I haven't milked before, which is a big factor in this whole problem. She hasn't either, from a human. I got 4.5 cups out of her this morning at 6am after milking her at 2pm the day before and getting 7 cups. That's close to 3/4 of a gallon in less than 24 hours. I kept the calf separated during this whole time.
It took me roughly 40 minutes to get that 4.5 cups this morning. What was puzzling me was that I would milk a teat until I just couldn't seem to get any more, or a very thin stream while squeezing really hard, then I would switch to another teat and do the same thing. I went all the way around with this process. When I finished, I noticed there was still more in each teat and so I did some more for about another 20 minutes, trying to squeeze out everything I could.
When I felt the udder, it still felt like it was still pressured, but I couldn't seem to get any more. I let the cow off the stanchion and released the calf. The calf immediately started nursing and whacking the udder. He started having his mouth covered in milk and I could see it dripping. Very frustrating. The calf did go about twice as long as I have ever seen (about 10 minutes) but after about 5 minutes he spent most of his time whacking her udder. So clearly the cow is holding back, but I could feel her letting her milk down at one point.
Bottom line: I don't know what to make of all this and would like to get into a rhythm.
As a side note, I noticed a bloody mucus on the vent and tail of this cow yesterday, so I am thinking she wasn't bred, even though she was in with a proven bull for two full cycles.
What do you think?
