“Does a new-mama cow produce very different milk from a cow that hasn't recently given birth?” – Alex R.

Excellent question Alex! And something I wanted to address previously. The answer is yes.

Good god, it's cute.

Oh wait you wanted more?  OK so for the first five days or so after a new-mama cow has her calf her milk has this orangey substance in it called colostrum which provides extra antibodies and protein for the calf. We seem to be calling it “creamsicle milk” for short here because that’s just what it looks like. The milk right after it comes from the cow has an orangey tint to it, but then if you let it sit in the refrigerator for a while it will separate into normal-looking milk on the bottom and then an orange layer on top. This is how we know not to drink it, which is good because it sits right in the fridge right with the other raw milk that we do drink. You can drink the creamsicle milk (Wikipedia this--I did) but it’s not what people usually do, and definitely would not be OK to serve our CSA customers without their knowledge/consent.

But why is her milk in the fridge? This gets a little muddled and sad. Even though the calf is drinking the special creamsicle milk that he needs from the bottle (above), he and the mama haven’t actually been together since the birth.  As I said, after five days or so the mama’s milk is ready to be drunk by humans again, and for a small farm like this one they need to start selling it again as soon as possible. The calf is being fed the proper amount of milk for his size and age, and then any extra creamsicle milk that isn’t good for humans is fed to the chickens (they LOVE this and it's funny to watch.) 

The reason the calf can’t be started feeding from the mama during the creamsicle stage for the first five days and then switched over to a bottle afterward is that calves that start on the teets don’t tend to take to the bottle. So then it’s not just a matter of losing some of the milk to the calf, but instead you would lose all the milk from that cow, because you wouldn't be able to let the calf have his share and then go in with the bucket for the rest, firstly because the calf doesn't feed at regular 12 hour intervals like the milking, and secondly because the mama cow’s body adjusts the amount of milk she produces based on how much her calf is taking, so as the calf gets older and takes less and less, she would produce less and less milk. Again, for a small farm like this one they just can’t afford it, especially since new-mama cows produce much more milk for a time after their calving (and after the gross creamsicle stage. ) For example, yesterday afternoon she gave about 3 ½ gallons, whereas she normally gives about a gallon (the bigger Swiss give about 1 ½ to 2 gallons--Jerseys are low-yield but high butterfat.) We already had enough creamsicle milk for the calf’s next feeding so that’s why K and I were feeding the chickens with it (above.) Anyway, for now, it is done this way. Sally admits that it is not a perfect system and it’s a bit heart-wrenching, and once they have a bigger herd she wants to develop some sort of system where there is a designated nursing cow for all the little calves running around, so at least the calves can nurse from a cow, even if it’s not their own mama.

Please ask any questions if that wasn't clear! I found myself having trouble articulating it clearly (amazing what working only with numbers for two years will do to your writing skills.)

Does this make the new-mama cow said? Yes, Sparkle has been super pissy and difficult to milk since she gave birth and hasn’t had access to her calf, and she will often moo at the stall where her little calf is being kept. It’s very sad.

pissy mama