Elisheba Meyer

Hi Justin!
I am not sure how it is going to go with our Lily, but she has been on just pasture/grass and herb hay since before she was bred this year and seems to be doing well. According to those that have experience with Jersey's her condition is fine. I know filled out is not normal or healthy but it is sure hard to get used to for me. So I am going to see how this goes and only give her grain if it seems that she really needs it. Perhaps not being able to breed her right away and having her dried up and just on pasture will give us a boost in the right direction.

Really, I do love the words of encouragement. I'm feeling better and better about the process.

Justin, Thank you for the encouragement!

Patrick thank you so much for the information. I really appreciate your take on this.

So here is what I think I am understanding (from this and other threads).
Jersies are predisposed to this problem (and are also more difficult to keep in good condition).
Don't feed anything but grass/pasture.
Adam says Alfalfa is fine except for the last week or so of the pregnancy. Am I right that you are saying not to feed alfalfa at all when they are dry? If so does it change anything that I dried her up before she was bred. (I had trouble finding an AI guy and since she had been milking over a year we decided to give her a break.) So would you still say no Alfalfa for this whole pregnancy?
Are there specific breeds that are your recommendation as to hardiness?

Thank you also for the links. I can see that I have another skill to learn.

More minerals are in Lily Cow's future. Goats seemed a little less scary, I thought I had just gotten them figured out when we got into Cows, so Adam, I really appreciate you taking time to help me with my questions. Your experience means a lot. R Scott, thanks so much for the heads up on what to get and the price. This really helped. It is going on the shelf just in case!

Hi Rebecca,

I didn't see your post until I had started my own on the same thing calling it Milk Fever. Here is a link to it. https://permies.com/t/43236/cattle/Milk-Fever-Cattle-Specifically-Milk#339710

However if you want to just skip my thread and go to what I found about natural remedies, and making your own drench, here is a link to the article I found.

http://www.organicpastoral.co.nz/site/organic/files/Microsoft%20Word%20-%20Milk%20Fever%20oct10.pdf

I thought it was really interesting and hope it helps us both.

So I ran across this when looking for natural options for Hypocalcaemia. It even has recipes for making your own calcium drench.

http://www.organicpastoral.co.nz/site/organic/files/Microsoft%20Word%20-%20Milk%20Fever%20oct10.pdf

If anyone has more information on this I am open. I have friends with a small (60 milkers) dairy that told me this is the main thing I should prepare for.

Ok, I get that idea of minerals being a milking time treat. We have tried that but Lily the cow is a bit of a princess and wasn't too happy with just that. Maybe we can transition her slowly.

So I thought of one more question. (I know, shocker! lol)

If in the middle of transitioning an animal like this (since I am looking to buy more). Is there a product that you would say is a lesser evil to use for Milk Fever? My motivation in asking is simply I don't want to risk a $2000 investment for the sake of being a purist.

So Adam,

This is what I need to hear. I did breed her when she was just on pasture/hay, and she took just great! I think it totally makes sense to go to no grain. I guess I was just feeling sorry for her feed changing so much from her last owner. So your advice is to feed alfalfa to build her up right now. She is dried up early anyway. So do you think Alfalfa would be a good alternative treat for her at milking time?

I think it makes perfect sense to breed her at the time you said and that is the plan in future. I just found the AI guy too late this year and didn't have access to a bull.

So your straight forward advice was exactly what I wanted and is well taken. I will put your book on the list of must haves.

Thank you!

Hi Everyone!

We bought a Milk Cow last year and when she came to us the previous owner warned us that she had had milk fever before and so needed to be watched carefully. I wondered if Adam, or any of you would be able to share reasons why this happens and possible natural options to prevent this. She is not due to freshen for about 5 more months so we have time to work on her nutrition.

So as of right now she is on natural hay that is full of different herbs and grasses, that has not been sprayed or synthetically fertilized. We haven't been supplementing her at all really, and during the "green" months she has free range of the land and gets to browse on whatever she likes. We never feed her corn and during milking the grain we have been feeding is organic barley. So my questions. Is this kind of feed enough for her? Should I change what I give her as far as grain? Is Milk Fever a symptom of a condition that we should supplement to help her with? Are their natural options for treatment that I should have on hand for a crisis situations?

We would love to get into Dairy farming with our family, so she is hopefully the first of many and she is definitely our guinea pig (or should I say cow) and I would love to spare her any discomfort because of our learning curb. I am also really excited to hear about Adam Klaus's book. It seems like exactly the kind of information we want to have, so thanks for bringing it to our attention!!!

Thank you so much for being here. This is one thread that I want to follow closely!