I started bucket milking today!

[francismilker]

I finally got all the barn plumbing done! (thanks to UpNorth and all the others that patiently worked with me) I go out to the barn, turn on the pump, get beside the cows, and they all patiently waited their turn to have the claw installed. Other than pipeline milking in my younger days on a commercial dairy, I've had no experience with milking the family cow with any automation. I'm wondering how long it takes a cow/heifer to let down milk for the claw versus hand milking. These girls will let you take all they have available while handmilking, but this morning and evening they barely gave a cup or so each with the claw. I checked the fullness of their teats after removing the claw and they seemed empty.
I know this whole bucket milking thing is going to make life easier for me with four to milk twice a day, but how long should I expect before full let down on the cows?

[sammyd]

Anything new will keep cows from letting down. A couple of days to a week and they should be in the groove as far as the new milking equipment. Of course if you have older cows that have been hand milked for a long time you may not be able to get them to change their ways. It's a lot different for them to get all 4 worked on at once and cows hate anything different.
Are you allowing them time to let down?
Proper prep is about 1 minute from cleaning the teats to applying the milker.
You can't just jump in and hook up.
Are your pulsators working properly? Feel the hoses to make sure they are pulsing while you milk.
Is your vacuum level set correctly? Pipelines require about 15" at the controller to work but buckets require much less as they don't have to lift the milk to the pipe, proper level is 9-10" at the teat end so with buckets that's where I'd have the controller set.

[Up North]

Glad to hear you got her up and running. Follow suggestions sammyd has made. I expect cows will get the swing of it soon enough.