Featured Bovine of the Week..."the Twin"...

You know how often there's a teen of the week featured in the local newspaper? Or at least there used to be...

A week or so ago when the vet was here for herd check, he was doing pregnancy checks on some cows, and we got to talking about the history of this one particular cow.  He said I ought to do a blog post about her...

So here she is...#245, aka "the Twin"...

You'll have to forgive her not so perfect photo.  She was much too interested in chewing on some hay than posing for her picture to be taken.

Here are a few facts about her:

Birthdate:  August 13, 2005

Sibings: twin sister #244

First freshening date:  July 10, 2007

Heifers vs Bulls to date:  5 heifers, 4 bulls

Interesting facts, trials and tribulations in her life:

...Twin calvings are often hard on Mom, and she's had several sets.

...Early on, she had some paralysis in her one leg from a complication during calving.  She went down in a narrow entryway (late at night, of course) and we had quite a time getting her up again.  We made a pathway of rubber cow mats for her, and she was able to crawl until she got to a box pen.  She had better footing there and was able to stand.  Jim kept her in the box pen and milked her by hand for a few days, and then with a portable milking unit for another week or so until she had regained her strength and was able to handle herself in a stall.

...Last year after freshening she developed a mysterious infection and temporarily lost her sight.  She has since fully recovered.

...She tries really hard to be good!  She doesn't like to be surprised and doesn't like it if the milker squawks when it's being put on her udder.  For some reason on her (just the way her udder is shaped) when the milker is finished and stops pulsating, it tends to fall off of her right away.  She doesn't like it, but tries to stand still like a statue until someone comes and rescues her!

This was her last night just after the milker was put on.  She's milking like crazy...

And oh, what a relief it is when she's done...

She will be ten years old in August, and is the second oldest cow in the barn. She's seen and heard a lot over the last ten years, and she must be enjoying life here, because she's sticking around a lot longer than most cows do!

The Average Age of a Dairy Cow...

"What is the average age of a dairy cow?"

I've been asked this question numerous times, and never had a really good answer.  So this morning when I was asked again, I decided to figure out what the average age of the lactating cows on our dairy farm is.

I went to the trusty old "heifer book".

This is where we write down all the information about our animals.

As each heifer calf is born, she is assigned an ear tag number, which is simply a chronological record of each heifer born here.  She gets her own line in the heifer book, where we record her birth date, her sire's identification...her dam's identification, and a list of all the genealogy that we have on file for her.

This is a sample of the genealogy side of the book.  (If you are a dairy farmer, some of these sires' names might look familiar to you. Mascot...Peti...Trifecta...Belltone...they were really good bulls in their time, but are only now a distant memory)  We bought the cows from Jim's dad over twenty years ago, so the genealogy list barely fits on the page any more...

We keep a lot of other information in this book as well.  Such as...any illness that a young calf may have that could affect her health or milk production as a cow, and how and why each cow is sold.

Ok...back to the question at hand..."What is the average age of a dairy cow?"

I checked to see how old each of our lactating cows are right now...

We have Dirty Pig...who is almost twelve years old...

We have the Twin...who is herself a twin...who has had three sets of twins...and who will be ten in a few months...

(interesting tidbit on those first two cows...they're both aggressive (not mean) and know how to hold their own among their herd mates.  Don't make them wait for their food, and don't boss them around!  Maybe that's why they're still going strong and two of our highest producers at their age?)

We have a handful of cows who are seven or eight years old...

And then there are fourteen first calf heifers (between two and three years old) and another big cluster in the four to five year range.

The answer to the question here...on our farm...is an average age of about 4 1/2 years.  

I was surprised...I really thought that the average would be a bit older than that, but all those first calf heifers really lowered the average.  Then I googled the average of dairy cows in the United States, and guess what?

It's four years!