Milking My Cows Just Got Easier | Stanchion Tour

Okay, I want to make a stanchion video, but it's a mess right now. I need to tidy this up real quick. Here they come. All right, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, wait, wait, wait. I know it's more narrow, I know it's more narrow, but we can get you in. We can get you in. We're gonna move that swing bar out of the way. Okay, come on, Mustang, come on, you can do it. Good girl. Where's the— hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, where's the Where's the scoop? Okay, get her in that stall right there.

Okay, here, here.

So you'll be calm. These swing down and now she, she's in there. She can't get out. You know, Hamburger has a collar. All we need is a leash now. Good boy.

Good boy, good boy.

See if I had a leash, it just attaches leash to the hooks. See how we hook up Moose? He's got a leash, he's got a collar. He kind of—

they—

you notice they just kind of go where they're supposed to be.

They're also huge. He's also huge.

Randolph ran out of time yesterday and he didn't get to do our squeeze bar. Can you get us a pilot— pilot drill? It's gonna be smaller than the O-hook, so we got to put this squeeze bar up so that somebody, namely Jonah, help me milk, and he can sit right in there without the fear of her coming over that way. I kind of like that out. That moves the alfalfa, but it also serves as a stand for this camera. Okay, Brianna, good morning. Good morning, Brighton. Yay, Jonah, you're off the hook, my man! Look who's here. Uh-oh, did you Did you drill a hole first? Yep. How, how far?

That far?

No, no, you have to like drill a hole. Did you go in real far? Yeah. Go get our— let me start it. Let me work on it. You go get our wrench, a screwdriver out of the red thing, and that'll help us spin it.

What?

Yeah, I guess get the stuff. I thought I did get the stuff. Whoops. Okay, see, I'm putting you guys up on that. We'll get to this tour in just a second. Okay, see how that screwdriver gives us leverage? Yeah, it's working. It's working real good. Why don't you sit there and see if that's going to be more comfortable with you on being able to lay on the cow. Here, let's not squeeze her so hard. Here. Yeah, she's too close to the edge.

He's always a lot cleaner than Phyllis.

Brianna is prepping her. We're gonna clean her off, collect for mastitis. Let me tell you about this. As you can see, that stanchion holds a cow, therefore making it easier to milk. She happens to be right below our bedrooms. There's the kids' bedroom. That's our house up there. You want the stanchion super close to the house, as close as you can socially get. Because you go, you visit it 1 to 2 times a day or more.

When they're out sick, you're in there a lot more.

That's right. Like when she has mastitis and you want to milk her out 4 times a day, it's handy. You can put her in the stall, come down here, put her out, back in the stall, walk right back upstairs. So at the, at the top we have this— I don't know, this is kind of a cow gate really, because we can walk around this, but a cow can't. That's a really nice feature that we just kind of stumbled upon. A cow isn't really going to come through that, so— but we left this openable for when we're bringing the alfalfa through, or something big like a hay bale or something like that, or buckets. I think we open this to get out when we come with our buckets. Right here, water needs to be really close by. We have a— Ben rigged this up for us It's, it's really handy because it directs the water and just instead of splashing it everywhere— we do have a French drain in there that got clogged up, but the French drain takes it away. We have a hose. One of these hoses goes to the greenhouse. Another hose snakes up through here. Where'd it go? Where'd our— I guess we got it out of the way for Randall. Yeah, there it is. You want to start rigging that back up? We rig that, intertwine it in there, and that hoses off our stanchion. Once we hose off our stanchion, it goes into this pit right here and washes away. Ideally, this would come out and then in a swell here on contour, so the water would catch and eventually push into the garden. It's cool to have a garden right next to the cows because there's so much resources here with the manure, the manure water, urine. So urine will catch it in this bucket dilute it 10 to 1 with water, pour it directly on the garden. You have a trash can right by tools hanging up. This is to scrub off the stanchion. It's a hard bristle brush. This is a manure fork. The tongs are close together. That makes it easier for picking up wet manure, say. How is it?

I might put a little too much purple in there.

Okay, keep swirling.

Yeah. Well, maybe this one.

Yeah, let's recheck that one. Will you hold that on me, Grace? Oh yeah, it was good. We just had too much purple. That was scary.

