I am now a milker! (or; Ouch my hands!)

Dusky Beauty · #1 10/21/12, 03:40 PM

The dexter mama I picked up has now improved so much in her ground manners we are finally milking by hand problem free every day. I am milk sharing with her 3 month old heifer, and at first I tried separating them in the morning so they would be quiet in the night for the neighbors, but in reality separating at night and milking in the morning works better-- they sleep instead of bellow all night like I thought they would. Also my schedule is a little more conducive to going out late in the evening to lead her into her milk pen after kids go to bed and milk during the leisurely late morning when kids are doin school and hubby is gone.

This is the first time she stood to let me milk her nearly flaccid-- my hands are actually sore so I guess I got a good workout!!

I wonder how long till my fingers get used to the motion? and I won't be so sore? at peak I should be milking two cows and 3-6 does per milking

cathleenc · #2 10/21/12, 05:03 PM

We all have our own 'hand' limits - for me it's one cow and 3 goats.

Congrats on the great progress! I think hand milkers are a rare breed.

myersfarm · #3 10/21/12, 06:47 PM

squeeze a tennis ball when your driving the car will help build them up

Dusky Beauty · #4 10/22/12, 12:02 AM

My Belmont (thats dexter x jersey) is due to calve sometime in the next 40 days. She's from more dairy lines and I'm thinkin if she gives better yield and cream (and she's a little pocket moo dream) I'll let Mama Martha foster the new calf and keep my belmont's milk for the house once her colostrum is fed out. Would cut down on my labor and make milking a little more enjoyable.

topside1 · #5 10/22/12, 07:39 AM

You'll be cracking walnuts with you bare hands before Christmas. Topside

G. Seddon · #6 10/22/12, 08:07 AM

Dusky Beauty, pictures of your cows, please????

linn · #7 10/22/12, 09:12 AM

Congratulations! After a couple of weeks your hands should show much more strength and dexterity. And you will have improved your milking technique.

Dusky Beauty · #8 10/22/12, 11:42 AM

This is Missy, my belmont. She's my first cow- I had figured I was going to buy a baby bottle heifer and raise it for temperament but she already had that and is a sweetie. I figured her price even as an open heifer put me way ahead in cost of feed for 18 mos alone.
I am now a milker! (or; Ouch my hands!) - Cattle

Its pretty clear from this angle that she's gonna pop pretty soon.

I am now a milker! (or; Ouch my hands!) - Cattle

This is mama Martha with her lowline angus x heifer.

I am now a milker! (or; Ouch my hands!) - Cattle

They're both polled. Not quite sure what I am going to do with the heifer. I guess I'll give her the groundwork so someone has the option of using her as a small beef brood cow with a little house milk in the bargain. I doubt she'll give much, but a lot of people don't need much so I figure it'll help her chances down the road.

Here is Betty our red dexter (with martha's heifer)-- she was martha's pasture mate. I have photos of her when she was in milk and she has a fantastic udder but she isn't used to being handled. I'm planning on breeding her to a dexter bull, and selling her with a positive blood pregnancy test and a renewed negative BVD test if she doesn't come around to being handled. She loves Martha's baby and I think she'd be a great nurse cow if not a milk cow.

I am now a milker! (or; Ouch my hands!) - Cattle

ozark_jewels · #9 10/22/12, 03:08 PM

I grew up milking 1-3 cows per day so thought nothing of it. Then we moved around with Dads work for a year. Had a wonderful time and my hands/arms got a vacation. Got the Jerseys back from my uncle the next year. OH MY GOSH. My hands and arms took about a month to stop hurting and get back into the routine. It will happen!! Congrats on the new milker!
My max by hand is about 12 does plus one cow.

G. Seddon · #10 10/22/12, 05:07 PM

Dusky Beauty, THANKS for posting photos! Looks like you have a nice herd there -- and a very productive one! Is Betty red or dun?

It must be very different taking care of cattle in Arizona as opposed to Virginia. I've never been to Arizona, but I imagine it's quite a contrast from here.

From what everyone says, your hands will adjust with time and use!

Dusky Beauty · #11 10/22/12, 07:23 PM

G. Seddon,

I'm always happy to share photos! Betty is a red dexter and I'll be breeding her to a meaty black dexter bull.

A few parts of AZ are very well kept secrets in farming! Yuma has a large river to irrigate, Flagstaff has a lot of snow melt reservoirs, and in Phoenix we have a large network of underground lakes. It's excellent hay country and crop country in general because the growing season runs all year.
There's plenty of water and sun to be had for about anything as long as you get it out of the ground, and the temperate zone gives a lot of crop choices.
Olives for olive oil, citrus orchards, nuts are all unexpected business farms down this way.

