Post by zogg on Aug 6, 2008 16:39:29 GMT -5
Hello,
As with many of you we have multiple cows and you may have heard about them and seen pictures from Erik Akia, my husband. Carmine is a gorgeous Jersey, and Bessie is a Jersey Brindle. Then there is BBQ, Bessie's half Angus calf. I too am going through many trials and tribulations.
Bessie is the problem cow. She used to poo and pee on the stanchion and kick. Now she's just stubborn to get on there. She also charges Carmine a lot now that we have put them together after the vet check. Right now I'm getting Bessie used to the stanchion again. We were told she's been out to pasture for about a year. But as we have discovered, there was a lot about Bessy we were mislead on. It's been a long time coming to get to this point. I now have her somewhat lead line trained and after a 5 minute mild tug of war I can get her into the stanchion. I give her alfalfa and about 2 cups of grain while she's there. Like I said getting her used to it. I can rub her down and express a little milk (3 oz.) before she stops giving any. Then I help her chapped teets with a thick layer of unscented utter butter. She actually lets more milk come out when I put on the lotion than when I milk her clean dry teets. I'm not sure if this means anything. By the time I'm done with this routine she is jerking her head hard to get out of the stanchion. I, of course, don't let her out until she's calmed down a bit and will walk off the stanchion with little jerking. My hope is that this will calm down with time.
Here are my quandaries: Bessie will let me milk about 3 oz. out of her. I think she's holding back for her calf BBQ who is about 4 months old now and we want to separate them. I've read in books it's better to separate at night. But on this forum I've seen separating during the day. Which is better?
Also when I separate them and start actively milking Bessy more how much should I milk? Should I milk only one side of her (i.e. front, back, left or right) or should I try to milk her out prior to bringing BBQ back in? Or would it work better to milk her while BBQ nurses on the other side?
Any help here would be appreciated.
Leewitt
As with many of you we have multiple cows and you may have heard about them and seen pictures from Erik Akia, my husband. Carmine is a gorgeous Jersey, and Bessie is a Jersey Brindle. Then there is BBQ, Bessie's half Angus calf. I too am going through many trials and tribulations.
Bessie is the problem cow. She used to poo and pee on the stanchion and kick. Now she's just stubborn to get on there. She also charges Carmine a lot now that we have put them together after the vet check. Right now I'm getting Bessie used to the stanchion again. We were told she's been out to pasture for about a year. But as we have discovered, there was a lot about Bessy we were mislead on. It's been a long time coming to get to this point. I now have her somewhat lead line trained and after a 5 minute mild tug of war I can get her into the stanchion. I give her alfalfa and about 2 cups of grain while she's there. Like I said getting her used to it. I can rub her down and express a little milk (3 oz.) before she stops giving any. Then I help her chapped teets with a thick layer of unscented utter butter. She actually lets more milk come out when I put on the lotion than when I milk her clean dry teets. I'm not sure if this means anything. By the time I'm done with this routine she is jerking her head hard to get out of the stanchion. I, of course, don't let her out until she's calmed down a bit and will walk off the stanchion with little jerking. My hope is that this will calm down with time.
Here are my quandaries: Bessie will let me milk about 3 oz. out of her. I think she's holding back for her calf BBQ who is about 4 months old now and we want to separate them. I've read in books it's better to separate at night. But on this forum I've seen separating during the day. Which is better?
Also when I separate them and start actively milking Bessy more how much should I milk? Should I milk only one side of her (i.e. front, back, left or right) or should I try to milk her out prior to bringing BBQ back in? Or would it work better to milk her while BBQ nurses on the other side?
Any help here would be appreciated.
Leewitt