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Last Login: 5/7/2012 12:48:58 PM
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Does anyone have any advice on how to train a milk cow or can any one point me at some good resources?
We have a 3 month old Jersey Heifer that was with her mother for three weeks then we purchased her and have been bottle feeding. She is very gentle at this point and will stand to let me pet her and to be hosed off and scrubbed down. She also is doing good on a lead rope.
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Senior Member
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| I'd advise joining the Keeping a Family Cow forum http://familycow.proboards.com/index.cgi? I joined them around the time that we had our heifer bred - we've had her since she was six weeks old - and I had never milked anything. It was a huge learning curve for the both of us and I don't think I could have survived it without the help and encouragement I got there. One thing I did not do with mine that I strongly advise: Get her trained to lead!
Karen http://www.facebook.com/MrsKsCreations
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Training to lead can be accomplished by putting a halter on the calf and fastening a short rope to the halter. The rope should be long enough to drag on the ground. When the calf steps on the rope, she will learn to give to the pull. It doesn't take but two or three days for this to work. Make sure that the calf is in a pen where she won't get the rope caught on anything.
Visit The Christian Homesteader
http://farmwoman.proboards.com/index.cgi
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I'd second Karen on Keeping a Family Cow - those guys are wonderful! Just wait til you are near calving - they will keep you sane  I raised my milk cow from 6 weeks old and she was a big love by the time she calved - sounds like you are on the right track already: I'd agree on the halter training - also, get her used to having her udder (well - her teats at that age) handled - I could run my hands all over MollyMoo by the time she was in calf without her so much as flinching.
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Goats and sheep and chickens and turkeys, a cow, a duck, a pony, a donkey, three dogs, too many cats, a rabbit, a hamster, a small boy, my husband and me on a small farm in middle Tennessee...
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| Do be prepared for your sweet little heifer to turn into a demon when she first calves, though. Mine had me bruised from hip to ankle the first few days of milking. KFC helped keep me sane and figure out how to deal with her, though. Do a lot of reading up and be prepared to keep what works for you and discard what doesn't, but be flexible for whatever may come.
Karen http://www.facebook.com/MrsKsCreations
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Last Login: 12/31/2011 3:47:11 PM
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| The other advice points to constant handling which is right. I would also put a set of "kickers" [milking hobbles] on her at first. Just a thought- are you tall? Do you have big hands? Jerseys are a very nice cow but there teats are small and not easy to milk by hand compared to a larger cow like a Holstein. Dan.
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Just wondering what some of you are using for a stanchion.
The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.
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Keeping a Family Cow website is great. There is an amazing wealth of knowledge, experience and "been there done that, didn't work". So you can see what works and what doesn't. We were lucky in that our heifer, who now is a cow, we had her since she was a few months old, but she was my daughter's 4-H show heifer. So she was used to commotion, hands on, clippers, washing, traveling and such. So when she calved last month, she was an angel (I was ready for the demon  ) and when we started maching milking her, (I was ready for the hairy eyeball and rodeo time  ) she just stood there eating her grain. We taught her at a young age that every bucket has a treat , so now she comes from anywhere when she sees someone with a bucket. That's how I've gotten my pasture born beef babies to come to me too. They love their carrots. Good luck with your heifer. 
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