Lots of dairy cow questions *Update*

[Hound]

I have a Surge milker, that was another question I had, as to how well it would work. I think i'll give the sale barn a wide berth and see if I can either buy a cow directly from a dairy or from a private seller. The dairies in this area seem to be 98% Holstein though, and buying from another state presents a few paperwork issues.

 

[thebirdguy]

I'd definitely stay away from the sale barns.. unfortunately a lot of animals are there because they have a problem of some kind.. I've milked a lot of cows in my time and for what you seem to want I would recommend a Jersey.. Good luck and have fun milking!!

 

[herfrds]

I loved my Jersey cow, Chocolate. She never had trouble calving except for me acting like a mother hen.
Lost her this spring to a ruptured bowel.

just bought a new Jersey, Honey Girl. She has this nice temperment.

had a Holstein/Brown Swiss cross that kicked me out of the pen a couple of times. I hated that cow.

My Dad told me the best milk cow his grandmother ever had was a Jersey/Guernsey cross.A Surge milker does do a pretty good job, but you may need to strip her out after using the milker.
I have one too, but I have always done hand milking. Gives me a good chance to check her bag over.

 

[Hound]

I received an e-mail from someone who might have what i'm looking for, but she needs a little TLC. Would any of you experienced dairy folk mind if I forwarded it to you to get your input? I don't want to just post someone else's business on a public forum.

 

[herfrds]

i'm willing.

 

[Hound]

Thanks, I sent you a message.

 

[welsummerchicks]

Ok, for a completely ignorant person who knows nothing, can one of you experienced folks, tell about the process of training a cow to be milked by hand, and if that's different from training to a machine? Or should I put this question on a new thread?

No, I don't think I'll try it, I think the advice to buy a broke cow sounds very sensible and sound. But I am curious about how the training is done, as well as what sort of training the cow gets before she gets broke to milk.

I'm really asking because I want to have a dual purpose milking and dressage cow.

 

[Cowgirl71]

Feel free to forward it to me too.

 

[Hound]

Thanks, I PM'd you

 

[Cowgirl71]

Quote:
There's really no set of rules for training a cow to be milked. Each cow is an individual. I definitely wouldn't recommend a beginner to attempt training a new cow. You really need to be an experienced milker to train a new animal. Goats are one thing, but we're talking about an animal that weighs up words of 800-1000 pounds.

When we've had milk cows calve it's usually not easy to get them back on the milking routine. They haven't been milked in a couple months, their bag's huge, swollen and sore, and their number one concern is the welfare of their calf. In the past I've had the attitude of "Okay, you can swat me with your tail, but let me milk out your four gallon udder, and don't you dare kick me!" What I've learned is that later when they're back in the routine, when you reprimand them for swatting their tail they get frightened and don't understand what they did wrong. So it really is best to draw the line up front.

I certainly don't want to discourage anyone from getting a milk cow! They really can be sweet animals, and all the milk, ice cream, cheese, yogurt, butter, and whipped cream you can eat!