Inside a Jersey milking barn

[TexasJerseyMilker]

Here is a pleasant milking barn video made on a family farm. They are separately milking colostrum from a fresh cow to feed her calf using an old timey Surge milking machine. I bought one of these yesterday.
Also, it's to keep any antibiotic residues from the Tomorrow teat infusions given at dry off out of the milk tank.

 

[greybeard]

heh..calf didn't seem very hungry, then 'oh, this is the good stuff!'

 

[TexasJerseyMilker]

I have had some trouble milking by hand share milking so I got a machine to milk my heifer.

Share milking Pro- 1.you don't have the 'udder slavery' having be there for the evening milking.
2. the cow's udder gets stripped out by the calf, less chance of mastitis.

Con- The dadgummed cow holds up her cream because she knows the calf is on next, they can turn of their letdown like a faucet.

This dairy raises the calf on her colostrum, keeps the calf near the cow at first but does not let the calf suck. Probably, these cows have been machine milked all their lives. They are not holding up milk and cream for their calf and they get stripped out.

 

[Rafter S]

Back about 50 yeas ago we kept at least one Jersey cow that I would milk by hand. The calf would be separated from the cow during the day. When I got home from school I'd let the cow into the pen and let the calf nurse for a few minutes to get the milk started, then I'd put it into another pen or tie it to the fence. I'd milk out three quarters, then let the calf have the rest, and it would stay with the cow overnight. The next morning I'd turn the cow out before going to school and the process would start all over.

 

[TexasJerseyMilker]

That's a good process. I kept my calves penned up at night, milked in the morning. Whenever I took the calf away Daphne would turn off her milk like a faucet.

I bet your cow had a nice handfull. Now they all have tiny 2 finger milking machine teats.

When her calves were small and new they could drain two while I drained the other two. But when they got bigger and stronger they just shoved my hands away and took mine.

I have read that some people put a plug in one of the inflations, milk the other three quarters then let the calf in for the 4th. But. . . . she will still hold up cream for the calf.