regolith
Well-known member
See what I mean about heifers:
that little fellow is just lucky he can breathe.
I did take photos as I was walking toward that heifer earlier, as well - so you can see exactly the position that calf landed in.
Had the horriblest milking. Worst one today, at least. The springers took close on an hour to stumble down the mud track to the milking shed, calves in tow (total count now of 10 born in the last 24 hours, 7 of those accompanied the group to the shed, one not yet born, two still with their dams alongside the dry cows - yes, the one I was expecting calved too, this afternoon). So I start wondering, why am I doing this, why don't I just run a springing mob and a colostrum mob and a milking mob like everyone else does and steal the calves every day and teach them to drink milk off rubber teats?
Started rowing them up and there's a bit of a hiccup in the row -a big Brown Swiss heifer who doesn't seem to know what is going on and has turned herself around and started pushing past the other cows and showing the whites of her eyes when I try to turn her round the right way, then the bigger cows pushed her up tight with her head facing the pit.
That's the one that was supposed to be a real late calver, the only heifer in the group that hasn't been coming to the shed twice a day with the springers. Every other heifer knows the routine and hardly fusses when the routine suddenly includes cupping up and milking. That's not the reason why I'm running a transition herd with the calves left on, instead of two separate herds, but it's a pretty big bonus. 362 spent what was supposed to be her first milking on observation - learning what happens at milking.
The other reason why this milking was the horriblest? Two of these new calvers are un-milkable. one is a big heifer with a lovely wide udder and the teats set at the outer corners - the only way the cups will stay on is if you stand and hold them on. She's not my breeding, she arrived in my herd inside her Mum two years ago and she's a good reminder of why I won't use Premier Sires. I've spend too many years holding cups on heifers and I thought I was over with it.
The other was a heifer I was milking in my bosses' herd last year. She had black mastitis and lost a quarter and I was ready to give up on her, but he thought she was worth the chance so I held the cups on her lopsided udder and hand-stripped what the cups couldn't get till she became milk-able. She's just had her second calf, a heifer, udder is as lopsided as it was back then and I put the cups on her, carried on to the next cow and half a minute later the cups fell off. I was about ready to turn her back into the dry mob at the end of milking, but I figured I'll give her a week. If she can't milk unattended by then I'll book her on a truck journey - the other might go with her, which would be a shame because she's a lovely loooking heifer.
that little fellow is just lucky he can breathe.
I did take photos as I was walking toward that heifer earlier, as well - so you can see exactly the position that calf landed in.
Had the horriblest milking. Worst one today, at least. The springers took close on an hour to stumble down the mud track to the milking shed, calves in tow (total count now of 10 born in the last 24 hours, 7 of those accompanied the group to the shed, one not yet born, two still with their dams alongside the dry cows - yes, the one I was expecting calved too, this afternoon). So I start wondering, why am I doing this, why don't I just run a springing mob and a colostrum mob and a milking mob like everyone else does and steal the calves every day and teach them to drink milk off rubber teats?
Started rowing them up and there's a bit of a hiccup in the row -a big Brown Swiss heifer who doesn't seem to know what is going on and has turned herself around and started pushing past the other cows and showing the whites of her eyes when I try to turn her round the right way, then the bigger cows pushed her up tight with her head facing the pit.
That's the one that was supposed to be a real late calver, the only heifer in the group that hasn't been coming to the shed twice a day with the springers. Every other heifer knows the routine and hardly fusses when the routine suddenly includes cupping up and milking. That's not the reason why I'm running a transition herd with the calves left on, instead of two separate herds, but it's a pretty big bonus. 362 spent what was supposed to be her first milking on observation - learning what happens at milking.
The other reason why this milking was the horriblest? Two of these new calvers are un-milkable. one is a big heifer with a lovely wide udder and the teats set at the outer corners - the only way the cups will stay on is if you stand and hold them on. She's not my breeding, she arrived in my herd inside her Mum two years ago and she's a good reminder of why I won't use Premier Sires. I've spend too many years holding cups on heifers and I thought I was over with it.
The other was a heifer I was milking in my bosses' herd last year. She had black mastitis and lost a quarter and I was ready to give up on her, but he thought she was worth the chance so I held the cups on her lopsided udder and hand-stripped what the cups couldn't get till she became milk-able. She's just had her second calf, a heifer, udder is as lopsided as it was back then and I put the cups on her, carried on to the next cow and half a minute later the cups fell off. I was about ready to turn her back into the dry mob at the end of milking, but I figured I'll give her a week. If she can't milk unattended by then I'll book her on a truck journey - the other might go with her, which would be a shame because she's a lovely loooking heifer.