Jersey

[MurraysMutts]

Like @farmerjan said.

I'd Hobble her right away. She will learn real quick that kicking is a big no-no!
Once u get her milked a few times, things will go so much smoother. She doing the heifer dance with you. Who's the better dancer?

 

[Travlr]

Since she never had a chance for the calf to suck, she does not equate "milking" with relief. Since she did not have the problems that the older cow had with the mastitis, why would you not let the calf suck ? ,
Pet cows are the worst PITA to get accustomed to milking. The nice "gentling" usually does not work....they are prima donna's and usually are b@#ches....
She already knows now that she can intimidate you....

Hobble her, and keep the chain/strap between the back legs short so she can't kick without it throwing her down by pulling the other leg out from under her; and/or using a rope tied around her just in front of the udder, cinched up tight like a belt... will put pressure on the nerve on the back and will sometimes help to stop the kicking...used to use that on a couple of ornery heifers on one dairy.
They make an "anit-kick" device that is adjustable (metal)... looks like an angled "C" shape somewhat, that catches just under skin on the flank, and the other end goes up over the back... same idea of a rope cinched up... puts pressure on the nerve somewhat... and gives them something else to think about so not concentrating on the milking...

I have always milked with their calf right there with them so they are calm and not "worrying" about their baby, for the first 2-3 milkings... I will keep the calf in, bring cow in to the calf, and it gets to suck... and they usually let me milk on the other side... then after a day or 2, they don't get too upset that they are getting milked and they are not getting the calf... but the first couple milkings, the calf gives them the incentive to be milked, stimulates the letdown, along with getting fed in the stall/stanchion... and they associate it with relief.

Good luck....

This is why I don't milk cows. If they are trouble they are down the road. It's just like with dogs... there are worthwhile animals being put down every day for lack of a good home, so why put up with animals that go out of their way to be trouble...

 

[TexasJerseyMilker]

Dairy cattle are not like beef they are almost like a different species. They've been selected and bred for one thing - lots of milk. This same thing would probably happen with a beef heifer if you took away her calf and tried put a milking machine on her. Perfectly good high producing commercial dairy cows are sent for slaughter everyday when 5 or 6 years old. That's because they are less profitable but still have good salvage value. The profit margins on dairies are razor thin. Like Farmerjan said my tame heifer is going out of her way to cause trouble because she was raised like a pet. Thank you famerjan for your experience advice. If she wants to make a rodeo bring it on

 

[TexasJerseyMilker]

Well this is what happened. This morning we put together a stanchion with heavy steel corral panels and chains fastened to the pillars of the barn. It was a sort of a 10' narrow chute some 2x4s to keep her from backing out. I went out to get her and in the pasture she was still high headed and avoidant but she followed the old cow in. I haltered her with a proper cow halter that will squeeze the nose. Usually I just lead her by the collar but she can pull away. She went right into the chute, calmer than yesterday but still a little snorty and ate some feed. My cowboy husband put a soft looped rope around her in front of the udder. I had the pump and milker running nearby but there was really no way to put it on her in the corral panels, it was just there as part of the milking process. I went to dipping and cleaning her teats and milk her by hand. The front teats were leaking streams of milk but the back two (really tiny two finger teat) both had little plugs that I worked to milk those out. Every time I was ready to touch her I asked my husband to pull and tighten the flank rope. He said You know, this is how people make horses buck but it worked really well. When she was good after a while he would gradually let up on the pressure as a reward. If she raised a foot or stepped around he tightened it again. For a while I could milk some good streams of milk from the front two but she would shut off the milk flow just like a faucet. This is one reason I don't calf share but I kept after it. I wished I had a vial of oxytocin. Then I remembered the 'let them see the calf method' for letdown and we put the calf next to her. It did not have the desired effect just made her more uptight. We put the calf up and I kept milking what I could. When she was calm and good it was a good time to stop so I dipped her teats, put everything up and led her away. This was not the udder draining I had hoped for but now she can leak milk from all 4 teats. We will try again this evening. It wasn't as much of a rodeo as I thought. The way we are going to build an proper indoor stanchion is to rearrange corral panels make 2 stalls on that side of the barn but one will be walk in open with a stanchion like I had in Texas. I have a most amazing husband. He is calm, experienced and knowledgeable (about beef cattle) and he knows how to get things done.

