Buttercup calved!!!

[ChickenMom]

Buttercup calved last night, we'll see how milking goes tonight, it'll be her first time.
Meet Moonbeam:

[B Adams]

What a cute baby she is. Is she out of an angus bull? I use brangus or angus on my dairy cows and the heifers sure do make nice mama's.
B Adams

[Up North]

The all important question here....Is Moonbeam a heifer or bull calf? How did Buttercup do with her first milking?

Heather

[ChickenMom]

Moonbeam is a heifer, 65 pounds. She's quite the little butterball. She is out of an Angus bull.
Buttercup and I have to come to an understanding. She needs to understand that she is supposed to let me milk! She is quite the dancer and quite the kicker on the left rear quarter. This is her first experience with milking and she is the first cow I ever milked (not such a good idea huh). I got 1 quart last night and 1 1/2 quarts this morning. That doesn't seem like very much to me. Maybe I'm doing it wrong.

[JulieLou42]

The only time mine kicks, even when a new milker, was when she was trying to get the flies off of her.

Keep your head into her flank so's you can tell, perhaps, when that leg's gonna move. Alternate hands on her when milking, with the non-milking one holding onto the bucket, in case you have to move it fast away from her oncoming foot.

Mine understands tone of voice; try scolding her, if she's doing it to get you off her.

If she won't stop, there are other ways of preventing it...all mechanical.

[ChickenMom]

No kicking this morning but I'm still only getting 1 1/2 quarts of milk at a time.

[JulieLou42]

Some of the problem you're having may be that her teats are short? If that's the case, I'd recommend that after you wash her clean and pat her dry, apply just enough Bag Balm at the top of her teats to put a very thin coat of it on them and strip milk her from top to bottom of teats between your thumb and index fingers. I have to milk Ginger that way, even though she's had two calves nurse her till better than 9 mo. each...they're still too short to use the recommended method with the whole hand on the length of the teat and squeezing each individual finger from index at the top to pinkie at the bottom. Ginger just cannot be milked that way!!!

Perhaps she's not letting her milk down for you...that's what Ginger does to me when I try to share with her calf...I get next to nothing! There are others on here who can help with this issue, as they've had experience with it. I don't have the space to put the calf on one side of her, or even keep the calf near her, and that's a couple of helps I've read about. Maybe if I wanted to milk in the pasture, it would, but I wouldn't have enough control over cleanliness if I did that.

Suggest you go over to the Keeping a Family Cow forum for more specific instructions on this. Best of luck to you!!

[ChickenMom]

The Family Cow folks gave me a lot of help.
This morning I went out early when I took the bottle to the goat and separated Buttercup and Moonbeam, they were just waking up. Then I put Buttercup in the stanchion and tied Moonbeam to the front right side so she could only reach to about 6 inches from the teats. I got 3 quarts from the 3 teats I am saving from. One teat was chunky at freshening so we aren't saving it yet. So things are going better.
Thanks Lorrie