Misc shots from AM milking

ozark_jewels · #21 09/06/12, 11:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by willow_girl

Great pics! You are milking the hard way, though.

Yes, we talked about a pit barn, but the cost was a LOT more and cost was(and still is) everything.
I actually REALLY like the flat parlour. Its much more physical contact with the cows. It took them a few weeks to get used to this. They are now very accustomed to being touched all over, not just the flank and udder. This makes them much calmer to handle. Easy to give shots too, no climbing on the bars to reach their rumps for vaccinations.
I've milked in a flat parlour in the past. Two years for my vets husband(He is the reason I fell in love with Milking Shorthorns). So I knew the pros and cons of a flat parlour before we built it. I wouldn't want to milk 150 head in it! But for our 50-60 head, I really like it.

ozark_jewels · #22 09/06/12, 11:41 PM

I love pastured dairy cows. I doubt I would dairy if I couldn't graze. There is just something so natural and beautiful about seeing a herd out on the green hillside.
Pretty much all the dairies here are grazing dairies, except some of the larger Holstien farms. A lot of the dairies now do rotational intensive grazing. It makes it much more possible to pasture successfully most of the year on a smaller acreage. We do rotational grazing, my brother-in-law grew up on a local intensive grazing dairy, so it comes natural to him. New pastures every twelve hours.
I'll have to get pics of the herd out grazing next time. Right now half our herd is dry.

ozark_jewels · #23 09/06/12, 11:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TRAILRIDER

I love the picture of Megan in the sunlight. I hope you don't mind if I borrow it for my desk top background?

You go right ahead! I love finishing up the milking right as the sun comes up. Something great about having all that accomplished and the whole day still stretched out ahead, just waiting.

ozark_jewels · #24 09/08/12, 11:38 PM

Future dairy farmer, maybe??

francismilker · #25 09/09/12, 01:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ozark_jewels

Future dairy farmer, maybe??

Looks like it to me! I'm not sure there's a child labor law to cover that one. lol!
My kids started that way too. It makes me smile when I think about my son and his kindergarden class walking through a very large dairy years ago on a tour to show kids where milk comes from. While they were all walking through a very wide milking pit, (double 24) one of the girls stomped just enough to make a milk claw fall off. The teacher smiled as she told me the story. She said just like it come natural, he swung under the weigh jar and grabbed the pit water hose, hung the milker with the inflations downward, sprayed them off, and reattached the claw. She said, "I couldn't believe he knew what to do." My reply was, "He's an old pro at it!" "He's been doing it since he could walk!"

Sherry in Iowa · #26 09/09/12, 06:38 AM

Your cows are awesome and so is your set-up. Like the others, it makes me feel good to see those girls going out to pasture.

ozark_jewels · #27 09/09/12, 11:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by francismilker

Looks like it to me! I'm not sure there's a child labor law to cover that one. lol!
My kids started that way too. It makes me smile when I think about my son and his kindergarden class walking through a very large dairy years ago on a tour to show kids where milk comes from. While they were all walking through a very wide milking pit, (double 24) one of the girls stomped just enough to make a milk claw fall off. The teacher smiled as she told me the story. She said just like it come natural, he swung under the weigh jar and grabbed the pit water hose, hung the milker with the inflations downward, sprayed them off, and reattached the claw. She said, "I couldn't believe he knew what to do." My reply was, "He's an old pro at it!" "He's been doing it since he could walk!"

LOL!! Thats a great story! I have been handmilking Jerseys since I was seven, but hadn't milked in a dairy barn till we moved to dairy country when I was 18. You're son got a great head start.

ozark_jewels · #28 09/09/12, 11:44 AM

One more of the "Future dairy farmer".....

Misc shots from AM milking - Cattle

And this is the way you get to live if your mom is the boss of the hay ring.

Misc shots from AM milking - Cattle