We have a large well to support any irrigation we like and the water rights to do it on just our 2 acres.
A lot of our hay is exported, so the prices don't ever dip much, but we never have to worry about not having access to it.

Dexters and little goats are perfect for us because they stay slick and healthy on lesser feed.

Milking in summer is not going to be fun--- it never cools off at night here. I may bite the bullet and run a power box to the barn so I can have a fan and a light or something

Hannah90 · #12 10/23/12, 10:16 AM

When I started milking my first cow this september it took me a week or so to adjust to the new motions. I guess we will see what happens after I dry her off and she freshens again in March!

Hannah90 · #13 10/23/12, 10:17 AM

Oh, I was going to ask, have you tried the Belmont's milk yet? I am highly considering getting a full blood jersey and crossing her with my Dexter bull. I like my cow, Annabelle's milk, but I would like a richer milk. Obviously, I will get that from the full jersey, but I would be interested to see what the cross would produce. Long term experiment. Unless I can get lucky and find the cross around here.

Dusky Beauty · #14 10/23/12, 09:13 PM

Hannah, her first freshening is going to be in under 60 days now-- I was going to start her for house milk as soon as the colostrum is in the calf, and I'll let you know soon.

The cream content on Martha the whole dexter doesn't seem like much-- it sure doesn't rise to the top like i'd read about. It kinda sits there and the 24 hours later I have lil chunks in the whole cream.
I'm probably gonna have to get a separator if I want to get the heavy cream out

Hannah90 · #15 10/23/12, 09:18 PM

Yes please let me know. I havent been able to find anything about the difference from full dexter to the dexter jersey cross. My dexter milk is alright. I can get a pretty good cream line after 24 hours. i expexperimented with letting the milk sit for 3 days and got a better cream line. The cream is so thin though I struggles with skimming it off. I too have thought about getting a cream separator, those things are expensive! yikes! I was in love with the dexter breed before I purchased Annabelle. I am still very happy to have her but the milk isnt living up to all the promises my research showed. I am going to keep dexters around for smaller beef but I would like to make a change for milk quality.

Dusky Beauty · #16 10/23/12, 10:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hannah90

Yes please let me know. I havent been able to find anything about the difference from full dexter to the dexter jersey cross. My dexter milk is alright. I can get a pretty good cream line after 24 hours. i expexperimented with letting the milk sit for 3 days and got a better cream line. The cream is so thin though I struggles with skimming it off. I too have thought about getting a cream separator, those things are expensive! yikes! I was in love with the dexter breed before I purchased Annabelle. I am still very happy to have her but the milk isnt living up to all the promises my research showed. I am going to keep dexters around for smaller beef but I would like to make a change for milk quality.

Yes, I am exactly where you are now-- I have very high hopes for the jersey blood in my heifer.
I was hoping to do whipped cream and home butter for the holidays but there's no way I'm getting that kind of cream from this gal in milk. It's this half and half business or nothing right now--- great for cooking, and the little kids sure LOVE drinking it, but it's still not everything I had hoped for milk wise. It is thankfully replacing or reducing my store bought milk, but thats all it's doing.

For me it was the personality and smarts of the dexters that sold me, and the dexters I have where there and ready to be bought at the right time and jerseys are not--- I don't care how much cream you get. $2000 for a dry jersey and $1000 for a bottle heifer calf is nutso.

Hannah90 · #17 10/23/12, 10:38 PM

Shoo I had no idea jerseys were so spendy! I apid $1600 for Annabelle, her calf Myron who will be my breeding bull and the calf in her belly. So really, $500 each. I want to find a jersey next year. This summer I saw some yearlings for a decent price, but they were selling out because the drought took their pasture. There is a dairy about an hour from me that uses all jersey cows. Maybe I can get a cull from them. either way, looks like I need to save my pennies.

ozark_jewels · #18 10/23/12, 11:49 PM

Depending on your location, you can get a decent Jersey cow for $700-$1000 and a good bottle heifer for $200-$300. These are off the farm prices, not auction barns. Auctions can be cheaper....but you don't always know what you are getting.

Dusky Beauty · #19 10/24/12, 06:32 PM

Yeah, the prices I quoted were in my area from craigslist and off the dairy farm. Confuses the heck out of me since we have about 20 jersey dairies in the valley and they are still super expensive.