Question for the ladies. Woman to Woman

[chaded]

We should of just stayed out of this. Now we are being nagged.

 

[Ouachita]

They wouldn't like it, but they could take a pill to relieve the most common complaint.

"I must be getting old and losing my testosterone," a fella said to me the other day. He's a married guy who has no problem mentioning to me often that he doesn't get enough sex and the lack in distressing, so I knew where he was going with that statement and let it lie there. But he went on anyway, "I don't think about girls or sex as often as I used to." He was appalled when I suggested that was a good thing because if he's not thinking about it, it must not be causing him distress. Rather than live in peace, relieved of the burden of unfulfilled desire, he is wondering what he should take that will give him back his "want to."

Can someone make that make sense to me, please? Can a man help me understand that?

He probably just needs to get his eyes checked.

 

[Brute 23]

We should of just stayed out of this. Now we are being nagged.

... and it's our fault because we have such easy lives.

 

[TexasJerseyMilker]

OK here's a question woman to woman. The first calf heifer I'm milking has always kicked when the milking machine is first put on. She's been in milk for 8 months so this is not new to her. I don't put the inflations on her until the fullness of her teats show that letdown has occurred. I have to use the CowCan'tKick device to get any milk from her. She does not allow hand milking either.

My question is to mothers who have pumped milk for their babies. Does it hurt when the pump is first put on?

 

[TexasJerseyMilker]

This is the woman to woman thread. I counted. Including me there are 5 women here and 12 men.
Ladies, my subject here about a subjective feature of lactation for which men cannot possibly have an opinion. If you have experience in breast pumping please PM me. Thank you.

 

[AmandaQ]

I'll be 53 in June. I went through The Change around 48-49 and stopped wearing makeup altogether by 50 because it was like I woke up one morning with a whole different face. I couldn't make anything work. Right after my birthday this year I started estrogen replacement therapy that has worked miracles for a lot of my worst symptoms, and my symptoms were extreme. It's a shame that the industry of "do no harm" prefers to let women, and I mean 100% of ALL women, suffer with a condition that is guaranteed to occur, without exception rather than allow women to make their own decisions for their health and comfort. I'm glad it's changing and women are beginning to have a voice in their own healthcare.

If I'm honest, I have to admit that I know diet has a lot to do with my skin condition. I haven't been a big consumer of sugar for years and up until this time last year I was on a "clean" diet of no sugar, no bread, no carbs, no processed meat, no beef, no alcohol, no caffine, and moderate dairy. I only ate fish, veggies, fruit, fermented food and occasional rice, chicken and pork. for a long time. I had a major operation last December, after which I ate and drank little more than tapioca pudding, noodles, and ginger ale for 4 weeks. For the past year I have struggled with sugar and carbs more than I ever struggled with alcohol. I'm still struggling and constantly cutting back, but there's no doubt sugar is a factor in my skin issue.

I'm 55 and had a similar path. I ate clean for over a decade, no added sugar or dairy of gluten. But I fell off the wagon and it was hard to get back on. I'm no longer completely off any of those. If I was you, start with sugar and milk and see if that changes anything. For face soap, I like Image Vital C hydrating facial cleanser. You can find it on Walmart.com (It's relatively cheap and feels nice. Double wash your face and pat dry with a paper towel or a never used wash cloth. I used a sulpher soap for years but it got harder to find and I really didn't need it anymore. Good luck!

 

[AmandaQ]

Have you tried exfoliating cow tongue?
View attachment 52665

This is love!!

 

[Travlr]

My question is to mothers who have pumped milk for their babies. Does it hurt when the pump is first put on?

My wife says no.

I'm not sure if this matters to you since "men can't possibly have an opinion", but I'm a formerly Certified Childbirth Educator, and have delivered babies, worked with midwives, doulas, and lactation specialists. Take that for whatever value you care to place on it.

 

[TexasJerseyMilker]

Well that is a fine and useful career. I meant that men can't possibly know what let down and breast feeding (or pumping to feed the baby later) can feel like physically. My sister ran a large company and she pumped so the baby could be fed while she was at work. I never asked her what it felt like but with the see thru inflations it sure looked bizarre. She is no longer with us so I can't ask her. My friend, a robust Scottish farm woman, has mentioned the ache and pain of being overly full and the great relief and joy of putting the baby on. The sound of a crying hungry baby causes let down she says.

