RE: **Possible_Spam** Once a Day Milking for a profitable farming lifestyle

[Guest guest]

I believe

that OAD milking, as I have practiced it for 7 years, is an excellent way for

people to more fully enjoy their animals. Many commercial cows have been bred

IMO to produce more than is healthy on a grain fed diet.

Some

cows, especially in 3rrd and 4th lactations, need to be

milked more than once a day even w/ a calf, but they often are not good “family

milker” candidates.

Since

I do not push for production….I would rather milk 2 cows once a day than

one 2x……if I have a cow that is heavier than I am happy w/ I get

another calf trained on her, and she nurses 2, separated at night, milked in

the am.

I

feed beet pulp, hydrated, and a custom 12% concentrate. Have no problems. And

after the calves are a couple months old, I can actually not milk and leave

calf on cow. We do not milk but 1/3 the cows on Sunday, because we leave calves

on that night.

It

makes for a happier family, less stressful milking experience, and is NOT

the terror of terrors many people say.

When

I first got into goats I was warned NEVER leave the kids on, they will ruin the

udder. BS. There are habits that developed for not particular reason that people

insist are factual.

Having

cows max their production, as the article in Hoard’s was referring to,

does not mean it is healthy for the cow.

And

when the cows on robotic systems come in to be milked it IS mimicking nature in

the sense that calves nurse a little play an little, nurse a little play a

little more. BUT we have genetically “improved” cows to produce

more low quality milk, which many people on this list and who make cheese and

have family cows would like to see less, higher quality.

Beef

cows do not have the udder capacity to hold a lot at a time, dairy cows

do.

And

cows and goats that are further into lactation can relatively easily be moved

to once a day after the calf is weaned. I generally do not wean the calf until

the mom is 3 months or more rebred, so have no problem transitioning. The milk,

in a healthy cow, does not “go bad” in the udder unless there is

residual bacteria. Since we do no feed a high protein and energy

concentrate the

de-grain them” does not work…we cut down to every other day, and

ease them off. Never had a problem w/ milk quality.

The

other issue is that past a cows peak lactations, 3-5 years, they tend to even

out and be much easier to work with.

As

a (human) lactation consultant I understand the mechanisms of mammary glad

production, and the basic tenet is “supply and demand” You can

reduce production by less often milked, and increase by increasing milkings.

In

true robotic systems they also electronically tag the cows to limit access to

the milker to minimum 7 hours apart. More than that is inefficient and hard n

the cows.

www.MajestyFarm.com

" What is ominous is the ease with which some people go from

saying that they don't like something to saying that the government should

forbid it. When you go down that road, don't expect freedom to survive very

long. " Sowell

From:

RawDairy [mailto:RawDairy ] On Behalf Of

Bunting

Sent: Saturday, June 24, 2006 5:25

PM

To: RawDairy

Subject: **Possible_Spam**

Once a Day Milking for a profitable farming lifestyle

http://www.oadmilking.co.nz/

Welcome to our website. Please don't hesitate to contact us regarding

our method of farming. We have been milking once a day for several

years now and the purpose of this website is to enable the rest of the

farming community to contact us for our information pack.

You are most welcome to contact us via phone/fax/post/email or the

contact us form on this website.

==============================

We have milked three years now OAD. No problems. Cows are very healthy

in good condition.

Bunting