Post by thystledown on Nov 20, 2015 9:04:58 GMT -5
Disclaimer and warning: I am seriously upset and angry right now. The machine would not work this morning. I had to try and milk by hand. I have milked goats by hand. This was by far the most miserable experience. The Jersey teats are not long enough for a whole hand. They are not as big as a good milking goat and they are much more dense. She did let down, but it took forever to milk the 2 quarts I got before I quit. She was down on her knees twice and insisted she could not get up while still in the stanchion. She bumped the pail repeatedly--a good stainless steel no kidding milking pail. She got her great muddy foot on the edge and dripped mud into the milk. The whole thing seemed dirty anyway with the milk open to hair or debris getting in. When I milk by machine there is nothing in the filter when I run the milk thorough. I threw this milk out into the barnyard. I get 20 lbs with the machine (over 2 gallons) and then she nurses two calves and totally deflates her bag--so the 2 quarts I got was nothing. Not even a dent. I expect the calves will scour. I don't much care at this point. If I had to milk by hand I'd call the truck tomorrow. Those of you debating if a machine is worth the work of washing up--heck yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Unless your cow doesn't milk more than a goat--and then why feed a cow for what a goat can produce (about 2.5 qts on OAD milking)? With my separator I can even make butter from goat milk. For me, I would only keep a cow when I can milk once a day with a good machine--and not a belly milker. Trying to imagine her dropping down on her knees with a belly milker on. especially if she then puts her hind feet in the gutter. Even with a pitch fork she did not think she could stand up unless I let her out of the stanchion. So glad I didn't have a milker strapped to her. I grew up with DeLaval bucket milkers, but the complicated electronics might not be the best for a one family cow situation. Mechanical pulsation might be better. I'm putting this in Family cow rather than milking equipment because it isn't really about equipment types, but about hand vs. machine at all. I was in tears by the end of milking--which was really was not the end, but when I gave up and put the calves with her to scour themselves on all the milk. And this is such a good cow that she never kicked once in her life, not even the first day when she was hugely engorged and her first freshening when I put the machine on her. Seriously, get a machine. Oh, and I have some arthritis at 54 too. What a great morning.