Over the past few years, I’ve learned more about cows than I ever thought I’d know. I’ve answered many questions about cows over the past few years so I thought I’d capture some of the questions I’ve come across in a quick "Cow Q&A."
Q: How can I tell if a cow is about to give birth?
A: Cows have a 9 month gestation so knowing when she was bred is the first step. If you haven’t had a pregnancy test, you can look for any signs of her coming into heat (restless, noisy, riding other cows, etc). If she is still coming into heat, she didn’t settle (get pregnant) so you will have to breed her again. With some cows, you can see them get bigger – I’ve noticed this more with cows that are on their 2nd or 3rd calf more than with a heifer (a female cow that hasn’t ever given birth). A couple of days before she gives birth, her bag (udder) will start to fill up and you know she is close. The next step is listening for her to go into labor!
Q: How do you halter break a cow?
A: First put a halter on the cow. Second, tie her to a sturdy fence post with fresh water and some hay. Third, leave her tied there a couple of days until she stops fighting the halter and rope. To teach her to lead, tie her to the back of a tractor and walk around with your hand on the rope letting her fight the tractor (she will think it is you) until she follows willingly. Repeat as necessary.
Q: How do you bucket break a cow (ie teach it to come to and follow you holding a bucket)?
A: All animals are easiest to train using their favorite food. "Sweet feed," "All Stock," "COB" (corn oats and barley – if sweetened with molasses it is called "wet" COB) or any other grain product sweetened with molasses is what we call "cow candy." Put a little in a bucket and bring it out to them every day. Call them to you (make up your own call – we used "here girls!") if you want them to learn to come when you call. You may have to put the bucket down and walk away a few steps the first time but after only a few times, they will be bold enough to come up and eat out of the bucket as you hold it. Continue until you can call them and have them come running!
Q: Can you leave a halter on the cows all the time?
A: Yes but please use a leather halter in case they get it hung up on something. The leather they can typically break free, the nylon halters are too strong and they can get stuck and injured. Be sure to check it for size occasionally – especially on growing cows. You don’t want to choke them as they grow and get bigger!
Q: If my cow get’s warts, what should I do?
A: This is the equivalent of pimples for cows. People get pimples, cows get wart like growths. They typically show up at about 1 year of age as they are going through their puberty phase. They go away on their own after a few months. We called the vet the first time we saw this on our cows – he had a good laugh at our expense.
Q: How much hay will a cow eat?
A: A cow will consume around 2% of their body weight of average quality feed. A lactating cow can go up to 2.5% or even more of high quality feed. So, if you have a Dexter cow that weighs 650 lbs, they would eat around 12-15 lbs of hay each day. This is a starting point, the real answer is that you should feed daily and adjust the amount of hay you put out based on what they eat. Remember, you want to keep your cows properly fed so they produce good milk and meat for your table.
Q: How to I tell if it is good quality hay?
A: Nutrition testing is the best way but typically isn’t available for the quantity a hobby farmer buys. The only other way to tell if the hay is of decent quality is to go and look at it. If it is clean, fresh smelling, and relatively weed free it will be fine. If there is a little sun bleaching or fading of the outside of the bale, don’t worry about it too much but the inside should have some color. If it is dusty, full of weeds, or moldy then pass on it.
Q: Can I grow things in my garden to feed them?
A: I haven’t intentionally planted things for the cows to eat. We do, however, let them eat any crop residue (tops from turnips, corn leaves and stalks, lettuce that "got away" from us, extra squash, etc). Planting a cover crop in fall is a great way to protect your garden during the winter and can be grazed off in spring as well.
Q: What should I do to prevent bloat?
A: The key is to not change their diet rapidly so that the rumen has enough time to develop the right bacteria to digest their food before it begins to ferment (thus causing bloat). If there is going to be a change in diet (increasing the amount of grain or moving from hay to a fresh, lush, spring pasture) – do it gradually over a few days.
Q: How much of a barn do I need for my cows?
A: For most of the US, you really don’t need any structure. In sunnier, hotter climates, some shade is nice but you’re probably better of getting cattle that can deal with the heat so you don’t have to manually shovel and spread the manure that will build up.
Q: I’m going to milk my cow, don’t I need a barn for that?
A: You really don’t need much other than milking stanchion and a place to keep out of the rain when milking (the cow would be fine but it would get old for the person milking pretty quickly). If you could get a light in there it would be great in the winter months when it is dark both early and late (milking occurs every 12 hours). In our milking stall we just spread gravel and then put down rubber mats (you can find them in a feed store). This worked well for us and is a lot cheaper than pouring concrete. The rubber mats are easy to clean with a hose and are easy on your feet knees when in there working.
Q: Do cows really sleep standing up?