Sorry, that was—

if that clobbered and got mushy, kind of like it was when we put too much purple in there, she would have mastitis. See, she did have mastitis and you didn't have anything. You could, you could put in the work and come and milk her. There's people telling me they've milked every hour and have healed mastitis just by doing that. Uh, what we do— we don't want to milk every hour— is we have Animal Synergy products. So it's simple, guys, it's simple. Excel Countdown 7000, twice a day, 30 milliliters through the— through this syringe. It's all essential oils, it's just all natural oils. Then you put Cellex Gold. Let me show you this. I wouldn't do— and look, this is my nice— this is like a mineral feeder and it hangs on a 2x4, so it works out nice. You would do that and I would clean— I have top replacements, but you put that up in the teeth. Yeah, it's— sometimes you need to get Grandpa's ox and get their legs together so they don't kick, but other times you just lift up their tail, give them some alfalfa, and they're fine without the hocks. You put Selix Gold in this twice a day after milking. Squirt it up in there. So we would milk twice a day in a mastitis case, morning and night. This after milking for 3 days, this during after milking for 3 days, and we haven't had a case yet where we haven't been able to clear it up that way. Keeping the calf on her all the time. What you need, Brianna?

I'm trying to spread her legs a little bit.

Jonah, this, this hose is leaking, bro.

Then just fix it.

Okay, I'm gonna help Brianna get this foot adjusted.

Just keep putting it forward.

Okay, let's, um, give her even more space.

There you go. Perfect.

Yeah. Uh-oh, Johnny, this is dripping mega. So this didn't get turned off, or it's leaking.

Whoops.

Oh, it didn't get screwed on good. That's better, but I still think it's gonna leak a little bit. Oh, will you grab that from him, Jonah or Grace? Let's loop it back through because I do think my nozzle is broken and drips a little bit. So we'll hang it over there. It's dripping into our drench. Hey, plane! You're learning a new word every day. 10 words, and you're really practicing it.

Oh, why'd this get so high?

Well, okay, good question. We raised this bar. It used to be down, and Brianna said, no, let me touch that cow. Let me put my head on that cow. It's a lot nicer. Is it? This much more comfortable?

You just get closer. You're not milking like that. Yeah, you're milking up. Your back can be straight.

I can't wait. Narrowed this like 10 inches. Yeah, she is really close to the edge right there because we're moving her over. Do you want to demo how we can get on on the other side now? No, no, you go right through here. We put a swinging gate right here. Look at that!

Are you still out of the rain?

What? Oh, so what we need to do is pull this bar up, Jonah. Way up. Now can you get in there? Look at that. See, he's still on the platform. Yeah, he can't sit on a bucket. He needs to sit on traditional milk stool because he doesn't have as high to go up as you. You're sitting— see, she's elevated 4 inches, so you're having to sit on a bucket which is taller.

Stool.

Okay, wait, wait, wait, whoa! I was hoping that wasn't gonna be just a sample, that you were gonna get in there. Okay, I got a job for you. I need this raised, so go get your pilot hole again and we'll raise this so that we can bring this squeeze bar up. You can go way up right here at the exit hole. We've got a shovel just in case. Well, it's not if, it's when, right Brianna? But we use it as a bonus. We put it right in here and take it to our chickens to make compost. It's a good mix for compost pile. Grandpa's milk stool, probably 100 years old, good for milking at the same level of the cow. A bucket with a— you don't see, but it's got a lid with a cushion on it. They make those. You got one of those, Brianna?

No, I've never seen that.

Isn't that nice though? Like, you could still use that bucket for like— you can put your cloths there theoretically or something. And if she pees, we, we grab this bucket, put it under her real quick. I think I've covered everything right here. A trash can. This is for hauling the alfalfa. Take and show you the alfalfa. Oh wait, yeah, let me help you. So let's go exactly where we need to.

I'll hold it up.

So probably— see, this hangs down, so probably in that— let's go in that hole, huh? We have to still use this squeeze bar because we want her to get over to the edge so that there's a platform form for the second milker to sit. Did you do a pilot in a hole in here?

Yeah, there was already one, but I just scooped it out.

Okay, you think you can do it or you want me to do it?

I got it.

