Milking Pump

Go big or go home right? I went all in and purchased a pump that should last a lifetime. It was approx. $1500 with shipping but a double pump for two cows at a time and on wheels so easy to move. There are a lot of options when it comes to pumps but I wanted a one time investment that would for sure do what I needed so I stuck with my mentors recommendation and have been very happy. Item 1VS01 portable vacuum supplier. (800) 367-0972.

Steps of Milking

I will be creating a video showing this process, but in the meantime I have outlined the steps below mixing all chemicals according to the label:

1. Bring the cow into the stanchion and reward with grain.

2. If drinking the milk: Pre-clean your bucket with chlorinated cold water running the water through 2 times (this step is required if selling milk and you can not rinse after the chlorine. When drinking myself, I rinse afterwards to eliminate any leftover chlorine to not disrupt normal gastrointestinal flora).

3. Clean the udder (I use an iodine teat cleaner with warm water), milk the cow, store the milk and apply post milking disinfection (Fight Bac is a convenient option).

4. Rinse one time (do not run the water back through) with 120F water.

5. Run detergent water at 160F through for 5 minutes. Contact time is important. I use a 5 gallon bucket and rinse through 3-4 times or until the water temperature falls below 120F.

6. Rinse one time (cold water fine) between chemicals.

7. Run acid wash through 3-4 times (cold water fine) and hang all items to dry.
   

Your cow should be in peak prodcution around 90 days post-calving and then slowly decrease production over time. She should produce well for 6-9 months. When you are ready to dry her up, don’t milk her for about a week. After that time, bring her back into the stanchion, milk her one last time to remove any leftover milk, clean the teats with alcohol post milking and infuse a dry off antibiotic such as Tomorrow or Spectromast DC.

Heat Detection and Semen

Heat detection is extremely important for successful artificial insemination. Some people confuse which cow is in heat. When watching a herd, early signs of heat detection may include licking, rubbing on others and mounting behavior. However, the timer starts when you notice a cow first standing in heat. This means the cow on the bottom standing on all 4 feet does not move when mounted by another cow (or may just move a step when being mounted due to the weight). When you first notice a cow standing for heat, you typically wait 12 hours to inseminate with conventional semen. The general rule is if you see a cow in standing heat in the am, inseminate her in the pm and visa versa. However, if using sexed semen, the sperm are further along in the decapitation process and you typically wait longer to inseminate (I target 18 hrs. but the literature suggests anywhere from 16-24 hours after the start of standing heat).

Inseminating a cow in natural heat typically has the best results. However, there are very successful synchronization and timed AI protocols that will be needed if you have one cow or want multiple cows on the same schedule.

I have been very pleased with a two week CIDR protocol and watching for heats (back patches are especially helpful):

1. Monday: CIDR + 5 cc Lutalyse

2. The next Monday: 2cc Cystorelin

3. The next Monday (pm): Pull CIDR + 5cc Lutalyse

4. Wed-Friday watch for heat

Sure Shot Cattle Company recommends this timed AI protocol:

1. Monday 7:00-9:00 am: CIDR + 2cc Cystrolin IM + 4cc Multimin SQ (if available)

2. The next Monday 7:00-8:00 am: Pull CIDR + 5cc Lutalyse IM

3. Wednesday 2:00-4:00 pm: AI females + 2 cc cystorelin IM (52-56 hrs after CIDR removal). I still use estrus detection back patches and combine the above with watching for heat to ensure they come in.

Cheesemaking

I order cheesemaking supplies and cultures for yogurt from New England Cheesemaking Supply Co.

Vet Supplies

My go to for anything vet related (and most other cow supplies for that matter) is Valley Vet. There are many different sites you can use, I just found this one to have easy navigation and you can order smaller quantities than some other sites with free shipping on larger orders.

Kick Stop

This kick stop is great. Super easy to use. Slide it under the skin of the flank and over the top of the back. It fits my 37 inch cow up to a standard size. I love this when I am milking a heifer for the first time and I am not sure how she will react. Better safe than sorry!

Training Halter

These are super nice, effective and priced very well from Mini Cattle Supply. I send all of my calves home with one as a thank you from the farm :)

Calf Jacket

If you are calving in the winter, these calf jackets from Udder Tech are super warm, a great price and durable. The small size is perfect for a miniature jersey but having a medium on hand is also a good idea as the calf grows or for larger calves.

Calving Sensor

The Moocall is so cool! I attach this to the tail and receive a text message when the cow has 1 hour of high activity and then 2 hours of high activity. You should therefore have at least one hour advanced notice that a cow is calving. I don’t have to get up and check a term cow, the Moocall does the work for me. There is about a $150 yearly service subscription but it’s an option if you can’t get a camera setup at your barn and don’t want to have to wakeup to check a camera every couple of hours. Most of the cameras I looked at (I don’t have wifi at the barn) require a subscription from a phone company that was going to be approx. $25 a month so this was also more economical. If you have wifi and can get service (sometimes metal roofs inhibit this), a baby monitor can also work great!

