Backing out of a Stanchion

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I have a question for you experienced cow keepers that will reveal how much of a novice I actually am. (Our holstein heifer is due to calve anyday now, to initiate us into the real world of cows/milking.)

I have a difficulty (this will sound funny) with our heifer I don't recall seeing addressed anywhere. I succeeded in building a reasonably nice stanchion, and Bessie took to it right away. But my difficulty is getting her to leave the stanchion when I'm done. Is there some way to get her to back up out of the stanchion. The only thing I've been able to do so far is wait till she practically licks the feedbox clean.

-- Jonathan Lindvall (Lindvall@BoldChristianLiving.com), May 22, 2000

Answers

Usually the cow will be done eating the grain before you are done milking and will leave the stanchion when you release her, if she is not done eating reduce the amount you feed her when she is in the stanchion and feed her the rest of her grain ration outside.....Jay

-- Jay (Jay@townsqr.com), May 22, 2000.

Jonathan, every goat owner knows exactly what you are talking about. When we put a first freshener up on the milk stand to be milked, she will try to go forward out of the stand. An impossible feat even for a goat. You have to try to get them to back up, and then it is usually just a twisting of their neck and an awkward leap off. It will take some the whole first week to get the idea, and you can forget the notion that they will figure it out if you leave them alone :) What is so odd is that they have had their feet trimmed and show shaved up on these same milkstands since babies. Go figure! Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), May 22, 2000.

We push comes to shove....the cow usually wins. Our cow is very gentle and LOVES her grain, but if we stand in front of her and push on her neck, she'll back up and go outside. It sounds as if you may just have to be patient and wait. I'd be careful about cutting back on feed, because her body may need every ounce of it and reducing that may cause a problem. With our cow, we feed the horses, then her, then the other cows, then do the hay and water. By that time she's usually done. There is a catch to this...you can only do it if you have other animals. Anyway, enough blabber...its a beautiful day and there's work to be done!

-- Abigail F. (treeoflife@sws.nb.ca), May 24, 2000.

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