 

[MurraysMutts]

I knew I shouldn't have read any of this....

5 will get your 10 that near half the men here have tried a breast pump just goofing around when the parents first got one for the wife to use.

 

[TexasJerseyMilker]

Hahha Welome man #13!
I heard for my Scottish farm lady friend. She pumped so she could work as a legal aide for her second child. She said it did not hurt but was not pleasant. I guess the fact is my cow is what is known in the Jersey world as a kicking little witch. Farmerjan says many on DHIA she tests have cowcantkicks on. I will sell her as soon as I can raise up a nice replacement. She is also splay footed in front and has a long horse-like face, not the classic Jersey I breed for.

 

[Ouachita]

Hahha Welome man #13!
I heard for my Scottish farm lady friend. She pumped so she could work as a legal aide for her second child. She said it did not hurt but was not pleasant. I guess the fact is my cow is what is known in the Jersey world as a kicking little witch. Farmerjan says many on DHIA she tests have cowcantkicks on. I will sell her as soon as I can raise up a nice replacement. She is also splay footed in front and has a long horse-like face, not the classic Jersey I breed for.

Do y'all see now why women are hard to understand?

 

[RDFF]

Simply a "well meaning observation" from one of the men on here.

We had one of those "special papered cows" that Dad paid too much for in our dairy herd when I was growing up. We were "expanding" the herd at the time, in anticipation of building a new milking parlor... which happened about 2 years after we bought her. Great looking 2nd calf cow, beautiful udder, excellent milk maker, not much about her you could complain about... EXCEPT that we learned after bringing her home that she kicked, EVERY SINGLE TIME you'd try to put a milker on her. And I mean, she just flat out went absolutely crazy! Thought we were getting there at one point with her... she'd let you put it on (Surge buckets in a stanchion barn... so picture this then)... until you walked away. Suddenly that half full bucket of milk would go flying out from under her and across the barn floor, cats scurrying in panic, dog running for the hills, cattle on the other side of the barn ramming into the back corner, cow bucking wildly in the stanchion, hose wrapped up around things, inflations and bucket top and bucket independently going everywhere, particularly down into the gutter full of crap, or against the cement wall so it would get bent! And those Surge buckets were built to take it, but she was able to ding 'em, just the same. Pretty good rodeo entertainment for a few minutes! Ah... good times... good times!

Well, because she was just SO "special", we obviously couldn't get rid of her, so we kept her, and quickly learned to put her in that "special stall" where we could tie her leg back with a rope to a knee brace up in the corner behind her, to make it "safe" to milk her. Long as you did that, she'd be "good"... she'd stand there shaking in nervousness, and sometimes she'd still have a crazy spell, but at least everything, and everybody, USUALLY stayed whole! She was such a good cow that she had a heifer calf every time around (Yay! At least she's replacing herself!!!). And by the time her calves came into the milking string, we had moved into the new parlor. Didn't even really consider that her daughters ought to be any different than any of the other heifers in the herd... so didn't pay much attention to who they were as they came in... UNTIL EVERY SINGLE ONE OF HER DAUGHTERS WOULD JUST GO BERSERK IN THE PARLOR WHEN YOU'D PUT THE MILKER ON 'EM! We had a set of hobbles in the parlor just for them. Same deal... put the hobbles on 'em, and they'd learn to stand and let you milk 'em... and of course, sometimes you'd forget and just hang it on without thinking... turn your back and WHAM... parts flying everywhere! And of course, we were "expanding the herd", so we always kept every heifer for a replacement. It took 4 generations to get it bred out of 'em!

SO... in my experience, what's the best cure for a chronic kicker? A processing plant. They just aren't worth it! Once they get somebody hurt, you finally learn that lesson. I've milked for about half my life, growing up in our herd of about 80 cows, and for large herds as well. Ran the third shift alone for a large dairy with a double 10 herringbone (20 units) for a few years. Had a custom relief milking business at one point too. No "kicker" is worth the trouble. If they won't settle down reliably within a short period of quietly, calmly, and reassuringly trying to work with them, they should earn a spot as a first round draft choice for the freezer.

