So much CREAM!

[purplequeenvt]

I have a 3 year old Jersey cow that has calved twice. I bought her last summer. She doesn't give a lot of milk, but that's ok since she's just a family cow. Last summer she was giving a decent amount of cream, but when she calved in March, she wasn't making much cream.

We store our milk in 1/2 gallon jars and all summer there was just a little bit of cream on top. We let her keep her calf and would separate them at night to be able to milk in the morning. I weaned the calf a few days ago and suddenly she is making so much cream! The 2 jars from this morning have 2 cups of milk and 6 cups of cream per jar!

Any idea why she's making so much cream now? It's a little crazy. She is currently just on grass, no grain.

I suppose she could have been making that much cream all summer, but was holding it back for her baby. I mean, he is 450 lbs at 6 months......

 

[norseofcourse]

I have no idea, and from everything I've read it shouldn't be possible, but I just had to say wow!!

You making butter or ice cream?

 

[purplequeenvt]

I made some butter tonight. She's given over a gallon of cream in the last 2 days.

 

[mysunwolf]

I agree, WOW!! From what I've heard, late summer and early fall grasses are higher in protein, thus increasing cream content in the milk. This also helps fatten babies who are still nursing for winter. But that ratio is just amazing!