milking my Holstein after calfing

[lancemart]

If I milk my Hostein after she calfs to help her calf milk her out I heard you cannot use a teat dip. Is this true? How do ou guard against mastittis if you cannot use a dip, because the calf will be feeding off her too. I want to drink the milk and also make sure it is sanitary. Any ideas what I should do?????????????????????? :shock: :help: :help:

 

[Red Bull Breeder]

Just milk her night and mourning try to milk at the same times every day. You will not want to drink the milk the first few days. You will be able to tell when the milk is good to drink, it will look cleaner, more white to cream colered. If you milk her good and clean twice a day you should not have any trouble with mastittis. when i was a kid we just washed there teats with warm water, and used a little udder balm when needed.

 

[milkmaid]

The reason dairies use teat dip isn't so the milk is sanitary... rather it's used to prevent mastitis. Predip helps clean the teats off and sanitize them, post dip stays on for a few hours so bacteria can't get into the teat canal. When you go to milk her, just wipe the teats off, keep your bucket clean (watch out she doesn't put a hoof in it, LOL), and then run the milk through the strainer when you get back inside. That's all I've ever done and I haven't gotten sick yet.

In your case, the calf's not going to like you real well if you leave iodine teat dip on the cow's teats... but since s/he will suck it off, putting teat dip on is basically a waste of money. I doubt it'd hurt the calf, it'll just be a waste of time and money to put it on. Best way for you to prevent mastitis to to keep her on pasture, or make sure she has clean dry bedding if she's penned up.

JMO, but I'd leave cow and calf together for at least 24-48 hours before starting to milk that heifer. Number one priority is to get her to bond with the calf. He should be able to nurse just fine as long as she has a decent udder on her, and milking her out isn't that big a deal for a few days. Won't hurt her to wait.

And... since I wear the "been-there-done-that" tshirt, I sincerely hope for your sake you have her already halterbroke and very used to being handled and worked around. Otherwise, well, you may have an interesting experience when you try to milk her. :lol:

 

[bigbull338]

another word of warning i dont care how gentle she is.she will try to kick you the 1st few times you milk her.hope you can move fast.an yes she will put her foot in the milk bucket.its best if you have some1 hold her tail straight up in the air so you wont get kicked.

 

[dun]

If you haven;t been milking you might want to consider squeezing a rubber ball in each hand for a 10 minutes or so several times a day.

 

[msscamp]

If you haven;t been milking you might want to consider squeezing a rubber ball in each hand for a 10 minutes or so several times a day.

Lord, ain't that the truth! :lol:

 

[I luv herfrds]

As bb338 says the cow will try to kick you unless you have something to prevent it. I use a stop kick stix. Works very well. Tried the rope trick, all it did was make the cow mad and I ended up with quite a few bruises.
I will milk out some, not all, of that first milk and freeze it in bags. That way if I need colostrum I have some on hand.

 

[Double R Ranch]

I will milk out some, not all, of that first milk and freeze it in bags. That way if I need colostrum I have some on hand.

We do this as well out of our one holstein. We are lazy and only do one or so a year so we us a great invention! Udderly Eazy! Bought it a few years ago and use it on our goats, cattle and our neighbor uses it on her horses to store colostrum. Works so well that my 4 year old nephew begs me to do it for me and he loves it! http://www.udderlyezllc.com/index.html I like that it comes with bottles with labels to store milk in. Just my thoughts.
Double R

 

[Earl Thigpen]

For what its worth heres how we used to do it.

We milked only once a day, in the morning. The calf was penned overnight without it's momma. In the morning we would let the cow in with her calf. We fed the cow from a feed trough while milking. We let the calf get a couple pints of milk and then tied the calf off while we milked. I don't think the cow even knew there was something going on other than her calf sucking. When we got enough milk we would turn the calf loose to finish off.

Ever once in a while the cow would do something really cow like - like switching her tail in your face or a half hearted kick like when the calf butts the momma to produce more milk. Trying to get her to back her leg was a challenge sometimes. Every cow that we milked had their own personalities and you had to get to know them. The cats always loved milking time because thay always got a face full of fresh milk. And I always liked the cream the next day. Fresh cream, molasses and hot bisquits, you just can't get any better than that. Didn't like making butter, though.

Good luck.