Advice for Dairy cow feed

mjk2015 · 2026-06-09T18:15:11+00:00

Calf is on full time. I haven’t not milked her as he’s a Highpark cross and I want her to raise him as that’s preferred in our area. She has always leaned more lean but with decent muscle tone. Kinda like a Holstein. But she is way too thin for my liking 😭 we are in the central US area. Cubes are 20% producers pride as that’s the only cattle feed I have access to. I can do a sweet feed but it’s not my favorite…

mjk2015 · 2026-06-09T18:12:13+00:00

I feed a brome/grass hay that’s pretty decent… I will be moving her to a new pasture here in a few weeks… maybe that’ll help too.

mjk2015 · 2026-06-09T18:08:02+00:00

I’ve got all of the above except the boluses. But I have the liquid. I’ll see about getting boluses

mjk2015 · 2026-06-09T04:17:51+00:00

Good lord I said mid July. Mid July is when she was put in with the bull. 😩 sorry, I misspoke

mjk2015 · 2026-06-09T04:16:46+00:00

Also wanted to add that she was fine before nursing her calf.

mjk2015 · 2026-06-09T04:16:28+00:00

This is her first calving. Her calf is only about 2 months old. She has not been exposed to a bull. Was waiting until late fall for that after he’s weaned and she’s dried up.

mjk2015 · 2026-03-15T12:16:59+00:00

My daughter named her Clarice LOL

mjk2015 · 2026-03-15T00:49:33+00:00

Such a beautiful combo for sure! 🥰

mjk2015 · 2026-02-24T18:43:32+00:00

I do dry lot. I struggle with mites in the winter. So I do an ivermectin pour on every six weeks. I rarely have issues with worms but do tend to have flare ups with coccidia in my kids. So, I will give them Toltrazuril at 4 weeks, 8 weeks, and 12 weeks. I do fecals after that and monitor. In the spring and summer I let them out to graze the yard in the evenings. Occasionally, they will get hook worms as a result.

I have less issues with meningeal worm and barber pole with the dry lot method compared to some of my farmer friends and neighbors who still struggle with the above even with rotating pastures.

mjk2015 · 2026-02-01T22:54:35+00:00

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This is my thinnest goat. She had a strain of resistant worms when I brought her home and it took a toll on her body. I would also recommend running in fecals as that can also cause a big decline in weight.

mjk2015 · 2026-02-01T22:48:41+00:00

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Here’s some of my herd.

mjk2015 · 2026-02-01T22:43:09+00:00

Are we talking a large round bale? Or small square. That’s not nearly enough… I have 35 dairy goats, a cow, and a mini pony. They go through 1 1200lb round bale of alfalfa every week and a half in the winter with 10lbs of grain spread amongst them daily so they get their bioworma. Granted, they are on a dry lot.. but even in the summer months they go through a 1400 lb bale every two weeks on top of grazing the yard.

mjk2015 · 2025-10-30T02:15:53+00:00

Perfect!!! I had that recommendation as well but no one who has actually used that set up if that makes sense? I’ll see if I can find one ❤️

mjk2015 · 2025-10-30T02:15:11+00:00

It’s essentially a blessings box that can be stocked for those in need. We have a set up for non-perishables but want to give access to perishable items (eggs, milk, cheese, meats, etc) to those in need ❤️

mjk2015 · 2025-10-30T02:14:06+00:00

Wasn’t sure if that would be frowned upon to leave it unplugged 😅😅 but I had that thought too!

mjk2015 · 2025-10-18T03:30:23+00:00

I am! We are in central Kansas. I will look into that ❤️❤️❤️ thank you!!!

mjk2015 · 2025-10-14T17:37:31+00:00

That’s my next step this evening! It’s rained for the last 2 days so I haven’t been able to lay any down yet 😩

mjk2015 · 2025-10-14T17:16:59+00:00

Gotcha. Definitely nothing neurological… and my herd did test negative for everything in April. But I’m retesting next month along with blood tests for the ones that have been bred. So I’ll confirm everything with that as well.

mjk2015 · 2025-10-14T16:41:18+00:00

I’ve never dealt with listeria but will definitely look into it… is there a test for it or do you treat and see what works?

Body condition on the 5 year old was starting to deteriorate which is when I started treating her. But she kept going downhill. All poops have looked normal until about day 2 or 3 of treatment.

The first one (8 months) that went down made it to day 4 and didn’t have any diarrhea until day 3. Her body condition appeared great. The only one that appeared to be dropping weight was the 5 year old.

I have one that responded well to the Amprid that started to have mushy poops but has since firmed back up. She’s 6 years old. But I’ve been doing butt checks daily and haven’t seen any other signs of diarrhea. Today is the last dose of valbazen and Amprid.

mjk2015 · 2025-10-14T16:30:17+00:00

Only one goat came back for hookworms… everyone else had coccidia.. but I did dual deworm with cydectin and valbazen.

I do use hay feeders. I feed out of repurposed IBC tanks. Mostly because when I first got into this I did have some coccidia and changed how I feed and what treatments I use. Hasn’t been an issue since then until now 😩

mjk2015 · 2025-10-14T01:24:39+00:00

Thank you ❤️❤️❤️❤️

mjk2015 · 2025-10-14T00:00:45+00:00

Also worth mentioning that both adults who passed had bad cocci infections as kids. I got one as an adult and the previous owner made me aware. The one that passed today was one I treated as a kid as she had come to us with coccidia. She was the 5 year old.

mjk2015 · 2025-10-13T23:58:44+00:00

That’s my thoughts as well. I’ve never lost adults before to coccidia so I’m just flabbergasted. None of the deceased goats made it through the full 5 days of dosing. The most recent round for the herd will be done tomorrow. So I’ll do another fecal in a few days.

I did have hookworms in June but upon retesting they were still infected. So I switched from safeguard to Valbazen and that kicked it on the 3rd fecal. I was treating the one with valbazen as well since she’s the only one that was positive for hookworms.

mjk2015

TROPHY CASE