Just a quick reminder that Bella (our Jersey milk cow) goes on a 2 month vacation before having her next calf. This gives her body time to adjust from producing milk for last years calf, to growing and giving birth to the new calf in her womb. Predicting birth days is not an exact science because we don’t actually know when she got pregnant but her earliest expected due date is April 17th.
Between now and February 17th we will be slowly drying her off. We do this gradually to reduce the chance of her getting mastitis like often happens if you just stop milking her “cold turkey.” The closer we get to February 17 the more likely we may not have milk. Between February and when she actually calves we won’t have any milk. Immediately after giving birth, the first milk or colostrum all goes to the new calf. A few days later we will have fresh milk again!
We’ll send out another notification when she actually gives birth so you will know fresh milk is coming. It’s also a great time to come by the farm for a visit as a baby Jersey calf is incredibly cute. Who knows, you might get a chance to bottle feed him/her!
