Come Boss...

[Doc Tinker]

When it's time for the evening milking, do you call in your cows or do you go out and hit them with sticks to get them to the barn?



Do cow herds have a pecking order?



Doc

 

[lschultz]

I get my milk out of the gal. jug now.

 

[ToolManTimTaylor]

Originally posted by Doc Tinker





Do cow herds have a pecking order?



Doc

Isn't that a chicken thang?

 

[Paul Herioux]

If we get started about 30 minutes late about half of the High production group cows are waiting at the entrance doors to the parlor. It just like a woman that is nursing. If the udder doesn't get emptied soon enough it starts to hurt. By the way, I wouldn't advise using this analogy on any of your wives that may be pregnant. My wife gets offended enough to get violent.



The cows generally come through the parlor in about the same order, so I guess they do have a pecking order. Some are also very finicky as to which stall they go into in the parlor. I have had a couple in the past that would only go into the first stall. If they looked in and saw another cow in the aisle there wasn't enough persuasion in the world to make them go in.





Paul

 

[Jff24Gordn]

Or maybe they come in for the treat they get fed while they are milking. They really like the extra pelleted feed. The order also depends on how packed the barn is, If they cant get to the front, they wont get in first. There are always some that wont come in and will try to jump the fence to the side that has been milked.

 

[illflem]

Paul, don't envy your occupation, never ending.

Most of my neighbors are dairy, milking three times a day, even with turnstiles it's almost nonstop milking for them.

Was reading about a new milking system from Europe that is totally automated, each cow has a barcode and gets milked whenever it wants. Barcode keeps the cow from just going after the grain, no milk no food. Also keeps track of each cow's output. Article said there are now three of these systems in the US, one in Idaho.

 

[merryman]

We attended the International Agricultural Expo (think that was the name), in Tulare Calif. last Feb, it was overall pretty amazing, but the displays of milking equipment was really something!!

Companies from all over the world there displaying their wares. The claimed over 100 acres of displays.



Vaughn

 

[me4osu]

I know that beef cattle certainly have a pecking order. Anytime I drop a round bale or shake some range cubes, one Solair we have is always the first there. If she is not, she boxes the others out of the way.

 

[Paul Herioux]

Wayne,

We took the grain out of the equation about twenty years ago. Dad developed asthma and an alergy to corn. We had the choice of stop feeding grain in the parlor or sell the farm because we couldn't afford to hire people to do all of the milkings. We put everything on a Total Mix Ration(TMR). Actually saw about a 15% increase in productivity and 5-10% reduction in feed costs. The other side benefit was not having to fix conveyors any more. The mixer wagon dumps directly into the bunks and can be pulled down to the shop for repairs, same with the skid-steer loader we use to fill it.



Illflem,

Luckily its not my occupation. My Dad and brother run the farm, I help out when I can, mostly doing repairs on the equipment or doing field work. I left the farm after high school when I got hired by a Chrysler dealer down near Grand Rapids. Moved back up here almost eight years ago after my Grandfather died. When I talked to Dad about three years ago about returning to the farm he wouldn't let me. He knew he couldn't pay me what I was making turning wrenches for the local Dodge dealer. Luckily a local independant shop opened up and asked me to be their shop foreman. I was about 2 days away from calling that Chrysler dealer back and making the 8 hr move back to South West Michigan.

The milking system you mentioned is sweet. Dad went and toured it about a year ago. Amazing what 7 mil



:--) will buy.

Later guys,

Paul

 

[apkole]

We used to pasture our 15 head of Angus. We had one cow we milked, and when it was time for chores I had only to hit the grain pail with a stick and holler "Ca-Bahs, Ca-Bahs". They definitley had a pecking order. . . . would walk from the back pasture to the barn single file, and in the same order every afternoon. Come to think of it, every cow path I've ever seen reflects that particular kind of behavior. Got to moo-ve on now.



Andy

 

[QRTRHRS]

Pecking order?

I don't know for sure but I think every species of animal has a pecking order. Or is that every living thing?

 

[Jff24Gordn]

OK, this is at a friends dairy, and they feed a special blended pellet that is custom made to make up for what ever is lacking in the silage at the time. That should be better for them than just corn. And every milking cow gets the same amount.