OT.. Milking cows....2 part question....

plow hand · Mar 7, 2009

How many of you guys have milked cows ? 2. What do you miss or don't miss ??? I pulled teats for 15 yrs. glad I'm done the fun part was spending time with my brothers while milking ...Now I'm married and I no longer pull teats....

dwrk · Mar 7, 2009

Still do. Hoping to be able to quit in the next 2-3 years. I'm 34 now, my knees are almost shot, got arthritis in the arches of my feet, back's starting to get rough now too.

rrlund · Mar 7, 2009

Good luck with that. I quit when I was 48. Thought it would help all of those maladies. It did kinda,but I gained about 30 pounds and hauling all of that around is just as rough.

blinwmiaol.com · Mar 7, 2009

Started milking 48 cows in a stall barn at age 12 for a neighbor. After a couple years worked for a guy with 64 cows in a stall barn, then 96 in a stall barn, then 84 in a stall barn with 120 in free stalls, then 250 in a double 4 parlor/freestall, then MSUs campus farm 180 tiestalls/double 8 parlor, then 64 tiestalls, then same farm 120 freestall thru same 64 tiestalls. Then on thanksgiving day '93 I sent my first load of milk from my own cows, 33 stanchions, surge buckets and milk house across the driveway. Started with 6 cows in '93 and milked there 5 years till the barn was full. Then got a place with 122 tiestalls, 102 on the pipeline. Milked there for 3 years until a difficult family situation forced me to sell the cows. Now 7 years later, have 15 head, 4 in milk and hope to be shipping again by November 09. All that from age 12 to now 35. When I start milking again, they will bury me before the cows leave the farm again.

C wood · Mar 7, 2009

been milkin a brangus cow the last two weeks calf not sucking gotta pump it down into his stomach

george md · Mar 7, 2009

I grew up milking cows and continued till 74 ,
don't miss them at all. But I do miss the good
cold milk for drinking, the store bought stuff
doesn't have enough left in it to even get the
glass dirty.

george

Tony S. · Mar 7, 2009

Tell you what I don"t miss. The constant push to be bigger bigger bigger. The whole industry"s gone insane. Who needs 50,000 cows?

Dave from MN · Mar 7, 2009

This is a borrowed net photo, BUT...I miss it. Did it most of my teen years. I miss the good ol cows that always seem to know what your thinking, I miss the relaxation of it when nothing goes wrong. I also beleive smaller dairy's are better for America and her people. I do not miss barn cleaner paddle that do not do their jobs, or that jump the sprocket of break a link. I miss the smell of silage and fresh cut alfalfa. I miss the exitement of going from buckets and milk savers to pipeline and six milking units. I dont miss crazy cows trying to go through the stanchon or broken water cups. I do miss baby calves and how tame and entertaining the can be. I miss the closeness of a small family dairy and all the hard and good times that brought families together. I also kinda miss all the young neighbor girls that grew up on the other farms and you all the good times at 4H events, hay rides, and barn dances. I wish my kids would be able to experience these things, but today is a different central MN and it's kinda sad.

rrlund · Mar 7, 2009

That might happen sooner than you think. I remember when a neighbor said that nobody over 50 had any business milking cows. I kind of laughed to myself. Thought I'd die of old age milking cows. Didn't know at the time that you could die of old age at 50.

blinwmiaol.com · Mar 7, 2009

Listening to the tribute to Paul Harvey this week, I heard them say something that reminded me of why I love milking cows. Paul never retired because he never felt like what he has doing was work. Thats how I felt, it wasn't work or a chore. Everyday was another day I got to spend doing what I loved. I started out milking with very little, but everything I gained, I had so much appreciation for, it just made life easier and each day more enjoyable. Today seems like life goes by with one day drifting into the other but it didn't used to. Every new day was a gift and each day had amazing possibilities. I know there are alot of days that sucked too,lol, but it didn't seem to matter as much.
Besides, I come from a long line of dairymen. Grandpa milked in his stanchion barn till he was 81 when I took over. His pa milked till his death at 64.

M Nut · Mar 7, 2009

What you said is so true. I faintly remember times like you talked about, my best friend from high school grew up on a dairy farm and I was over there at least 4 days a week helping out with chores and field work etc. all through high school. Once the youngest son graduated from high school in 2001, the cows were sold off that August. Something very peaceful about being in a stanchion/tie stall barn with 40 cows on a cold winter night listening to the sounds of the barn life. Well, they sold the cows in August of 2001, and I married his cousin in June of 2002. I guess the dairy farm played a role in that too. I always liked it when his good looking city gal cousin was coming to spend the weekend at the farm with her aunt and uncle!

rrlund · Mar 7, 2009

I wish I could scan and post this black and white picture that I have here. It is of my dad,my uncle,my little brother and me. We were milking in a lean to. I was 9 years old,on my knees milking by hand. Uncle Donald is coming out from between 2 cows with a milk pail,Dad is just coming in the gate and my brother is standing there watching.

