-Paige
On Wednesday of this week the cow that I was assigned to gave birth. First, all I saw was #327 Dynamite (my cow's) tail raised. And then I was able to lube up and feel inside for a little nose and mouth-the first idea I had of what he or she might look like. After a little while we were able to see the head outside of the mama cow. And then all at once, it was out! A beautiful, fuzzy, bug-eyed little boy. After he was thoroughly licked by mom, we placed him in a cart and brought him to the calf barn where we assessed him for health and dipped his navel in iodine. I was able to give him his first bottle and there is just no better feeling than snuggling with a newborn calf and watching them have their first meal. I checked on him today and there are several small indicators that he is growing. He’s already a bit more steady on his feet. His fur is no longer yellow tinged, but a bright white and black. It is so soft, especially under his chin. His ears and his eyes seem disproportionate to the rest of him, and it makes him all the more loveable. On my drive home I happened to think, what would have happened if I had never changed my major? I originally came to Umaine for Equine Management, which happens to be a part of the school of Economics. After realizing that the money side of things just wasn’t for me, I switched to Psychology as my major and Animal Science as my minor. With this degree I hope to be able to provide companion animal therapy to people that would really benefit from it. I am so glad that I switched because if I hadn’t, I would have missed a lot of things that I have learned and experienced over the past two years. But most importantly, I never would have met a perfect little bull calf named Dagger.
-Paige
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"Hello! My name is Shannah Duffy and I am a second year pre-veterinary student at Maine and currently a member of the UMADCOWS, a group of students that is responsible for helping the dairy herd run smoothly. Being a part of this group is not my first experience with cows; last semester, I joined the Animal Husbandry Club and fell in love with a then 10-month old heifer named Raylin. This is, however, my first experience milking cows. I like to compare my experience milking cows with waitressing: you’re going to have a lot of tasks at once, you’re going to make mistakes, you’ll have bad “customers” and good “customers”, and you’re definitely going to get sweaty. Working with the dairy herd has been a rewarding experience so far as I’ve learned so many new things about dairy herd management and health. Above are pictures of me halter training and showing my heifer Raylin at the Spring 2015 Orono Royal. My favorite experience with the UMADCOWS has been nearly witnessing the birth of our most recent calf, Bailey. It was truly amazing to me how, within an hour of being born, Bailey was able to stand, take wobbly steps, and have her first meal. Since then, it has been fun to watch her grow and develop her own personality. October will be a busy month for the UMADCOWS, as 3 of our cows are due to give birth within a week of each other (Revolver is due on my birthday, October 14th!). The cow I am assigned to, Apricot, is not due until December 1st but I am excited to be her calf’s human mom! Although it can be challenging to wake up at 3 a.m. on some mornings that I am assigned to milk, it is so rewarding to accomplish your tasks before the sun rises and before most people are even awake. Also, in my opinion, some of the best bonds are formed by milking cows at the crack of dawn! I have met some amazing staff and students through this program and would encourage anyone to step outside of their comfort zone and try something new. Every morning milking shift I look forward to seeing the sun rise over Witter Farm."
Exactly how long does it take three UMADCOWS students to milk our lovely ladies? Well, that’s what this semester’s AVS 346 students set out to find! During the second week of classes, I observed three students during afternoon milking as part of an assignment to determine our milking efficiency, or how long it takes to milk our herd per hour. Milking efficiency can be measured in cows milked/unit/hour. Milking efficiency depends on many factors, like the type of equipment being utilized and the amount of time it takes to prep each cow. Lower milking efficiencies means that we’re milking our cows faster, which keeps operations moving smoothly.
With it being only the second week, many students had little to no experience milking cows. But, that didn’t seem to stop any of our students! During my observation period, our three students managed to have a milking efficiency of 6.33 cows/milker/hour! Together, these three students were able to milk the 19 cows that day in about an hour. We are now on our way to week 6 of the semester. I bet if I was to observe a group of students again, they would be able to achieve an even lower milking efficiency. We have learned a few tips and tricks along the way to help us be the most efficient milkers we can be. We have learned that communication in the dairy barn is crucial. If we can communicate who has been prepped and when, we can get that machine on and have milk on the way to our tank in no time. With time, we have gotten to know the cows better, so we know who milks out fast or who might be a little bit of a handful. In addition, we just have gotten more practice, and they say that practice makes perfect. I think that by the end of the semester, with plenty of practice, we will be able to be even more efficient in our milking times. Julia Cleary Second Year AVS Student at UMaine |
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