Tips for milking a cow (Pictures to follow soon)

 Take the time to brush, pet, and spend time with your doe-eyed cow.  

Bovines are herd animals and by nature, quite social.  

There is no need to "rope and ride"-- just chew the cud with them.   

Enjoy a picnic or good book out on the lawn or field near your Miniature Jersey girl. 

They will love it!

 You will be a trusted member of the herd in a matter of weeks.

Even on my well-trained bovines, I like to use the kick-stop bar.  

Your experienced milker may have more tolerance for you than the biting fly that just landed on their belly! 

An unexpected kick can cost you a couple of days worth of milk or worse--an injury.  

The extra precaution of safety can make you feel more at ease.  As a result, the cow will feel more relaxed as well.

Loosely tying their foot to a back post -only to prevent forward motion- will work as well.   

No need to rush your Miniature Jersey into a headlock.  

A cow that is trained to go into a stanchion for milking will need to get used to the new facility and her new family.  

Try giving a few snacks in her new milk parlor. 

Once she is used to the shadows and sounds, she won't even notice the head gate closing or collar going on.  

It may take a few days, but continue making small increments. 

Be patient, and make sure each step is a positive experience.   

 Water can increase the likelihood of bacteria traveling into the teat orifices.

Avoid the use of excess water to reduce the chances of your Miniature Jersey getting mastitis.   

Start by brushing dirt and mud from the udder using a soft brush. 

This will help reduce hair and dust from falling into the milk pail.

Brushing your cow will also encourage a better letdown of milk, which makes your job much easier.    

Shave the whole udder or just the area above and around the teats.  

This will allow you to milk without pulling on her hair as well as make cleaning the udder much easier.

I use a small, the Wahl battery-operated, men's mustache clipper.  

Unless you are getting your girl ready for the show, there is no need to shave too bare-- just shave enough to make your job easier and your mini cow more comfortable.

 I like to use sensitive pampers wipes sprayed down with an iodine solution.  

Feel free to substitute with a clean moist (not saturated) cleaning cloth and an antimicrobial solution that suits your family's needs.

Starting at the top of the teat wash the lower part of the udder area just above where the teat protrudes, and work your way down the teat.  

Wash in a downward motion and end with a clean wipe on the teat orifice.  

With clean hands express two or three squirts of milk from the teat before milking into the milk pail.  

This is said to greatly reduce the incidence of harmful bacteria from contaminating your milk.

Wrap the thumb and index finger around the top of the teat and gently squeeze, to prevent milking up into the udder.  

Then using your remaining fingers, in a rolling motion, express the milk from the teat through the teat orifice into the milk pail.

As you fill your milk pail, you may want to transfer the clean milk into a stainless steel milk can tote with a lid.  We recommend a 2.5 to 3 gal size. 

Release your thumb and index finger grip, allowing the teat to fill up with milk and repeat. 

It is not about speed, pressure, or tugging, which can damage the udder and teat tissue,  but rather, maintaining a slow- consistent rhythm.  

First-time milkers may feel discomfort in their forearm for a few days.  But once you build your "milking muscles," you will be smooth sailing. 

When you have milked the cow out -- or in some cases, the cow has finished giving her milk, very gently message the udder to check that is it loose and has no hard or red areas.

 Hard or Red areas in the udder could indicate a milk duct blockage.   

All four quarters of the udder should be even and loose.  

When the udder is sufficiently milked out, and her udder is nice and loose, strip the teats.

 Do this by using four or five quick--downward motions.

Keep in mind, that you want to empty the udder, but you won't necessarily get every last drop.

  The cow will likely always have a little milk left in her udder, especially if she is holding back for a calf. that is OK! 

A little milk in the udder is better than over working the teats and increasing the chance of bacteria entering the teat--

or causing tissue damage.

This step will take some time and practice.  

The important thing is to remember to be gentle

 Don't force your mini cow to milk.

Keep the udder and teats clean.

If you take care of your cow,  she'll take care of you.

After teat stripping, we spray each orifice with Fight Bac teat spray.

You may have another antimicrobial spray or dip such as iodine using a teat dip cup, or vinegar, but the Fight Bac teat spray has worked very well for us in preventing bacterial issues such as mastitis.

Other recommendations, are to keep your cow standing at least thirty minutes after milking to allow orifices to fully seal.  

Offer incentives such as hay or alfalfa to graze on.

Pour your milk through a milk filter.  

We recommend Tuffy filter disks.  

This process is especially important if you hand milk.   

You can purchase milk funnels that are specially made to fit the top of wide-mouth canning jars.

   A funnel that will hold around 4 quarts is nice, but not necessary.  Smaller ones work too. 

We purchase those at Hamby Dairy Supply online.

We also recommend storing your milk in Ball Wide-Mouthed half-gallon-sized glass jars.  

They are easier to hold, easier to pour from, and less expensive than gallon-size jars.  

With the exception of the wide-mouth plastic jar lids, I do not recommend using plastic. 

Bacteria has a way of staying in the plastic even after washing with a bleach solution.

Your milk will quickly sour in plastic containers.--

 So stick to glass or stainless steel containers.

Lastly, check the filter for any signs of mastitis, such as blood, milk globs, stringy milk, or even a heavy milk film.

If anything looks suspect or the milk is tasting noticeably "salty" we will test further using the California Mastitis test Concentration Kit.

It is important to cool your milk quickly to preserve quality and freshness. 

We cool our milk in a small slush bucket in our deep freezer.  

The slush bucket consists of super-saturated salt water.  

The solution ideally will not freeze in the freezer.  Play around with the salt-to-water ratio, until a nice slush is made.

  Make sure salt is dissolved.

It only takes about 30 minutes to cool our milk to around 45 degrees Fahrenheit.  

Wipe the excess salt water off the jar and put clean, cooled milk into the fridge. 

Wala!