Milk Update

We had heavy cream on our fresh blueberries this morning.
I have tall cold glasses of milk whenever I want. The puppies get milk on their dry food in the morning.
We enjoy the luxury of having our own 'real' milk everyday.

I posted about how Katie did not get in calf from natural service and how we faced a dilemma with her not being in calf.
We had decided to wean the calves and start a milking schedule again.
Well here is the latest information on milking an open cow who has been lactating since September of 2017.
Her initial production when she arrived in January of 2018 was 5 gallons a day. We calf shared as it was just far too much for us. She fed Ben, Rocky, Bullwinkle, Redneck and Spotify. We pinched as needed and never lack for milk.

She is in good condition and such a sweet cow I am very pleased how things are continuing.

I was milking twice a day after we weaned the last two calves. That was giving us two gallons, sometimes two and a half per day.
Still a lot of milk for just two of us.

I have talked to our Jersey guy.....he suggested we milk her just once a day for a week and see what her production  does.  I asked about mastitis with just once a day milking and he said it was unlikely because of her low production.

So I have enjoyed quality time with Katie, every morning for a month now and I would call it a success. The first week her production dropped to about 3 quarts a day, then  it slowly started to come back.
Now I get one to one and a half gallons a day. Its a near perfect amount for us. She drops below a gallon during standing heat but comes right back.

Her udder is fine, no heat and no signs of mastitis, she stands patiently while I milk and yesterday, she started chewing her cud and tried to lay down. Its a relaxed atmosphere.

So we are going to continue to milk Katie and enjoy every moment. It will be an experiment and allow us to keep her. 

Now I am making tapioca pudding, with Katie milk.

God Bless you and keep you safe.