The trick to milking heifers for the first time is to sandwich them in between older cows. So when two heifers freshened (had calves) this morning, we put them in w/ the "grandma" group. These are the cows that are the oldest (and largest). The heifers obediently followed the older cows into the parlor and once in place couldn't move much if they wanted to. Sure, they fidget but a cow needs to push back w/ the upper leg to really get a good kick in so as long as I keep my head back a bit, I'm in no danger (took a couple of black eyes to work out how far back I needed to stay). Once they were milked, we raised the stanchions and let the cows and heifers go. The heifers have no concept of where to go next but usually fall in line and follow the older cows out. So... what you should learn from this is to follow and learn from older people. (Written by an older person.)My grandfather, Emil Mayer, taken in 1942.
2 comments:
Okay, where are you hiding all these pictures I've never seen?! Nice pic, though.
By the date on the photo, my dad would have been 2 months old. Ha!
Rebecca
Did you notice the twist of the mouth? A MAYER trait. Doug used to do that too. JVM
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