While the regular morning milking begins at 4:30, the work day begins around 3:45. First, all the girls must stand up to allow their beds to be scraped and cleaned out. Some of them may be a little sleepy, but others are already wide awake. After the system is sanitized and ready, milking begins. Each cow waits her turn to be milked.
There are a few steps to milking, and it begins with applying a predip to the teats. This predip, which is a blue foaming liquid, removes any bacteria that may have found its way onto the teat. This is done to prevent mastitis, which is an infection of the udder. Next, milk is stripped out of each teat five times. This stimulates milk letdown and will allow the milker to check the stream of milk to make sure there are no signs of mastitis. In most cases, the milk will look normal and the teats will be dipped with the predip once again. After waiting for 30 seconds, the milker will wipe the teats until they are completely clean and dry. The unit will be placed on the udder, and the cow will chill out while getting milked… unless it’s Ramen, then the unit will get kicked off the second the milker turns their back. After they have been milked, postdip will be applied to each teat, which is a brown, thick liquid. This will prevent bacteria from entering the open teat.
Once everyone has been milked, the girls will get outdoor time and enjoy the sunrise, as well as the view overlooking the field! During their outdoor privileges, a milker will sit by the pen and watch for signs of heat for 20 minutes. Watching for heat is very important in order to breed a cow at the right time. Cows that are in heat will be very active during this time. Some signs of heat will include mounting, head butting, restlessness, and increased vocalizations. If a cow isn’t in heat, she’ll simply go about her business, investigating her surroundings. Check out to see what the girls were up to Tuesday morning!
After heat watch, the girls begin gathering around the gate to go back inside. Once the milkers are ready, they are brought back inside to fresh, new bedding! They get clipped in, and get fed later in the morning. What a great start to the day!