All right, going down the line. We'll get to the alfalfa in a second. We got a reservoir bucket. Have you put anything in there yet, Brianna? So she'll get some milk, she'll pour it in this reservoir bucket. It's got a lid on it. This is all stainless steel. That's because if Flossie steps and kicks it and gets manure in it or something like that. We have already some collected and we haven't lost it all. You heard that saying, she kicked the bucket? That means she kicked the bucket and it's over. All these cow things, uh, food-grade buckets with clean cloths in this one, dirty cloths in this one. When those are done, we take them up, wash them, including the bucket, and that becomes the clean Cloth bucket, and this becomes the dirty one, and those get washed every other time.

Look at my leverage.

Nice bunch of it. That'll work. Okay, you did it.

All right.

Okay, Brandon, be ready. Okay, it might move her a little bit. Okay, how's that? Try getting in there now, Jonah.

And I'm not gonna stay.

Why not?

I don't like it. You got your head on there. You got plenty of room with your stool. But how's it working, my man? He ain't gonna answer me. You don't want to say good.

It works good.

You don't like milking? Uh-uh. What's the difficulty in milking?

Just sitting here.

You don't got nothing to do.

So boredom. So what if I give you your audiobook right now?

Mmm, fortunately the 3 kids are listening to that.

So you can't.

The difference between a child and an adult, we're all like, quiet time, yes! And a child's like, I'm so bored. We're like, oh, the peace of the morning.

We're like, everybody clear out. Yeah. Brianna did give us— she put some in this reservoir. Now if she were to bump it, somehow get lost, we wouldn't be totally out. The kicking the bucket wouldn't be so final. Okay, next to dirty cloths we have apple cider vinegar. That's an overall health boost. We put it on her pan. Oh, you sneaking some of hers? Another reason we need a leash so we could tighten that up easy. So we've got a feed pan inside this. This trough is elevated so she can get to it easy. Let's go ahead and give her another scoop.

Yeah, when we move this out, she freaked out.

Yeah, she still freaked out. They don't get their alfalfa. This is a high protein alfalfa and it's not grain, so we're 100% grass-fed. But this is a little bit of a treat. This gives them a boost in their milking. You see, you see that cow? I think you're the cow's number one fan.

I am one.

So once you put that in there, then you give a half a cup of apple cider vinegar. I stir it up. I would drop it in there. I've already given it to her. Then we give them, for the probiotic, extra probiotic, I guess, because apple cider vinegar's got that, half a scoop of RC Gold. And that's a good health maintenance so they won't get sick in the first place. Oh, if she gets— sometimes they get the hard udder, or if she has mastitis. Hey, hey, you got an interpreter here.

Mama, we show them cow.

That's pretty good, that's pretty good. She even put the emphasis in it. Okay, so then we put this udder cream, it's kind of like Icy Hot, on the udder after she's done Maybe let it soak in for 30 minutes before she gets the calf. It never gets old to you, does it? The excitement of the cow. You're tired of the cows?

Sort of.

The excitement wears off. You think the segment's gonna wear off in that puppy?

It'll probably be there for a year, honestly.

Okay, so then we put this, uh, this on the udder and it just encourages blood flow, so so it encourages healing. So if, if, if, if it was cut or anything like that, or lumpy, and it's not mastitis, you don't know what it is— also from Animal Synergy Animal Products, organic udder cream. So I think that's it. Is that it? I'll put links to some of this stuff down in the description. The lights, that's key. We got these lights and they're— are they LED? They're super bright, so cheery down here. We have these calves on buckets from Tractor Supply. We got them a little bit of alfalfa just to give them a little bit of a treat. We have a holding stall. She's not being milked, but she's going to be milked next. So we have two holding stalls, which is key for two cows. I don't even— you don't even need a holding stall with just one, but we would bring— we bring Posse out of there into here We'll show you that in a minute. Then we'll open this up and Phyllis will come out. They give us a bunch of manure in here just in this hour and a half that they're in here, and we put that in the wheelbarrow and take it as our nitrogen for our compost pile. Did I miss anything?

Did you miss the wheelbarrow?

Yes, I talked— yeah, I talked about that. Oh, so the, the trucks— this will fit 100 pounds of alfalfa. It's a 30-gallon food-grade barrel, and the alfalfa's over there in the garage. We truck it over there and fill it up. That's also one of your favorite chores.