 

[farmerjan]

Glad things went a little better... You might want to get some cannulas.... they are hollow tubes that you can stick up the teats... use on the tiny back teats..maybe 2 inches or so long.... the milk will pour out since they are up past the sphincter muscle at the end of the teat... If you get the kind that are individually packaged in cellophane... you will not introduce bacteria into the canal if the end of the teat is clean. I use them on a beef cow that has large teats right after calving occasionally.... takes the pressure off and the teat is less engorged and often a calf can then get on the teat... Our farm bureau usually has them but they were available on Jeffers I think... usually come in a "roll" of 50 or 100... they look like the ends of the today mastitis tubes, and I have used them in an emergency, on occasion...
We used corral panels, as a "template" and then just made a panel that only went half way down the cow's side.. so under her belly was accessible... .. so it was 10 ft long.. extended past the length of the animal... but only "halfway" to the ground so to speak... yes they can kick some with that... but you also have room to get away that you don't if you are putting your arms through the bars of the panel.
The flank rope works most all the time...
She may not like the calf idea since she did not get a chance to "mother it"... and with some it will make them hold their milk... but on many older experienced cows, I found it worked like a charm... they were like "baby is safe, I can see, smell, lick it, I get to eat lots of grain...and the pressure is relieved... "
Hope the next couple get better and better... Funny how you just "expect" them to "act right" and how you are used to with an established cow... we all do it and get a rude awakening sometimes...

 

[TexasJerseyMilker]

Not sure how fast I can get those from Jeffers but I'll order some. I'll see what we can rig up with a panel raised on one side. These are bull panels and supper heavy. Better to make that side with 2x6s?

My old cow is such a dear. She walks from a way away to lick me. Such a calming presence. Someday Honeydew will be like that.

 

[TexasJerseyMilker]

I can't find teat cannulas for sale but I did find this. file:///C:/Users/rinky/Downloads/aabp_1999_v33_2_007_EffectsOfTeatDilators%20(1).pdf
Are these the things you used or something else? Thanks I think I will get some oxytocin from the vet and put the machine on her. Have you ever used oxytocin? You can only use it one or two times or they become dependent but you can sure milk them out.

 

[Double R Ranch]

I can't find teat cannulas for sale but I did find this. file:///C:/Users/rinky/Downloads/aabp_1999_v33_2_007_EffectsOfTeatDilators%20(1).pdf
Are these the things you used or something else? Thanks I think I will get some oxytocin from the vet and put the machine on her. Have you ever used oxytocin? You can only use it one or two times or they become dependent but you can sure milk them out.

https://www.pbsanimalhealth.com/teat-infusion-cannulae/p/11233/#product-long-description
I use the long.

 

[farmerjan]

The ones that @Double R Ranch referenced are the ones I use also... the long ones as the others are meant to use with a syringe of sorts to infuse something into the udder... I have used oxy on occasion...
Ebay, has the cannulas in stock... Fertile Valley Vet supply has them.... look up under animal veterinary health and put in Teat Infusion Cannula... made by Jorgenson in Colorado.. Those are the ones I keep here... $15 /100 individually packed... free delivery...

 

[MurraysMutts]

I hope she calms down soon for you. There is a lot of value in a cow that will stand to be milked by hand without anything but a halter and tied off. Or a bucket of feed for that matter. I know these things!

 

[TexasJerseyMilker]

It turned out I didn't need cannulas, We used the just make her do it method.

My husband took away one of the heavy bull panels and replaced it with a light 10' foot gate raised up on 8' wood fence posts with about 30" of free work space. She was calmer today. She was leaking milk when she came into the stanchion and that was a good sign. He managed the flank rope while I prepped and put the Surge milker on her. I could hear the milk hitting the pail. she kicked and danced around a few times but came to accept it. I got 2 and a half gallons of milky colostrum and, put half a gallon in a bottle and the heifer calf sucked it down and then frisked.

