Kickapoogian - 12/2/2014 06:14

I might do this with dry cows or bred heifers and steers but never with lactating cows..(or cows that are due in a few short weeks)
I'd have to ask why you would want to pull them away from the bunk or your fine tuned ration if you have it dialed in? Now days if you're milking cows one needs to have a ration fine tuned for all the profit you can get. Actually, much of the time it needs to be fine tuned so you're not loosing as much when prices are lower for milk..
If you have a cow milking 80-100+ lbs. a day they're likely to drop production big time. If you have any milking 120-140#/day it would be a huge mistake.. Some of these cows could drop 40% or more in milk per day and will take a long time to bounce back to their previous level of production if they ever do as it's likely they'll go for the ears and over eat on corn throwing your ration way off...(possibly to the point of bloating or very loose manure because of eating to much).. If they do over eat and get loose bowls they'll take off body weight and condition also.. Also after they fill up on the corn the stalks and leaves are not going to hold much protein or energy (but they'll already be overloaded with energy from the ears of corn they search out).. All in all I guess it depends on how much milk you want out of your cows and the economics of getting that milk.. It's just my opinion and others who may have milked cows in the past or present might or might not agree with me but sometimes what you think is "the same as free eats" for the milking cows will cost you big time in not only the short term but the long term in the cow's lactation as well since once you loose that peak at a cows production most times it won't come back and if it does it won't last for nearly as long..
Good luck~..