Brianna's laughing.

She didn't even have to look. She didn't even look up to see your face.

No, I don't like it.

You just know this, or have you seen him being asked to do that?

I've seen him. I don't like it though.

He still does it. He does it.

Yeah, he does it.

He does. That's what farming is sometimes, isn't it? It's doing stuff you don't want to do. Let me try this. And we're in, we're in business now, Brianna.

Is your head on her side?

No, because of the squeeze bar.

Oh bummer. Come on this side. You gotta try this out.

All right, so I really liked it. It's tight but it was comfortable. We might even still raise this bar up even more. You can't put your head on her because of the squeeze bar, but we have to have a squeeze bar to be able to put that person on the platform. Let's get intimate with Flossie. Most days I'm doing this by myself anyway, so I'll get a lot of cozy time, cuddle time. That is nice. She's warm, much softer than that board.

I was just thinking how— I was thinking the other day about how when I milk your cows, I don't smell very much like cow. And then I realized it's because I don't put my head on them, so it's not all in my hair.

So you think cow has a certain smell?

Oh yeah. I mean, I could be— I could, you know, whenever we were in milk, I could milk the cow and then go run my errands and very much smell like a cow. I would try to wear my farming boots so it made sense, because otherwise they're like, what is that smell? Why does this woman smell so bad? I mean, I like the smell, but if you're not used to cows, you might not.

Wow, you milked her for all she's worth over here.

I think I got her.

Another saying: milked her for all she's worth. You got it over there. How are you over there? I'm good. I mean, so how was it in the guest spot?

It's so much easier than squatting. Yes, squatting sideways.

Yeah, that was annoying.

You can't get your hands in the right spot, but I mean, you always did that.

You know how we could maybe get this to where you could lay on the cow? As a strap, maybe. Yeah, just like this was a strap in there. Yeah, over.

That might be more comfortable for her too.

Yeah, she doesn't seem to care, but maybe a little hair will be harder to wash off if she poops on it. Yeah, I don't know, we'll work it out. We're every day getting better, every day in every way we're getting better.

I don't know if I really did get that side, so I'm gonna double check for me.

Okay, it's hard for me to—

yeah, see, it's hard for me to milk on that side.

Notice too, Brianna, it gave us way more space in here because we cut that 10 inches shorter. Oh yeah, like now this door can swing open, the bucket can stay there, it's not in the way.

That's nice.

There's more room for us and cows to walk through here. This red gate is nice because it can shut, but it can also open. We put it right on the ledge, but the guest is still— he's still good and under the shelter. Here.

That's really nice.

Yeah. And this isn't— I should note to this placement, guys, this isn't just, oh, let's put the barn, the cows right here. We could put them on the other side, but we put them here because that's south, that's south-facing right there. That means in this hemisphere that's going to get the most sun. So this— and sun is nature's sanitizer. So we spray this off after we're done And this gets sun all day. It's not out right now because it's cloudy and it's early, but it will be. I like it. Is that it? We milked it for all she's worth.

Yes, it did.

All right, you want to take it or you want me to take it?

It's whatever you want to do.

Now, Jonah, we need a screw. I need a screw to set this in right here. So there we hung the We hung the squeeze bar on a screw there. This is where she's gonna go. It's a lot easier said than done with Flossie because Flossie does not like to get out of the stanchion. So these are hinged, we just open that up, she should be able to squeeze her head out. Make me a liar and get out easy. Nope. Say, I'm gonna get out difficult like I do every other day. Come on, Mustang.

Come on.

This is automatically swinging shut.

What if I pet you?

Will that get you out? Are you starting to like that? I think you're starting to like that. You're shedding.

Look. Come on, let's go. Come on, come on. There we go. There we go. Come on, come on.

Why are you not going?

Come on.

All right, I don't need to hit her with this. Just— it's just a staff. Show a little more respect, I guess. Look at that, look at that.

So crazy. Okay, come on.

There you go.

Come on, come on.

No, don't go that way.

Come on.

All right, here we go. Come this way. There you go, there you go. Good girl. Thank you for your milk. Come on, big mama.

Come on.

They're not— any little change, any little change, and it throws them off. Come on, you can do it. I'm gonna get you some alfalfa. Good girl. Why can't I open this?

There you go. There you go.