 

[farmerjan]

It turned out I didn't need cannulas, We used the just make her do it method.

My husband took away one of the heavy bull panels and replaced it with a light 10' foot gate raised up on 8' wood fence posts with about 30" of free work space. She was calmer today. She was leaking milk when she came into the stanchion and that was a good sign. He managed the flank rope while I prepped and put the Surge milker on her. I could hear the milk hitting the pail. she kicked and danced around a few times but came to accept it. I got 2 and a half gallons of milky colostrum and, put half a gallon in a bottle and the heifer calf sucked it down and then frisked.

That's great... she will get it and sure, the sooner the better for you... and in the future, you may need to just put the rope around her and not cinch it up tight... just a "reminder" used to have one on one of the dairies I milked on... just laid the rope over her back... she was fine... no rope and she was too dumb to realize she just had to stand still....
I know you like the belly surge milker... but not having the belt over their back is why some went to a pail that sets off to the side and longer hose from the claw to the bucket... same principle, just not right there hanging underneath them. It's all what they get used to and what they seem to want to accept.
Just takes a little extra persuasion... and ingenuity... many first calf heifers can be difficult... and a few are dreams to work with....
Hope she gets into the routine quickly for you now...

The cannulas are handy to keep around in case of an injured teat... it allows the milk to flow without squeezing the teat in the milking pulsation... especially good when cut from briars or anything that makes the squeezing painful or reopens a healing cut or something... or the teats are so tiny that hand milking is near impossible...and they work for draining out mastitis when the udder is sore... they might get the end "stopped up" with a clump... but you just pull it out, blow the clump out, put it back to finish draining... sometimes it is kinder on the tender tissue and they don't get sore and antsy from it hurting...

 

[TexasJerseyMilker]

I have a metal teat cannula. It has to be boiled first. I got it for old Daphne when she had mastitis so bad in 2016.
Just posted on keepingafamilycow Just wondering - Do people ever put longer hoses on Surges so it can sit on the ground next to the cow? Just asking for a friend

 

[puzzled in oregon]

That's great... she will get it and sure, the sooner the better for you... and in the future, you may need to just put the rope around her and not cinch it up tight... just a "reminder" used to have one on one of the dairies I milked on... just laid the rope over her back... she was fine... no rope and she was too dumb to realize she just had to stand still....
I know you like the belly surge milker... but not having the belt over their back is why some went to a pail that sets off to the side and longer hose from the claw to the bucket... same principle, just not right there hanging underneath them. It's all what they get used to and what they seem to want to accept.
Just takes a little extra persuasion... and ingenuity... many first calf heifers can be difficult... and a few are dreams to work with....
Hope she gets into the routine quickly for you now...

The cannulas are handy to keep around in case of an injured teat... it allows the milk to flow without squeezing the teat in the milking pulsation... especially good when cut from briars or anything that makes the squeezing painful or reopens a healing cut or something... or the teats are so tiny that hand milking is near impossible...and they work for draining out mastitis when the udder is sore... they might get the end "stopped up" with a clump... but you just pull it out, blow the clump out, put it back to finish draining... sometimes it is kinder on the tender tissue and they don't get sore and antsy from it hurting...

Floor milker is all we ever used, till we set up the pipeline. They were all stanchion broke and the only thing every used to limit
kicking was a short rope in a figure 8 above the hock or a " Cow Kant Kick" apparatus. We had the metal chain kickers, but
that could be like arming a cow with a set of "Nunchucks" if they came loose. This was how first calf heifers were handled, some
had never been prepared for the milking process. Can't imagine putting a young heifer through all of this and risking injury to the udder, or
the unnecessary risk of introducing bacteria etc. to the udder with the use of cannulas.
And, yes, though rare, with some it can mess with their mental process.