Anybosy out there have milk cows?

Bruce from Can. · Jul 9, 2009

Anybody out there have a dairy farm ? While I know this web page is about old tractors ect,Seems these days with milk price the way it is ,old stuff is all most dairy men my size can afford. WE milk around 50 cows, and I just wondered if there was anyone else doing the same. Just for the record, I think the late 60 and thru to 1980 Case and IH tractors BLUIT IN USA where the best. Didn"t care much for that imported crap from UK with Case or IH badges.

gitrib · Jul 9, 2009

Yes Bruce my son still milks some Guernsey's. It is tough and he raises is own Alfalfa & those old girls will eat a small square bale each everyday. He shows at major show this makes the off spring valuable to sell. He uses all old machinery he has rebuilt, Still tough to do.
gitrib

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Bob/wis · Jul 9, 2009

Yeap I squezze cows here in southern wisconsin. We still do it old school. Wood stanchion barn and surge strap milkers. Roughly try to keep 40 head milking yr round. Since its a old herd that we always try to keep heifer from cow that mostly have heifer. We run a high percentage of heifer calves to sell. Its normally in the 65 to 70 % heifers in a yrs time.
We also farm with old equipment too. The main tractors are 30"s series Case. We still ear pick corn to grind for the cows.
Its not a job but a lifestyle.
Bob

Coloken · Jul 9, 2009

I grew up with a milk pail in my hands. It feed 8 kids for my dad. I feel for you guys now. Just bought a gal for a buck 50 at Wally world. And hay at 150 or so.
KennyP

Bill(Wis) · Jul 9, 2009

Don't any of you guys get subsidies? My neighbor does. To the tune of $100,000 +++ one year. Reason given? "Profits"

gitrib · Jul 9, 2009

I have never seen a Dairy Farmer get any money from the government. If this farm got that kind of money it was not from milking cows it was some other part of the farming operation.
gitrib

mile0001 · Jul 9, 2009

Does milking one Jersey every morning count?

The calf is on her the rest of the day.

bison · Jul 9, 2009

I grew up pulling t!ts by hand,had 25 dairy cows myself for 20 odd yrs,i sold out when they quit picking up cans and I needed to go to a tank.

i milked 4 cows afterwards to make gauda cheese and milk and cream to sell to neighbors.
i quit that too,as every one thinks farm stuff is free and complained about the price.

IMO Case tractors are the most ornery tractors ever build,especcially the 70 series powershifts.

Bill(Wis) · Jul 9, 2009

About all they do is milk cows.

Bill(Wis) · Jul 9, 2009

Just tap into the "environmental working group" website. They list all recipients of farm subsidies. Put in you Zip code or county and they appear by name in decsending order of payments received and for what. There are guys in my county alone that have received hundreds of thousands of dollars since 1995 when the payments began. These are "direct farm subsidy payments".

Tom in TN · Jul 9, 2009

Bob/wis,

Just curious - - how do you market your milk? Does the milk that you get into your Surge strap milkers somehow end up in a bulk tank?

I also do everything the old way with old equipment. I've thought about trying to milk some dairy cows (I currently raise black Angus), but I couldn't find any way to market the milk (legally) without investing in a tank and lines.

Thanks,

Tom in TN

cadet trooper · Jul 9, 2009

Bruce, I grew up on a large dairy farm in my day 140cows at two locations in the early 60s was kinda fun then but kinda wore on me as time went on. Went into manufacturing/engineering and never knew they worked partime like 8-12hour days sweet left work no worries. Still miss it until someone like you brings it up LOL. You still have to remember it's like having a family those old girls depend on you every hour of everyday it's a way of life that most people don't understand and I still miss it and no I'm not coming up to milk for you. :->

dieseldoc · Jul 9, 2009

I milk over a hundred holsteins. That is about 100 to many right now.

Mitch D · Jul 9, 2009

We are in west central Wisconsin, milkin 42ish cows rite now. Most of our farm power comes from Deere's 20 series and two 40 series. Have the good ol two-cylinders for small jobs.

Mattlt · Jul 9, 2009

I won't pretend to know what kind of equipment Bob uses, but one of the common ways to get milk from the bucket to the bulk tank was with what was called a Step Saver.

Basically a tub on wheels, about 7-10 gallons in size, the was connected to a flexible hose that ran back to the bulk tank. Sucked the milk back with vacuum. The one's I'm familiar with actually had the hose wrap around the outside of the tub. You'd start at the far end of the barn and wrap hose back around the tub as you got closer to the bulk tank.

Someday I'll actually learn how to post pictures on this site, but until then, I'd suggest Google Images, searching for "step saver milker" or something similar.

730 virgil · Jul 9, 2009

my nephew does. he told me recently i'm glad my wife has a good job.
his dad and i both worked for dairy farmers in our younger years.
milking those girls gets in your blood that's for sure. at age 60 and bad knees i wouldn't or couldn't do it any more.

Tom in TN · Jul 9, 2009

Matt,

Thanks for the info. Very interesting.

Tom in TN

Leroy · Jul 10, 2009

Some of the older bulk tanks had a lid that you could take off and set the can strainer on like you were doing on a can and just dump the milk in. A bulk tank does not have to be set for a pipeline tho most now are but early bulk tanks were not as the farmer when changing over to bulk only spent as little as he could and did not go to pipeline untill he also had to replace the milker units.

Bruce from Can. · Jul 10, 2009

I did milk cows with surge bukets for a good many years just like Bob/wis said, till I found a delaval pipe line for a $1000. Sure did save alot of time washing up. Enjoyed all the comments and the pics too, just don"t know how to post any yet.

Anybosy out there have milk cows?

Bruce from Can.

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