Lactation Timeline

Mixing calf sharing (letting baby nurse off of mama) and hand milking (or machine milking) creates some structure in our life to allow us to be able to make plans appropriately throughout the year. Below is a timeline that we operate on pre and post calving and it shows how flexible you can be in the different stages of lactation. As with all animals, your timeline will look different depending on how much milk your cow produces and the demands she is under for milk.

Our cow, Ginger, is a low production cow. She makes 1/2 a gallon of milk per day with calf sharing and I dropped down to once per day milking + calf sharing MUCH sooner than I typically do with Cecelia who produces 3 gallons per day + calf sharing.

• 2 Months Pre Calving

  Dry mama's milk up and you have zero responsibility in regards to milking until baby comes. It's the calm before the storm (a good storm - but still!)

• Calving

  The first two weeks post calving I plan on being very present with mama and baby. This helps me identify if there are any issues post calving with health, nursing, edema, etc. During this time I am milking twice per day after baby nurses. If baby isn't nursing, I milk mama out and bottle feed baby until they learn to nurse. These two weeks are the most draining for me personally, but also so very rewarding.

  I save the colostrum from days 1 and 2 and feed the milk from days 3-5 to the animals in the barn if baby is nursing efficiently. On day 5, the milk collected is milk for our family and I continue milking 2 times per day. Be mindful that you can set your times - I prefer 7:30am and 4:30pm. It works for us. I have a friend who milks at noon and 9pm - that works for her!

• 2 Months Post Calving

  When baby is two months old (or when baby is able to drink all of mama's milk) I drop to milking once per day. I am able to tell this by mama being empty when I go to milk in the mornings. I will separate baby from mama when I feed all of our animals at night (after baby has eaten) and then milk mama out first thing in the morning and reunite mama and baby for baby to nurse all day long. Sometimes I leave milk in mama for baby to have when I know baby will be able to strip mama's teats all the way out. During this stage, I start adding afternoon things back into my schedule. I can still plan on going out and doing things when I'm milking twice per day, but I have to wait to milk first. Being able to milk in the morning and be done for the day frees me up for plans. If I were going to add another calf to the farm, I would do so around this point and possibly not have to milk.

• 3 Months Post Calving

  Mama is likely ready to be bred again. You will be able to notice her going into a heat cycle if you have other cattle because they will be trying to mount her. At this point we put mama with the bull. If the calf is tiny and not respected by the bull, we don't put them in together. Bulls will try to mount calves to show dominance and this can hurt the calves. I let mama stay with the bull as long as she needs to be bred, still milking her once per day.

• 4-5 Months Post Calving

  Calf is large enough to keep mama's udders emptied around the clock. I drop to milking as needed to provide dairy products for my family and check mama's teats regularly to make sure she is not getting injured (some calves are vicious with their teeth). This is when I plan our family vacations for. I know that mama and baby will be fine without any intervention.

• Around Month 6-7

  I will confirm that mama is bred. This will give me a guesstimate as to when her next calf will come and I will plan to dry her off two months prior. I will also be weaning baby from mama. If baby is gentle with mama, I will allow them to nurse longer for calf sharing. Mama's production will be dropping naturally by this point. If we wean baby and milk once per day it will drop with that change as well. See page 36 to reference drying off.

• Two Months Before Calving

  Baby calf is weaned from mama. The cycle will start all over again!