Does the residue get in the milk though?

I will definitely start her on the grain though and see how it goes. With horses it's often better to add fat or digestable fiber (ie. beet pulp) instead of large amounts of grain(starch) to put weight on. How are cows different or are they? Anything you should NOT feed a cow? Any general rules? Thanks for all the help I am eager to learn.
Kjersti

eddited to add: her poop is normal cow pies and her coat is shiny despite being so thin, eyes are bright and clear, attitude is pretty good although she's bellowed most of the night and today (I'm guessing from missing her friends and being the only cow here). So to my eyes she's very skinny but I don't notice anything that would tell me she's sick. I think they just plain weren't feeding her enough.

 

[Wolf-Kim]

She's a very pretty cow. I bet she'll be beautiful once you fix her up right. And if she aborted, don't worry, it may be for the best, babies take a lot out of any female.

-Kim