new to milking

I know that some cows can be difficult, but if you have a cow on hand and hand feed her, brush her and get her used to your presence, milking should not be a chore.

I raise Angus. I have a second-calf cow out in the pasture that is being worked by a thief so I pull her in each morning and pen her, giving her a bit of extra feed.

She is now accustomed to getting the extra feed, so this morning I fed in the pasture. When the cattle had cleaned up the few cubes I gave them she looked at me expectantly, and I called her to come to me as I drove off on my ATV. She trotted along behind and went in the pen when I opened the gate. I gave her her the exta feed, walked up and shoved her until she was standing almost parallel to the bunk. I then bent over, butted her in the flank with my head and started milking. She was startled, but did not kick. She never let her milk down, but in a week she will be a milker.

Everyone should have one or two gentle cows. You never know when you will have an orphan or when you can pick up a throw-away-calf that some rancher does not want to bother with.
Ox

I have a family of seven, and we go through a gallon a day. My kids would use more if I let them, which I won't due to milk being almost $4 a gallon. So I need at least a gallon of drinking milk, plus enough to make butter and cheese.

we also use a gallon a day when we have cow fresh, and have more than enough to make cheese , butter and "give" to nieghbors um "pets" with a jersey

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