The video documents a five‑day hands‑on program to train a heifer that has never been milked to accept regular milking, both in a stall and in the field. Day 1 focuses on low‑stress calf separation, using alfalfa as a lure, and fitting a milking collar while the calf nurses. Day 2 continues alfalfa conditioning, introduces the squeeze bar, and records the first milk yield (about half a gallon). Day 3 corrects the earlier mistake of keeping the calf confined, allowing the calf to stay with the dam, and uses a collar on the calf to keep it restrained while measuring milk (≈¾ gal). Day 4 experiments with milking the cow without the squeeze bar to simulate field conditions, emphasizing gentle handling and positioning. Day 5 moves the entire process outdoors, with the calf tethered in the field, the cow guided into a stanchion, and final milk yields recorded (≈¾ gal). Throughout, the narrators discuss stress‑reduction tactics, equipment handling, calf taming, and practical tips for small‑scale dairy operations.
Chapters
Day 1 training a heifer who has never been milked. We've got her in a stall. Jonah, go ahead and let her baby out. Oh wait, she might do it. Jonah, come, come open the head gate and rattle some alfalfa for her. She just walked right in there.
All right, turn your head.
Uh, it helps to train them to alfalfa, which we do have them trained. Oh, she just walked right— she walked right under that crossbar. Crossbar is a little high. That's the let her calf out. We don't have to— we want her to be under the least amount of stress as possible as we try to get her in the stanchion the first time. Jonah had already put her calf up thinking we were gonna calf separate, which we are, but only after seeing if we can get her in the stanchion so it doesn't stress her out. She's not gonna go in the stanchion stressed. Okay, calf's out. You just lose—
she's breaking the strap off.
Here, pull it a little further out and see if she'll come through.
Get them lifted up higher.
They can get through, they got to learn to trust the hair.
There it is, there it is. All right, go ahead.
She's not gonna do that. Go in there with some confidence.
Oh, I can't get anything out.
That's because the calf probably just nursed. I've squeezed her over. She's letting him touch them now.
I'm squeezing.
No milk, huh?
Oh, there's some.
There you go.
He's milking, y'all. That's easy. We're up right next to her. If she kicks, it's not gonna hurt. She won't have this punching effect. She'll have this more like that effect. I'm just brushing her teeth to get her used to us touching it. Let's get her collar on. This collar will work. We'll be able to manage her a little bit better. We put the calf up so the milk will build up for in the morning. Yeah, pet her, get her used to us. If you need to train a cow to follow alfalfa, just go out in the field and feed it alfalfa.
She ran after me.
And get closer to it every time, and then eventually it comes to you. You have it in a bucket, you shake it, you come with the bucket, you put it down on the ground. Eventually it'll come to you. This cow runs after you. Yeah, it's pretty nice. We just open it up. We're just gonna let her leave at her leisure. She's got to learn to turn her head sideways. There you go, she figured it out. Day 2. She's upset because first day her calf has been separated last night into a stall so we can get some milk. You got milk? We purposely give her just enough food so she would run out in the morning, so she'd be hungry. There she goes.
Look at those Teats.
Do the squeeze bar, my man. Making sure she has plenty of alfalfa. A milking mom can have 5 gallons of alfalfa. I mean, 5 pounds. This will keep her happy while Jonah milks. Putting a foot back.
Go for it.
Oh, she's gonna be kicky. Of course, calf trying to get out.
Wow, she is really—
All right, come here and hold this camera and I'll do it. We're gonna get right up next to her.
Keep pressing. Yeah, there you go.
There she got me good. They're nice.
I don't think she can kick me through the bars.
Oh, I wouldn't do that.
You'll kick me.
Okay, she's letting you.
Let the calf out, Lily. I milked you for all you're worth.
There's one way to go.
I made one mistake. I should have put the calf out while I nursed her, and that would have brought down the stress level. All right, now the calf can have you all day. This is going to be filthy. Don't plan on saving— we're going to give it to the pigs, but we're going to measure it. Oh boy, look, over half a gallon. That's pretty good considering we haven't milked her from the beginning. Day 3. I'm not gonna make the mistake I made yesterday, but I'm actually gonna let the calf out. It'll be less stress. Now the question is, how am I gonna milk when the calf is gonna be nursing? We're gonna be fighting him. So we're gonna actually put this collar on him. Now we're gonna tie him up. There, her head.
I guarantee you she's gonna be calmer.
Now it's the time to pet the calf. This will also tame the calf. The calf will always come to the mama to nurse, and you can always catch a calf now, no matter how wild. Right, Surprise? I got my left arm on the— on her leg there so she can't— so she can't kick. She's gonna give a little pee print test.
She's holding back.
Day 4, we're gonna try to milk her outside of the— out without the squeeze bar. Still training her to come in nicely. We need to be able to milk her in the field, so She's not gonna have any of this, these sidebars, so let's not put the squeeze on her today. She'll be more free right here. You pet him to tame him, okay? Let's pretend we're in the field. We don't have this against the side there. Let's kind of put her straight, not up against anything. Let's see if she'll let us milk her. She's letting us milk her.
I think tomorrow we're ready to go in the field.
Day 5. We kept this calf in the stall last night, probably in the field. It's crazy. Got him rope halted. He's gonna need to be tamed big time. So it's the wildest calf we've ever had. Got baby tied up next to the head gate here out in the field. We got her in. That was super smooth. Trainer in the shed helped. She recognized the stanchion going. Now she's gonna let me milk her out here in the wide open. I don't know, doesn't look like it. All right, I just had to chase her a little bit.
Chased her to the edge of the stanchion.
She couldn't move that way anymore. Well, that went extremely well. I bet we got a gallon. Now we're at the point Put an alfalfa bucket next to the stanchion, tie her up. She good. We're milking. Let's measure the milk. Okay, half a gallon. We're gonna have 3/4 of a gallon. Yeah, easy, strong 3/4.
