totally frustrated

[awoodwaring]

As you may know or not Nicole Irene is my wife. We have a jersey cow that we have been milking first by hand took about 2 hours to get milked out and now by surge milker about 10mins. she does not like to get milked by hand it takes too long, she does not mind the machine for a short amount of time. I have to tie her feet down so she does not kick me. I know in a year from now it will be better. I am getting tried of getting kicked at, pee'd on and having to chase down the cow to get milked.

Questions I have:
1) I can feel the milk in two of the udder tubes, back and sometimes in the front, what is a good way to tell when you are done milking?
2)when does it get better?
3)I don't want to damage the cow. When finished milking she still looks like she has a ton of milk she did not let drop. how do you help her drop her milk during milking.
4) who has modified their milker so they can see when the cow was done? How did you do that. I want to get clear tubing and barb connectors so I can see the milk flowing into the surge bucket. This would be a short term thing until we figure out the whole milking thing.

Love the milk and the cheese we get out of her and the kids love the cow. DW loves animals and loves the cow and calf. any tips on halter training a calf during milking?

Thanks for any help you can offer.

Andy

[tinknal]

Some cows just won't let their milk down if they still have a calf on them. You may have to separate the calf away from her and bottle feed the calf.

[farmgirl6]

I have never had an adult milk cow and my steer is a pet so I really am new to this, but one thing I have found works over the years for all of the animals I have handled, from dogs to horses to goats ect, if the only time an animals is handled is for upleasant or annoying taskers, they tend to classify in their minds "all handling is unpleasent and annoying, therefore avoid it" my little two month old Heifer was kicking already when I went to touch her udder.
For me catching, typing up and grooming her gently with a stiff brush that hits those itchy places has fixed the problem. Maybe a gentle grooming before or during the process would make her think, well don't like the milking but like the grooming, think I'll stand for this. I dunno, I am no expert

[haypoint]

Is it that she won't let the milk down or are you doing it wrong?

You should be able to tell, in all four quarters, that she's still got milk. Should I assume that if you can't figure that out you are real new at this?

All the cows I've milked, they seemed relieved to be milked and in short order were easy to walk back to the barn. Should I assume that you are having trouble catching her because she's not looking forward to your milking methods.

If the machine can do it quickly and you can't, would it be wrong to assume that you are not nearly effective as the machine?

Kicking can be due to her being an unrulely nasty tempered cow. Kicking can also be a sign that you are hurting her or making her uncomfortable. I think many cows would kick if you were still yanking away after two hours.

Lead the calf from day one. If you teach the calf that you are strong enough to pull him where you want, he'll learn to come along and never realize that he can overpower you.

[Nicole Irene]

Haypoint, you are correct in many of your points:
~we are brand new to this (including the cow)
~she does not look forward to milking
~we are not as effective as the machine (takes the machine 5 minutes and us handmilking is about an hour)
~Fawn actually has an excellent temper...everywhere except the stantion

I have suggested 2 things to my hubby
1. Please let me buy the silicone inflations so he can see the milk and not worry about it
2. only milk with the machine and skip the hand milking at the end (he was doing that to gauge what was left)

It is frustrating because we don't have anyone to help show us what we are doing right or wrong. We don't know if she is not letting down in the front quarters or we are hooking up the machine incorrectly.

Would someone be willing to watch a video and give us feedback? We really kinda suck at this whole thing and dh is about ready to sell the cow.

[awoodwaring]

Tinknal~ I would like to leave the calf with the cow because it is to hard to go feed are few hours.

Farmgirl~ I brush her before for milking, clean her up, and feed grain. I think it will work in time.

Haypoint~ We are way new to this, only had the cow about a month. We have only been out here a little over a year. I am no way as effect as the machine, hands are not that fast and I get tired. she is a sweet cow when you are not milking it.

thanks

[gone-a-milkin]

Another thing that cows will do to a new milker is they will bully you with their feet.

Is she really kicking you, or is she just swatting her foot at the machine?
There is a big difference.
If she learns that all she has to do is shake her hoof and it makes you back off, then it becomes a power-play.
I have seen this many times with people who are a bit skittish to get up under the cow.

There is a big difference between "kick your face off" and "stomp the machine off" types of kicking. I just got through training a heifer who I called "helicopter legs". She had a roundhouse kick.
After 2 weeks of hobbling for milking, she is now *mostly* pretty good.

An empty udder feels and looks empty. It is not tight and it feels like an empty bag.
It is possible that the calf is preferring one or 2 quarters and not drinking from all 4.
If so, then the machine will finish milking those ones out while the others still have milk in them.
You can turn those cups down (or put plugs in them) and finish milking the ones that need it with the machine.

[linn]

You can buy clear inflations with clear hoses going to the milker, that should help you tell when she stops giving down in each quarter. If she is finishing her grain early, you might try adding some alfalfa pellets or a flake of good alfalfa hay. This might keep her happy longer.

[vaponydoc]

I also had trouble with my young jersey heifer who would not let down. We kept her calf with her and she was really holding back because of that. We gave up on this lactation after milking her for only 4 months. Next time we'll probably separate mom and baby. I hate to do that because life is so much easier when you avoid bottle feeding and let mom do all the work.

[awoodwaring]

Vaponydoc~ I think this is what she is doing. we most likely won't pull the calf because it is better for the calf.

thanks

[farmergirl]

I built a nice wooden stanchion for my Jersey. She HATES the stanchion

I have found it MUCH, MUCH easier and pleasant to just tie her to a fence post and milk her in the pasture.

I don't feed her while I'm milking; makes her shift around too much and get antsy when she's finished what's in the bucket.

I feel your pain. I was so in love with my Jersey from the moment we brought her home, and so sad and discouraged when we first tried to milk her.
It does get better! Be patient, but firm. My girl will be really pushy if you let her, but stand like a champ if she knows you mean business.

Let us know how it goes!