Post by lew92 on Jul 11, 2011 19:32:27 GMT -5
After three years of hand milking, the dream of milking by machine is nearly a reality. We got the machine hooked up and running last Wednesday and I started running it while handmilking. The poor girl was terrified of the thing and for two days I had to drive her into the milking stall. By Saturday morning, she went into the stall willingly for her grain, so when I was done with milking, I allowed her to see/sniff the claw, then held it close to her body. The first two sessions of that kind of torture, she kicked at the claw, but was unable to connect, as I had put hobbles on her.
On Sunday, she allowed the claw to be next to her body without kicking at it. Then, this morning we had advanced to the point of holding the claw next to her and touching her udder with it after getting done with hand milking. Today she stood so well for it, I decided to try to put one teat cup on and see if I could do it without losing too much air pressure. Surprise, surprise, it seems that DeLaval is made to not lose pressure when the teat cups are turned upward. And, even bigger surprise, she really didn't react. Just a bit of milk flowed, so I called DH in and had him hold up her tail.
In for a penny, in for a pound, I put all four cups on her and she stood very well. No more shaking and no attempts to kick it off. The air pressure on the milker wasn't high enough, so when I let go of the claw, the inflations fell off, due to the weight of the claw. I do know what I need to do to fix it - I reminded myself about that when we put it all together on Wednesday, then promptly forgot. However, I'm walkin' on sunshine! Tomorrow morning, my cow gets milked by machine! Woo-hoo!
God is so good and I am so blessed to have been given this cow for my caretaking. I am thankful for the years of working with my skittish horse, which helped me understand the psychology of large animals. It taught me that patience and repetition is always the best route with change. Thank You!
On Sunday, she allowed the claw to be next to her body without kicking at it. Then, this morning we had advanced to the point of holding the claw next to her and touching her udder with it after getting done with hand milking. Today she stood so well for it, I decided to try to put one teat cup on and see if I could do it without losing too much air pressure. Surprise, surprise, it seems that DeLaval is made to not lose pressure when the teat cups are turned upward. And, even bigger surprise, she really didn't react. Just a bit of milk flowed, so I called DH in and had him hold up her tail.
In for a penny, in for a pound, I put all four cups on her and she stood very well. No more shaking and no attempts to kick it off. The air pressure on the milker wasn't high enough, so when I let go of the claw, the inflations fell off, due to the weight of the claw. I do know what I need to do to fix it - I reminded myself about that when we put it all together on Wednesday, then promptly forgot. However, I'm walkin' on sunshine! Tomorrow morning, my cow gets milked by machine! Woo-hoo!
God is so good and I am so blessed to have been given this cow for my caretaking. I am thankful for the years of working with my skittish horse, which helped me understand the psychology of large animals. It taught me that patience and repetition is always the best route with change. Thank You!