 

[TexasJerseyMilker]

Those are spectacular wrecks. So vivid I can just see it and hear them.

One thing I have been told by experienced people is that heifers pampered and raised by people grow up to have no respect and become spoiled princess prima donnas. As in how dare you milk me!

My kicking little witch, it's just when the Surge is first put on, usually the last teat or two. With the cow can't kick device, it is like a giant metal pincher you lower onto their back then crank it tight, it puts steel bars right in front of their stifle joints, making it impossible to bring the foot up and forward and kick the machine off. She just dances around and kicks mud and poop all over the inflations. Or the Surge swings around (they hang below their belly from a strap) and inflations come lose and have to be replaced so I sit there and hold the hanger bar still. She will sometimes try to kick out to the side and get me. But once milking is under way she stands quietly..

Before I got the cow can't kick that a retired dairyman gave me, she kicked the skin off my arm in 4 places in two separate attacks. I have big scars. I would have gotten rid of her then but needed the milk to raise three bottle calves considering the price of milk replacer. I figured she would with time get used to being milked. She hasn't. Of the heifers, hers is the one I like the best I am thinking of keeping. Unlike the cow, I am not raising these to be pets but to sell. If this heifer also turned out to be a kicking witch that would be ironic.

I don't want to keep an animal like that for a milk cow. Personally I just can't eat an animal that I raised. She would just sold for meat. Or she might have a useful life as a nurse cow, although I am not sure she would allow a calf to suck her

 

[RDFF]

Those are spectacular wrecks. So vivid I can just see it and hear them.

One thing I have been told by experienced people is that heifers pampered and raised by people grow up to have no respect and become spoiled princess prima donnas. As in how dare you milk me!

My kicking little witch, it's just when the Surge is first put on, usually the last teat or two. With the cow can't kick device, it is like a giant metal pincher you lower onto their back then crank it tight, it puts steel bars right in front of their stifle joints, making it impossible to bring the foot up and forward and kick the machine off. She just dances around and kicks mud and poop all over the inflations. Or the Surge swings around (they hang below their belly from a strap) and inflations come lose and have to be replaced so I sit there and hold the hanger bar still. She will sometimes try to kick out to the side and get me. But once milking is under way she stands quietly..

Before I got the cow can't kick that a retired dairyman gave me, she kicked the skin off my arm in 4 places in two separate attacks. I have big scars. I would have gotten rid of her then but needed the milk to raise three bottle calves considering the price of milk replacer. I figured she would with time get used to being milked. She hasn't. Of the heifers, hers is the one I like the best I am thinking of keeping. Unlike the cow, I am not raising these to be pets but to sell. If this heifer also turned out to be a kicking witch that would be ironic.

I don't want to keep an animal like that for a milk cow. Personally I just can't eat an animal that I raised. She would just sold for meat. Or she might have a useful life as a nurse cow, although I am not sure she would allow a calf to suck her

I assume this is the kicker you have:


Cow Kant-Kick Device

Those are kind of clumsy, IMO. We also had one of these (below) in the parlor, and later I had two (explained further on in the post):

Kick-Stop Anti-Kick Device

Simpler and faster to use, and just as effective. Just hook into the flank, and then up over her backbone... easily adjustable in length. They both function by "pinching"/putting pressure on the muscle in their flank area right ahead of their leg, which has to contract to kick.

Most of the time, if she's just a little jumpy and not "crazy", you can just grab her by the flank flap right there with your hand and squeeze tightly (OK... I'm one of those "self-aware men" on here, so working on earning my trophy...). You don't have to "pull up" on it at all, just grab and squeeze hard, maybe twist just a little if necessary. As she tries to kick, you'll feel that muscle in that skin flap tighten up... your squeezing won't hurt at all really to her, but it WILL "hurt" if she tries to use that muscle then. The harder you squeeze, the more it'll cause her to not want to kick.

