# Milk cow not letting down



## Head4theHills (Dec 23, 2009)

Our milk cow is an 8 year old Brown Swiss, a beautiful cow but a total crab. We bought her knowing she wasn't perfect but we've been able to work through her quirks pretty well. She's been hand milked her whole life and there's a reason she was not an expensive cow! But we're working with her and she's doing a lot better. I'm glad she didn't go to beginners-she would have walked all over them. 

She came with her calf still on her and we're still sharing her with him. DH does all the milking, the cow gets testy if anyone but DH and DD9 are out there. They get along pretty well even though the cow has a tendency to kick (she's coming out of that) and is tempermental. DH is the most patient person on the planet and has never been anything but kind and sweet to her and they're reaching an understanding. but...

she won't let down unless/until the calf starts the milking. If the calf isn't on her she refuses to let down. So DH has been turning the calf in first and he gets her started then DH gives him his grain and takes over. Problem is the calf is getting a whole lot more milk than we are! lol Any ideas for getting her to give it up without such a fight? 

She's a good mama, that's for sure. Crabby milk cow.


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## myersfarm (Dec 24, 2004)

put halter on calf and just let him have a lick or a suck or two then pull him off tie by her head..start milk the second you pull the calf easy way is to clean 3 teats let calf lick the unclean one then jump on those three clean ones...fast......when she stops clean other teats let claf l suck the other tit that you have milked while you milk the full one.......look at tits when she lets down you will see the teat fill up and get smooth


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## tyusclan (Jan 1, 2005)

myersfarm said:


> put halter on calf and just let him have a lick or a suck or two then pull him off tie by her head..start milk the second you pull the calf easy way is to clean 3 teats let calf lick the unclean one then jump on those three clean ones...fast......when she stops clean other teats let claf l suck the other tit that you have milked while you milk the full one.......look at tits when she lets down you will see the teat fill up and get smooth


This is pretty much what I always did, let the calf start sucking, then pull it away and tie it off. I would milk what I wanted, usually leaving one teat for the calf.


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## Timberline (Feb 7, 2006)

I tie my calves so they can butt the cow in the belly, but no farther back. They can't reach the teats and make a big slobbery mess, but with their butting and tails going, the cows let down real well. I do this after having had them separated overnight. The cow is bagged up and ready to let down and the hungry calf usually will not stop butting before I'm done milking.


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## Milkwitch (Nov 11, 2006)

I share milked for nearly a year with our last calf. I let the calf have two teats and I had two, you very quickly learn how to keep the calf on her side, and never put your pail under the cow! I just hold it between my feet and squirt towards it. I refused to compromise with getting ALL the cream. the last part of the milking is the cream. I had trouble getting let down when i tried to only OD milking. She would always with hold the cream. As the calf got older i had to tie her at the 'right' distance to keep her from stealing lol. But she also knew the rules and wasn't too bad until she got real big. 
However I did not mind doing milking twice a day. For us, there is no way we could use all the milk anyhow. Even with the calf getting her two teats I was getting 2 1/2 to 3 gals a day.


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## francismilker (Jan 12, 2006)

I've dealt with stubborn cows letting down for handmilking before. One of the things that has been successful for me is to put the cow in the milk stanchion and let her start nibbling on some feed. Next, take a container of warm soapy water and a wash cloth and wash her teats. Use the rag to "massage" the udder for a few seconds. For some reason this seems to imitate a calf nursing a little better than my cold hands lol!!!! 

I give the cow a few seconds to soak before I dry the udder with another cloth and then pre-strip each teat. A few seconds later I start milking. It may not seem as she instantly lets down but give her a minute. It will almost seem as if the udder ballons out in your hands if you keep at it. I think sometimes a cow's brain has to trigger the let down and some are slower about it than normal. 

If you don't mind wrestling a calf to get it done, keep it up. I've done it before and it works the best of all. I will say though once she gets used to only letting down for the calf it's nearly impossible to turn them around. They get pretty stubborn. If I get one that won't let down without the calf suckling I sometimes withhold the calf completely for 24 hours and bottle the calf. She will eventually get uncomfortable enough to try and cooperate a little..................if you're lucky. Keep it up!


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## Head4theHills (Dec 23, 2009)

Thank you everyone-sounds like we're on the right if not only road! lol We bought her when the calf was three weeks old and she had not been milked on this calf-lots of milking before this one, but not with this one. So she was pretty crabby about us coming on the scene. He's great at getting her started and he doesn't fuss at all about moving over so I guess he's got himself a job.


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