Post by thystledown on Nov 30, 2015 3:42:49 GMT -5
Meditating on the "seriously get a machine" thread and all the great pros and cons of hand vs machine milking and other information there. So I did some more research to see if my problems hand milking were really cow problems that could have been caused by machine milking or something else. This cow milks slow even with the machine. The pressure gauge is within site of me and I check it while milking. The Teat cup liners are new Jersey inflations. Let down has always been a problem and I learned that putting a machine on before good let down can damage teats as easily as over-milking. But according to a couple articles, so can hand milking and calves. Hyperkeratosis even occurs in beef herds. But this cow is also dropping in production and I was machine stripping because I knew she was holding up milk for the calves. I did not realize machine stripping was bad. I can stop doing that for sure. I don't think she has hyperkeratosis at this point. As far as I can remember, this is the way she has been since the edema went down after freshening. But why is she so hard to milk either by hand or machine? Could it be because I left the calf/calves on her? That is a new thing for me. OAD with her own calf and a foster running with her during the day is an experiment for me. My dairy farming friends think I'm crazy, so my confidence has to be built up by seeing if this really works. This cow is a 3 year old first calver who freshened Sept 3. She has two calves on her that are shut up at night and I only get 14-16 lbs of milk (right at 2 gallons) once a day. The calves strip her out after I machine milk and the bag significantly decreases as they nurse. But the bag is not filling up overnight like I would expect for this cow's age and genetics. I am feeding 10 lbs of sweet fitting ration at milking and she has been on excellent pasture (after feed hay meadows) which is now supplemented with good round bale hay free choice on the edge of one meadow. I will try to get a better let down response when I strip her before milking. I will not get tempted to machine strip. But how do I get her to let down if she is intentionally holding up for the calves? Won't her production continue to decrease? I was getting 20 lbs earlier in her lactation, but shouldn't she be giving more rather than less at 2 and 3 months lactation? I even kept her in one night thinking that the cold temps might be making an energy drain on her. But the temps have been above freezing again for a week. The wild swing from low teens some nights to upper 60's some days might also be hard. Also, I discovered today that she broke the end of her tail somehow. about 5 inches from the end--still in the brush her tail feels broken. Does not appear to hurt her now, but must have been very painful. I am guessing another cow stepped on it. I had noticed she was not swatting me with it, but thought that was due to decrease in flies with the onset of cold weather. But I also wondered why her tail head was so often dirty. I think she was just not moving her tail much while it healed. So that could have an effect on production. But still no answer to why she milks so slowly either by hand or machine. I'm guessing she's holding up--so milking is a fight either way. Thoughts? Suggestions? Maybe I should get one of those farmers to come have a look.