I felt the way you do for a lot of years,but it started to fade over the years until it was something I dreaded everyday. Little things just happen over the years that take the fun out of it and just wear you down.

Rollie NE PA · Mar 7, 2009

Last milked cows about 10 yrs ago. 2 things I don't miss is, getting a wet tail across the face first thing in the morning, and getting my toes stepped on.

730 virgil · Mar 7, 2009

i lived on small dairy farm in carroll counnty il until dad got hurt in farm accident.
then he drove a milk truck picking up milk on farms.
he then was a dhia field tech for a long time.
i have never got to milk my own cows ,but i have milk for others. always wanted to have a dairy farm of my own in wi. i also did the dhia thing for about 18 years.
i have noticed that lots guys seem to quit between 50 and 55. seems like the years start to catch with them about that age 50

The Dukester · Mar 7, 2009

I milked cows through my High School years and a year beyond in a 28 stall tail to tail cowbarn. Grade Holsteins, 2 bulls. Two DeLaval Sterling pail milkers, a stripcup, strainer and 10 gallon cans. It was difficult in that it was a 7 day a week job..every morning and night. I did get a very few days off but never really had a steady schedule for days off. Actually the milking itself wasn't so bad, but cleaning up the barn twice a day, climbing the silo and pitching down ensilage, feeding ground cowfeed and baled hay, busting bales of straw for bedding, washing the equipment, etc.,etc., got to be work.
I loved field work with the tractors and equipment...we moldboard plowed nearly every field and fitted the fields down with a cultipacker, disk, and/or springtooth drag and then drilled the wheat or oats with a 15 hole JD endwheel drill or planted corn with a 4 row JD490 planter. IH W-6 and H for tractors....it was fun really. (Except for stone picking)
We did all our own harvesting too....ahhh, those good old days....uh well, maybe-

Vito · Mar 7, 2009

Thats a shame plowhand.

Vito

gitrib · Mar 7, 2009

Started milking by hand when I was six year old, i am eighty and quit about five years ago, Son still milking a smal herd of Purbred Guernsey. The old knees played out. Dairying is a disease in our family. Goes back five generation. Love working with animals and the thrill of a heavy producer or a show champion. The bond you develope with that special one when you walk in the big ring. She is proud and so are you. Hate the Mega Daires. It is no way to treat a animal.
gitrib

sammydwm · Mar 7, 2009

Milked a few cows over the years.
Dad moved us up to WI in 69 since he wasn't gonna pay 300 an acre for land in OH!!.....

Anyhoo...We had several 40 cow farms as I was growing up. Had barns burn, insurance companies rip us off, dads heart needed repair....but somehow we always got back to a dairy farm. Even after his last heart attack after our last barn burned when he was 51 he was looking to wheel and deal his way into another farm. couldn't hardly walk out to the mailbox but by god he was gonna milk some cows.
I don't have it quite that bad but I do miss the click click of the pulsators working or the sound and smell of the ladies munching their hay as I turn out the lights and head in for the night.
The wife doesn't really care for the idea of milking cows but we do have some goats and she wouldn't mind working up to commercial size with them so I guess I'd take half an udder over none.
This summer really took me back...Just hopped off the tractor after pulling in with the first load of hay I'd baled in many years and the wife kicked on the vacuum pump...was almost like stepping in a time warp.

Anonymous-0 · Mar 8, 2009

Yeah, especially if the barnyard is deep mud and manure and the messy cow tail switch comes all the way around your head and goes in your mouth! Ick! I usually trimmed my milk cow's tails so that didn't happen any more.

I also had my best Holstein step on all the toes of my left foot when I was wearing tennis shoes. I wore better footwear when I milked after that.

Growing up I hand milked a minimum of 2 cows and a maximum of 5 all the time, usually alone, since my Dad worked in town on swing shift. I didn't hate the job, and actually made pretty good money doing it, but sure got tired of being tied down all the time.

After I went to college, I didn't milk very much, just during school vacations and some during the Summers. And after graduation, I am not sure I ever milked again. I think my Dad quit having milk cows about that time.

But 40+ years later, I still have an incredible grip, and I think that was from all the hand milking. I don't want to bother with milking cows any more--milk is too cheap in the store, and I don't need the company of a milk cow!

toomanycases · Mar 8, 2009

Well the comments by "Dave from MN" brings back good memories from long ago. Late 30's thru the 40's on dairy farms in Illinois. Milked between 25-32 cows. Times sure have changed since then. But I have to say I do not miss the being tied to those cows twice a day. Chuck

OT.. Milking cows....2 part question....

Well-known Member

Member

Well-known Member

Member

New User

Well-known Member

Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Member

Member

Well-known Member

New User

Similar threads