A: I’ve never seen a cow sleep standing up. Typically they find a
comfortable spot to lay down and chew their cud and sleep there.
Q: Do I need to trim the hooves of my cows?
A: While I know that sometimes it needs to be done, I’ve never had to trim any hooves. Even our oldest cow (7 years) didn’t have hooves that got too long. I looked occasionally when I had her in to milk but they just didn’t get too long.
Q: What size pail do you use to milk? 6 quart? 9 quart? With a lid or without?
A: We used a 3 gallon bucket when milking our Dexter. Since she peaked at about 3 gallons per day (they peak about a month after calving) that left enough room in the bucket that it wasn’t completely full and spilled on the way back to the house. We had to move to a 5 gallon bucket when we switched to our Jersey as she was giving over 3 gallons per milking! I’d recommend a lid – it helps keep anything from falling into it as you walk to/from the milking stanchion.
Q: Any particular type of salt lick? Smaller or larger?
A: We bought the 25 lbs mineral block just because it was easiest – make sure it has selenium if your soils are deficient in that essential mineral (most are).
Q: What about bag balm? I read how some people use coconut oil, which we have on hand. What are your experiences?
A: I haven’t tried coconut oil but it would probably work fine as long as it stays liquid at room temperature. The bag balm we used was that you buy at the store in the square green can. It works well on dry or chapped teats but I found that putting a little olive oil in the wash water prevented that from ever happening. As a result, my can of bag balm sat unused in my milking stall for a long time.
Q: Washing the udder prior to milking- anything specific for that? I read to use soap/water and/or apple cider vinegar.
A: I started out using a drop or two of soap in the wash water but found that it really dried out the teats and caused dry, chapped skin. I found that just plain warm water (with a few drops of olive oil) worked best.
Q: Calf care – does the calf just nurse on it’s own and then eat hay on it’s own, or do I need any specific calf feeding things?
A: It’s very important that the calf nurse and get colostrum during the first 12 hours (sooner is better). Immediately after birth, the lining of the calf’s stomach allows the antibodies from the colostrum through to the blood stream. During the first 12 hours they lose this capability and if they don’t get colostrum, they will be on their own to fight off any infection without a fully developed immune system. That first nursing will often make the difference between a healthy calf and one you have to nurse through a bunch of problems or even lose.
Heifer cows are more likely to have problems nursing their calves than are cows that have been through it before. Most of ours did it fine without any assistance . A couple needed me to tie their head to a post and then help the calf get to it’s mom to nurse. You just have to watch the birth and make sure you see the calf nursing shortly thereafter. If you haven’t seen it nurse – go help it get started. I’ve only had to do this twice for any particular cow and by then they both figured it out and nursed fine after that.
If you are going to use all the milk from the cow, you will need to purchase milk replacer from the feed store and feed the calf with a bottle or bucket for 3-4 months. Our kids loved this part and I have some amazing memories of our little girls holding the bottle for the sucking calf. It will learn to eat grass from the other cows.
You can also split the milk depending on how much you need and how much the cow is producing. Usually this is done by leaving them together during the day when they do most of their grazing (so the calf learns from it’s mother) and keeping them separate at night. In the morning after you milk the cow, you put them back together for the rest of the day. I haven’t done this myself, but it’s what I intend to do when we get to our new farm.
Q: Do you need to wash the cows?
A: No, I don’t wash the cows (other than their teats and udder before milking). I figure they have gotten along fine without a bath for thousands of years, they can probably get along fine for a few more. I guess they do take frequent showers here in the rainy NW. 
Q: What supplies do I need to milk my cow?
A: I’d buy a stainless steel bucket (they are expensive but easier to keep clean) and a stainless milk strainer. If you haven’t found Hoegger Dairy Supply you should take a look there. They have the disposable filters as well which are very handy (easier than boiling a linen cloth each time). You will also need something to put the clean milk in after filtering. We used quart canning jars with the white plastic lids from Ball. This worked best for our family with small children as a glass gallon jug full of milk is pretty heavy and slippery.
I also bought a CMT (California Mastitis Test) kit but never used it (other than just trying it out for fun) as we have never had anything suspicious in our milk (stringy, watery lumpy, discolored, etc) in the 3 years of milking. I think it is more of a problem with cows in confinement, getting machine milked and a lot of grain – or we were just lucky!
Q: Are there any cow medicines I should keep on hand?
A: I don’t have any recommended medicines. In 6 years, we never had any sick cows (other than our case of warts ). I would have called the vet if they had been sick because I wouldn’t have known enough to diagnose and treat anything anyway. You should have a birthing kit in case you have a calf that needs help.
Well, that’s it for now. Thanks to those who have provided the many questions (you know who you are! )
