Hi I'm new to LSB. We farm and live on a 22ha farm near Timaru Sth Canterbury.
I need some advice on drying off my house cow. Have only had her for this season so not sure how to go about this. When I was a growing up my parents milked a house cow but they were always beef/dairy cross cows and Dad just stopped milking her, just as you do when weaning calves off beef cows and I think she was probably only giving 2 L/day or there abouts; my cow is full Fresian and giving 10 L/day. I would like to dry her off safely but without using any type of dry cow therapy ect. My plan is to take less and less milk off her over the next couple of weeks until she is only producing 2L/days and then stop. She has been mastitis free all season and is overall in a very healthy condition.
Looking forward to your advice/comments and exploring on the LSB site
At 10 litres a day you could just stop milking her as your Dad used to, and I often do, or you can continue to take less and less until she's down to say 5 or 6 litres and then stop. Depends on how much you want a break from it;) Either way isn't going to hurt her. Also are you milking OAD or TAD - if TAD drop it back to OAD for starters.