Late lactation milk experiences?

[Sarah Milcetic, VP & Director of Web Services, Better with Thyme Farm, WV]

I know that once a cow passes her peak production we tend to get proportionally more cream since her cream stays pretty consistent when her overall volume decreases, but I’m curious about others’ experiences and if you’ve had any success in keeping production higher in a cow who drops off in the fall/winter.

Specifically, here’s what we’ve experienced with one of our cows – calving in April, she peaks around 2.5 gallons per day, then drops to around 1 gallon sometime in the fall or winter. I think it’s usually been November/December but this year she went down to one gallon mid-October, and she did calve a bit earlier this year than last. I’m not sure if it’s the changing forage (she has free choice hay plus pasture), what happens when she’s bred back (she was bred August 5th) or if this is just the way her body is.

The milk in the photo is from last night, she’s been giving us about 40% cream by volume the last few weeks but now this looks like 60% in one of the jars! I’d love to know your thoughts on this and if you have cows with a similar pattern. Another cow we had calve around the same time is still producing nearly 3 gallons per day, she doesn’t seem to drop off much from her peak.

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