Want to start machine milking, but need advice about set-up
May 11, 2019 12:06:17 GMT -5
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Post by daisyhill on May 11, 2019 12:06:17 GMT -5
About ten years ago, I milked several times a week for a friend with a family cow, using their surge belly milker. They shortly got out of keeping a cow, and I wound up with the milker and the heifer calf. Fast forward nine years of hand milking and never getting around to setting the milking machine up (I have a foolish dislike of washing the thing, and enjoy handmilking), I've decided I want to machine milk again.
It is really Buttercup's fault. She has many good qualities, but even though I trained her myself as a heifer, and have done my best to break her of her bad habits, she is still a kicker, and if possible tries to put her foot in the bucket once or twice a week. Hobbles worked "well enough" her first lactation (a very long one, as she lost her second pregnancy at six months), and this time (thanks to KFC friends) I purchased two of those amazing c-clamp shaped kick stops. She has to wear one on each side, and she still practices her dance steps, though now she is limited to the DaisyHill Side Shuffle.
She is just plain no fun to milk, I can feel myself tense up when I sit down beside her, and of course that doesn't help anything. It was so fun milking Arabel when she freshened this year, two weeks before Buttercup, and I was thinking "This is a breeze! I love milking every day!" Then Buttercup has her calf, and now it is just feeling too much with all her prancing and fussing. She seems to really hate the way let-down feels, and always throws a little fit when I first begin to milk. Then she usually settles down. The other thing is that she is slow to milk, and throughout her first lactation, her teats were irritatingly small, but this time, they are a more respectable size, and I *think* would fit an ordinary size inflation.
On the good side, her milk is wonderful, often the favorite. She is a kind and peaceful mother. You can walk right up to her in the pasture any time, even when she has a new calf, and she is letting down generously even though we are share-milking right now.
I need to make milking time shorter. My sisters and I share our cows, and most of the time we milk two cows together, sometimes three. It works out great for all of us, as one person can randomly take a day off almost any time, and it is our social sister time every day. However, this spring, with two cows fresh, DS1 and I both teaching school, and DS2 with a brand new baby and needing some time off, we realized we need to crank up the speed. I just feel like Buttercup would be a really good machine milking candidate, and if we are doing her I might as well milk Arabel by machine too.
After all that, I have some questions about getting set back up to machine milk. There is a lot I have forgotten, and more I have never known.
The milking machine I have is a Surge Belly milker, I know that the bucket is the later model (without the seam). I have two or maybe three pulsators, which at the time I was using it last all worked. I believe that at least one was rebuilt, but I'm not sure. I can ask the folks I got it from, they may remember. I have a Surge vacuum pump, it worked perfectly last time we used it, it has been stored in our barn. I have handy brothers, father and nephews who will check it out for me and make sure it is running properly. I have the vacuum line with the surge valves that was still in our barn from my grandfather's day. I also have the single vacuum hose with one valve that our friends used, this had a pressure gauge in it.
I know I need new inflations, the ones I have are ten years old, "new in the box" but not well stored. I would like to get the silicone inflations, but it looks like I need new shells for them? I would like advice about this if anyone has any. Are the blue better than the clear? I really like the idea of the clear, so I could see the milk. Since we are sharing milk with the calf, any random teat may be mostly empty at milking time. Even with no calf, Arabel has always had one quarter that produces way more milk (like her mother and grandmother before her). I am anxious about over milking.
I would like to have separate inflations for the two cows, I don't like the idea of maybe passing something from one to the other. What is the best way to do this? Another lid and pulsator setup?
Could some of you please outline your pre-milking udder cleaning routines? I have never pre-dipped when hand milking, it did not seem very crucial. We wiped off the teats with separate cloths wet with iodine solution, and then dried.
I would love advice about re-training handmilked cows to the milking machine. I will make sure to install the vacuum pump as far away as I reasonably can, to keep things quiet and peaceful.