That'll most times be enough to keep her from trying to kick, same as the clamps, and it'll usually be enough to get her to settle down... and you probably will be able to not have to be "squeezing" much of the time as she settles down... maybe just keeping your hand there to react by squeezing hard if she tries again..., but you'll have to stay there as long as there's "the threat"... the devices make it "hands free" to be able to go do something else... and they help to keep you clear of the action if she goes nuts anyway. I much prefer the second unit for design and function, and safety (not nearly as clumsy a unit to get hit with in the process, etc.), and in most cases, I prefer to just squeeze the flank muscle to either tool. And of course, in our milking parlor (herringbone) that #2 was alot easier to put on if you needed it. There though, we mostly just got away with training them by grabbing the exposed flank. If the flank pressure or the Kick-Stop wouldn't control them, then we'd put the hobbles on 'em.


Cow Kant-Kick Hobbles


Tip to the wise, don't forget and let them out of the milking area while the hobbles are still on... don't ask how I know...

I guess the skin on your arm and the scars ARE considerably less costly than milk replacer unsure... but did you calculate in the cost of keeping her on top of that, and the cost to your religion? I'd bet you'd be better off with the milk replacer. Or turn her into a nurse cow. I ran nurse cows both for myself and as a custom calf raising operation here for a grass-based seasonal dairy. When training them, put her in the stanchion with one of those #2 clamps on each side (or that #1 since you already have it) and let 'er buck. Let those calves at her all at the same time, about 4 times a day, and she'll eventually give in. The calves will learn really quick that when they see her getting locked in, it's their turn to go to town! I had a nice young Holstien that I bought from a dairy cause she had high somatic cell... have pictures of her out in the pasture with 8 calves all hanging on her at the same time (I only placed up to 4 with each cow, in the custom nurse herd it was 2). Quite a sight. They milked that poor cow to skin and bones... I couldn't feed her enough to put on any weight at all... she had the genetics to make milk, not put on fat.

 

[RDFF]

One other thing with those kicking critters... It's kind of "counter-intuitive" at first, and you probably already realize this, but you're not nearly in as much danger if you're right up against them as you are standing just a little bit away... they need the wind-up to really hurt you... if you're right up against their leg (with your forearm, for example), you'll just move with them, instead of getting smacked by them. The most powerful and dangerous point in her "punch" is when she's at full extension... think about being behind a 300# calf that tries to kick you, and you're right at the end of his reach... it's gonna hurt! In a stanchion, that's a bit harder thing to be able to do, but in the parlor, if you could put your forearm in there against her leg, and she did try to kick, you were able to push back and keep her from getting the milker, without getting whacked in the arm... "pretty much" ... Became almost automatic for us on those that might "threaten". So did grabbing that flank when necessary, often at the same time, one hand on the flank, the other forearm against the leg. Kind of a "kinder, gentler" way to deal with them till they learned to settle down. Worked well most of the time. Sounds like you've probably got one that's just intent on losing that milker though.

Be safe... above all.

 

[TexasJerseyMilker]

This is really great advice, man to woman.

Yes the cowcan'tkick is a heavy and clumsy device. My husband made a pully and rope attached to a rafter that I lower down and pull back up after use..I saw that kick-stop device but it seamed kind of whimpy. We used a tight rope around her body in front of the udder before we got the cowcan'tkick and that gives a sort of flank pressure but she could still kick the skin off my arm. Those shackles with the chain, how well to they work? Yes she is milked in a stanchion, I'm trying to picture this flank grab. I'll try it.

It's not my religion to not eat animals I raised, I'm just sentimental. While I'm chewing I'd lose my appetite. I have one old pet cow I will never sell or slaughter, . . . .well, thats another story. She's a kind, gentle, affectionate and typey Jersey bred for a February heifer calf and thats the one I'll keep to replace this winch.

 

[Nesikep]

This is love!!

How about this? No need for Head and Shoulders after Kim gets done with me.. Once she gets the notion she wants to lick, there's not stopping her, one track mind. Her mother was a very licky cow too https://photos.app.goo.gl/tLWmJA6X3wjEX4C3A

 

[Nesikep]

I got to the point in my herd where I could milk nearly any of my beef cows.. came in handy sometimes to get some colostrum, or some milk for breakfast. Some of them had so much milk I'd milk a couple gallons a day from them until the calf was big enough to keep up, and then we had yogurt and custards and cheese and all the goodies

 

[TexasJerseyMilker]

When my two Jerseys are in late pregnant they become very lickey. They come in with their entire hair coat plastered down swirling in all directions because they stand out there licking each other.