Feeding a calf

There are many ways to do this. Some do calf sharing where the calf is held off the dam overnight, the dam is milked and then the calf is turned back out with the dam during the day. If you are doing calf sharing, please leave 1-2 quarters for the calf. Otherwise, you will have a hungry calf that is constantly banging on moms bag trying to get milk.

For me, taking the calf immediately from the dam is what I was taught and works best for me. I had considered leaving the calf on the dam for the first 1-3 days but opted against this option after hearing how much more stressful this is for everyone involved after bonding happens.

Colostrum is vitally important starting immediately after birth and getting enough in within the first 6-12 hours. Here is a great educational article on feeding your calf to weaning. We target 8 pints (1 gallon) of colostrum in the first 12 hours of birth. After that, we feed 10-15% body weight (most articles say 10% but I push them up to 15% to ensure they are receiving appropriate nutrition and just monitor closely for diarrhea). All of my calves get Probios probiotic for the first few days of life. It will take some a while to figure out the bottle so be patient and if your calf doesn’t take the bottle within the first few hours, it is worth a veterinary visit (or tubing yourself if capable) to ensure the colostrum gets into the calf.

To calculate how much milk to feed, you can assume a gallon weighs 8 lbs. Since a gallon is 8 pints the math is easy. Assume you have a 30 lb calf born. If you feed 10% body weight, you need 0.3 lbs milk or 3 pints per day (1 pint per feeding if doing three daily feedings). For at least the first 2 weeks, three time a day feedings are ideal and I would continue that until weaning if possible to make feeding more natural as if they were nursing however they also do fine with just twice daily feeding. Make sure you always provide fresh water and increase the amount fed as the calf grows and either use a weight tape or scale. I max calves out at two 6 pint bottles of milk per day as they should be consuming enough grain by that point. I feed as much Purina Startena (any calf starter is fine) as they will eat up to 4 lbs per calf per day. I wean between 5-6 months.

You can also research the advantages of feeding with a bottle or a bucket. After my literature review, I decided to stick with bottles due to the importance of saliva and the esophageal groove reflex.

Disease Testing

There are a lot of options here. I live in Kansas so I use the Kansas State University Veterinary Diagnostic lab. Search around your area to see what might be within driving distance. Otherwise, you can easily call KSU VDL and setup an owner account no matter where you are located in the US (785) 532-5650. You can fill out submission forms and print them at home. When you are ready to send in a sample, you simply call the lab and they can generate a shipping label for you much cheaper than I have found doing this on my own through UPS ($9.50 for 2 day and $15.50 for overnight). Most blood samples are fine for two day (I still pay the extra to get most everything there overnight to be safe). Milk cultures should go overnight. Super simple, just take any cardboard box (you don’t have to have a cooler), place a disposable ice pack or two in there (in a plastic baggie), wrap your blood tubes or milk culture tubes in paper towels so they don’t get crushed by the ice packs, insert your submission form and drop off at a UPS store.

Obtaining Samples

Drawing blood from the tail vein is super easy. I use an 18 gauge one inch needle and a 3 or 5 cc syringe. Don’t draw back too hard or you can collapse the vein. Here is a quick video.

When obtaining milk culture samples, you must use strict sterile procedures. After performing your normal teat cleaning, strip the teat out at least 10 times (you don’t want the milk that has been sitting all day at the end of the teat). When you are ready to collect your sample, wipe the end of the teat with alcohol. I then use a squirt bottle with alcohol and squirt the end of the teat and let that dry for at least a minute. Then, carefully take the lids off of your collection tubes (without touching the inside of the tube or the cap) and collect milk mid-stream. You can either collect the milk from all quarters into one tube if you are doing a screening test or culture each quarter separately depending on your goals (the lab can help you decide which may be better).

Disease Tests

Talk to your veterinarian about which tests to perform when you buy new cattle or for yearly surveillance. There are different tests such as an ELISA or a PCR that can be performed at different times and for different reasons. Upon purchase, I test all of my cattle with a BLV ELISA, Johne’s Serum ELISA, and a BVD-PI PCR ear notch (a blood sample may also be used), +/- a Johne’s fecal PCR depending on age. I perform yearly surveillance on all cattle for BLV and Johne’s.

Genetic Tests

UC Davis has some amazing options! Create an account and then order your tests with a simple hair sample (make sure you get roots). They keep the sample for the lifespan of the animal so you can always re-order additional tests later by going back on the website. Testing for chondrodysplasia (BD1), polled status, Beta Casein (A2 status) and parent verification are a few to start with. These four will cost approx. $76 if ordered all at the same time. There are additional milk protein tests that can also be performed.