Does anyone have any opinions about where is the best place to buy inflations and parts? I've looked at BobWhite and Hamby Dairy Supply both. (After perusing the BobWhite website, I was all ready to rush off and build a beautiful milk room with a small bulk tank and a milking pipeline, for the trifling cost of 20 or 30 thousand dollars )
I realize that this is a very long post--thank you for reading, and any advice will be much appreciated!
It is really Buttercup's fault. She has many good qualities, but even though I trained her myself as a heifer, and have done my best to break her of her bad habits, she is still a kicker, and if possible tries to put her foot in the bucket once or twice a week. Hobbles worked "well enough" her first lactation (a very long one, as she lost her second pregnancy at six months), and this time (thanks to KFC friends) I purchased two of those amazing c-clamp shaped kick stops. She has to wear one on each side, and she still practices her dance steps, though now she is limited to the DaisyHill Side Shuffle.
She is just plain no fun to milk, I can feel myself tense up when I sit down beside her, and of course that doesn't help anything. It was so fun milking Arabel when she freshened this year, two weeks before Buttercup, and I was thinking "This is a breeze! I love milking every day!" Then Buttercup has her calf, and now it is just feeling too much with all her prancing and fussing. She seems to really hate the way let-down feels, and always throws a little fit when I first begin to milk. Then she usually settles down. The other thing is that she is slow to milk, and throughout her first lactation, her teats were irritatingly small, but this time, they are a more respectable size, and I *think* would fit an ordinary size inflation.
On the good side, her milk is wonderful, often the favorite. She is a kind and peaceful mother. You can walk right up to her in the pasture any time, even when she has a new calf, and she is letting down generously even though we are share-milking right now.
I need to make milking time shorter. My sisters and I share our cows, and most of the time we milk two cows together, sometimes three. It works out great for all of us, as one person can randomly take a day off almost any time, and it is our social sister time every day. However, this spring, with two cows fresh, DS1 and I both teaching school, and DS2 with a brand new baby and needing some time off, we realized we need to crank up the speed. I just feel like Buttercup would be a really good machine milking candidate, and if we are doing her I might as well milk Arabel by machine too.
After all that, I have some questions about getting set back up to machine milk. There is a lot I have forgotten, and more I have never known.
The milking machine I have is a Surge Belly milker, I know that the bucket is the later model (without the seam). I have two or maybe three pulsators, which at the time I was using it last all worked. I believe that at least one was rebuilt, but I'm not sure. I can ask the folks I got it from, they may remember. I have a Surge vacuum pump, it worked perfectly last time we used it, it has been stored in our barn. I have handy brothers, father and nephews who will check it out for me and make sure it is running properly. I have the vacuum line with the surge valves that was still in our barn from my grandfather's day. I also have the single vacuum hose with one valve that our friends used, this had a pressure gauge in it.
I know I need new inflations, the ones I have are ten years old, "new in the box" but not well stored. I would like to get the silicone inflations, but it looks like I need new shells for them? I would like advice about this if anyone has any. Are the blue better than the clear? I really like the idea of the clear, so I could see the milk. Since we are sharing milk with the calf, any random teat may be mostly empty at milking time. Even with no calf, Arabel has always had one quarter that produces way more milk (like her mother and grandmother before her). I am anxious about over milking.
I would like to have separate inflations for the two cows, I don't like the idea of maybe passing something from one to the other. What is the best way to do this? Another lid and pulsator setup?
Could some of you please outline your pre-milking udder cleaning routines? I have never pre-dipped when hand milking, it did not seem very crucial. We wiped off the teats with separate cloths wet with iodine solution, and then dried.
I would love advice about re-training handmilked cows to the milking machine. I will make sure to install the vacuum pump as far away as I reasonably can, to keep things quiet and peaceful.
Does anyone have any opinions about where is the best place to buy inflations and parts? I've looked at BobWhite and Hamby Dairy Supply both. (After perusing the BobWhite website, I was all ready to rush off and build a beautiful milk room with a small bulk tank and a milking pipeline, for the trifling cost of 20 or 30 thousand dollars )
I realize that this is a very long post--thank you for reading, and any advice will be much appreciated!