Going to OAD Milking

A few days ago, my parents invited us to their house for dinner. We were near the end of a game of Mexican Train Dominoes, around 8 PM, and decided to stay and finish the game. We could milk a little late that night…right?

ZAP, the lights flickered then died.

Well, shoot. We are out of power and procrastinated so the cow hasn’t been milked yet!

Jay immediately made an executive decision (bless his heart) – Rosita is now a “Once a Day” cow. 

We drove home, unplugged everything, then spent the night creating a warm fire and moving our week-old pullet chicks near the fireplace to keep them warm during the power outage. Rosita slept soundly in the barn.

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The next morning, we milked Rosita like normal. Her udder looked like she was in her prime, a month fresh. She gave exactly the same as what she was giving on twice a day milking. The next morning, she gave 1 quart less. This pattern will likely repeat for a few days until she settles into a routine. Starting at 2 gallons a day, she will drop to around 1.5 gallons per day for the next couple months, reducing to a gallon a day by the time we dry her off in June/July.

Once a Day…Really?

We’ve talked about methods of drying off a cow, but there’s a potential intermediary step of milking once a day for a longer term than part of the drying off process.

Some farms even milk once a day from the beginning (though in general, that is inadvisable unless also sharing the milking burden with a calf).

We religiously always milked cows twice a day. Until I corrupted Jay’s ideals and convinced him with compelling anecdotes and statistics from other farms that perhaps our young cows could handle being milked only once a day during the latter stages of their lactation.

Transitioning to Once a Day…

It’s not for :

1. Fresh cows, particularly high-producing dairy cows
   • [Risk: Edema/swelling could physically damage the udder, stretch ligaments permanently, etc.]
2. Cows with a history of mastitis in the current lactation, particularly unresolved/chronic cases
   • [Risk: Reducing milking frequency = fewer times the udder gets “flushed clean” during the day = risk of stale milk and mastitis flare ups]
3. Cows with known high somatic cell counts or possible symptoms of high somatic cell or mastitis.
   • [Risk: Could flip a moderately high somatic cell count into mastitis]
4. Open cows with no future calving date set
   • [Risk: Less-frequent milking = lower milk production = increased risk of an open cow becoming obese before next breeding and/or calving]

It’s may work well for :

1. Late lactation, pregnant cows with a healthy/low somatic cell count
   • [Preferably at least 3-5 months into lactation, confirmed bred, somatic cell count 100k or lower.]
   • [Benefit: Milk quality remains high and you, the milker, get a lovely break from milking and cleaning equipment twice a day. Time to catch up on a few other projects, or perhaps just go to bed early!]
2. Young cows – Approximately age 5 and younger
   • [In general, younger cows have strong immune systems and lower somatic cell counts. Age doesn’t mean anything, though, unless the animal is well cared for and living in a clean, dry environment.]
3. Moderate to low production cows – Varies by size of cow and udder capacity, but generally we see OAD cows giving less than 4 gallons of milk per day. 2-3 gallons per day is more common.
   • [Low risk of damage to udder by less-frequent milking, as the udder is already not being stressed by high production]
4. Thin cows needing a partial rest from producing milk
   • [Benefit: Common when purchasing a new cow that is stressed or thin. Transitioning to OAD milking only after confirming udder health can handle the reduction in milking frequency. Reduces energy needs, so the cow may be able to put some of her energy toward building body condition. In some cases, a thin cow on OAD milking is NOT bred. A case of the lesser of two evils – she may require putting on more weight before she’ll hold a pregnancy.]

Making the Switch :

Transitioning to once a day can be literally as simple as our story with Rosita. 

• At time of transition, a moderate milk production of around 2 gallons per day
• Confirmed pregnant, due in August
• No history of mastitis
• Low somatic cell count (confirmed via California Mastitis Test (CMT) and WA DHIA Somatic Cell Testing and taste – the milk is sweet and delicious)
• Healthy, soft udder quality
• Healthy teat ends – not prone to dripping milk

For most, the switch is as simple as skipping a milking as the transition from 12 to 24 hours between milkings. 

Of course, continue to monitor the udder and milk quality.

• For the first couple days, the udder may look quite full – similar to how the udder looked in the first month after a cow freshened (minus the edema, there should be no edema in the transition from twice a day (TAD) milking to OAD). There should be no swelling, redness, heat, etc.
• If monitoring somatic cell count (SCC) closely, a TAD cow of 100k SCC may temporarily spike to 150-250k the day or two after milking, then plateau at a SCC slightly higher than original, perhaps 125k. There should be ZERO changes in milk quality or taste.

If you do notice a problem, know that YES, you CAN return to twice a day milking. Continue on TAD until you have identified and resolved the issue. Even then, OAD may not work for your cow in the current lactation, unless her SCC gets under control.

Can returning to TAD increase production? Not likely. Once a cow has transitioned down to OAD milking, her milk production will gradually decrease by 25-50%, depending on the cow and her genetics and feed. Returning to TAD can improve somatic cell counts, but cannot significantly increase production. Some cows are low producing or not “persistent milkers” – so going to once a day may dry off a low production cow, especially if that cow has been milking a long time (more than 10 months, for example). Only drying off and calving again (or giving hormone shots, which is not an option for many homesteaders) will bring milk production back up.

That’s it!

Briar Rose is due in 10 days, and we have a nice little reprieve of once daily milking. Time enough to get caught up on sleep after lambing season and raising new chicks and putting a disc to the bale grazing field.