# couple questions on dairy cow



## john in wa (Sep 3, 2009)

I bought a jersey cross cow.  she is a old dairy cow and has been used hard.  she only has three utters left. I grafted 2 calves on to her. she is a great mom to them and will let any thing drink from her even goats lol. the man i bought her from said she gives about 5 gallons a day.  i guess my first question is do i still need to milk her or will the calves keep her milked out. or do i need to buy another calf and put it on her. the 2 calves that are on her are about 3 weeks old and have been on her for a couple weeks and have really started packing on the pounds and it s so much better than bottle feeding them.

my next question is she is bred to a red Angus type bull. the man i bought her from could not tell me when she was last wormed. can i give her Ivermax inject-able wormer with out hurting the unborn calf. i have asked a couple people and got mixed answers. she is nice and fat now and eats like a horse. but i usally give all new cows a good wormer before i let them out of the trailer.  thanks


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## oldbarncat (Sep 18, 2009)

Hi
 I have reg jerseys here on our farm. No it is not a good idea to use Ivomec on dairy cows if you are consuming the milk. You can use it for pregnant cows and heifers up to 60 days before calving. 
We don't use our Jerseys as nurse cows what so ever. You don't have to milk her with the calves that are on her. We left two of our jersey calves on two cows and there were no problems.
If she is bred to an angus, that is a good choice as Jerseys are small. If you get a bull calf, you will have good meat if you choose to keep the calf and raise it for the food chain. 
Hope this helps


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## john in wa (Sep 19, 2009)

thanks barncat

we dont use the milk it is only for calves. i bought the calves and was bottle feeding then ran across this cow at a fair price and bought her. she has claimed both calves and calls to them when she hears them calling her. she cleans them several times a day and stand as still as a statue when they are feeding.. she is the best 400 bucks i spent. she will pay for her self as long as i keep her good and healty. i got to say i think its just cute when both calves are nursing her at the same time. will try to post a pic of her and her little long horn X calves later today.


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## john in wa (Sep 19, 2009)




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## jhm47 (Sep 19, 2009)

As long as you aren't drinking the milk, it is OK to use the Ivomec.  Even if you were drinking the milk, I wouldn't worry about it.  Ivermectin is used in humans in Africa, where it is considered a wonder drug, and has saved countless lives.


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