Share Milking, Part I: Basic Questions for Getting Started

Lately several people have asked how to handle various situations that come up while share milking.  Today Ebony treated me to a "situation" of her own devising, and it reminded me that I promised to do a troubleshooting post.  (You'll have to stay tuned to see what Ebony did.)  These situations are not unique to Dexters, by any means; however, all my experience is with hand milking Dexters.  These posts should be read with that in mind, as some of my advice would not be suitable for a high-producing dairy breed.  So, what are some of the questions, problems and situations that I've run into with share milking?

Q:  When do I start milking?

First, I always wait until the calf is born.  It can be tempting to see if that swelling udder has milk or colostrum or some other substance in there, but God designed cows' teats to be sealed after drying off to protect from bacteria that could enter through an open teat orifice and get up in the udder to cause mastitis.

To help with edema before calving, I brew strong raspberry tea (4 bags to a half cup of water) and pouring it over their feed twice a day.  If a cow has a lot of edema, I continue into the first week or more after calving.

So when DO I start milking?  It depends!  :)  It depends on several things:

• What lactation my cow is in.  My first freshener (first lactation) did not need milking at all after the calf was born. 
•  With my second lactation cows, I milked within twelves hours after the calf was born, depending on how full the udder was.  In general, the rule of thumb I follow is that if the calf is born in the morning, I milk the cow that evening  If the calf is born at night, I milk the cow the next morning.
• How high of a producer my cow is.  Some lower producing cows will be fine without having to be milked, even in later lactations, but I have personally milked my second lactation girls.    

Last year when Ebby's second calf was born, her milk didn't fully come in until several days later, so she didn't need milking the first 24 hours.  This year her third calf was born at 3 in the afternoon, and she was already so engorged with milk before calving that I milked her that evening, after I was sure the calf had gotten a lot of colostrum.   I freeze any colostrum I milk out and label it Day 1, Day 2, etc. to keep in case of a future need.

Q:  How often do my cows need milking?

Remember, we're talking about Dexters and we're talking about share milking, keeping the calf on its dam instead of pulling it at birth.  Dexters are dual purpose cows so they are different from full-blooded dairy cows, meaning they usually produce less milk.  (For me, this is an advantage because I want the calf to be my relief milker.)

How often do my cows need milking?  The answer is, "It depends."

• Once or twice a day, especially for the first few weeks.
• A couple of times a week or every day, depending on how much milk I want. 

Hopefully the rest of this post will help clarify how I decide how often to milk.

I started milking Siobhan as a first freshener two months into her lactation, because that's when we got our stanchion built.  Her heifer Macree was able to handle all of Siobhan's milk production, and I never had to milk.  At first, I milked several times a week.  Later I began separating Siobhan and Macree for about 12 hours every night, milking every morning.  Remember, regularly taking more milk than the calf needs causes a cow to increase her production, so you then need to keep up with it.  Once I had Siobhan's production built up to supply both Macree and the house every day, I would not have suddenly gone off on a trip and assumed that Macree would keep Siobhan's udder empty.

The following year, I had two cows that were both in their second lactation.  Both had small calves, and neither calf could keep up with their dam's milk supply until they were about three weeks old.  I milked Ebby TAD (twice a day) for almost three weeks--18 days to be exact.  At that point we transitioned to milking OAD (once a day).  Within a few days, her calf was keeping up with her production and evenly nursing her out on a regular basis.  At that point I was able to quit milking--until it was time to milk Siobhan when her calf was born.   Things worked out much the same way for Siobhan.

Last year I knew in advance that I would be gone for a week or more on a monthly basis throughout the summer.  For that reason, I chose not to milk either cow once their calf could take all the milk they produced.  By not driving up their production, I could go on my trips without worrying about a human relief milker.  Of course someone still had to come feed and water the animals, but that's a lot easier to find than someone who can milk!

This year, both cows are in their third lactation.  Ebby's udder was huge before she calved, so I went to TAD milking immediately.  I milked her TAD for exactly three weeks, then switched to OAD.  After ten days of milking OAD, I thought her calf, Seb, was keeping her udder fairly evenly nursed, so I tried to stop milking.  After a day and a half, I felt that I needed to start milking OAD again.  So here, almost 5 weeks into her lactation, I still need to milk many mornings.  There is still often one extremely full quarter in the morning.  If I can encourage Seb to nurse that quarter, we skip milking.  When he won't, I milk that quarter completely out--to be sure things are flowing and milk is not stagnating in that quarter.

Siobhan is due to calve any day.  With six weeks between their due dates, I thought I had things arranged perfectly.  Ha!  Count on cows to remind us they are the ones in charge!  Ebony went eight days late, and Seb still hasn't learned to count to four.  So I may find myself milking "three" cows a day for a while.

The third lactation is generally when cows hit their peak production.  So, although Ebby had a large bull calf this year, I'm not too surprised that I still need to milk her.  I fully expect to have to milk Siobhan for a month or more.  Some milkers from KFC have said that it can take up to six weeks for a calf to "learn to count to four" so that it equally nurses all four quarters and manages to keep up with its dam's supply.

Q:  How do I decide if the cow needs to be milked or not?

The photo above is of Ebby's udder one morning recently, with her teats pre-dipped.   Ebby's four quarters are normally quite equal in size, so it was clear that Seb had done a good job of nursing this side.  Here's where it's important to know your cow's udder.  See how small the rear quarter is (at right)?  It always milks down like this, and there's really no mammary tissue to be felt up above.  Now see how large and full the front quarter is, especially the forward part (at left)?  The "swelling" you see in the front part of the quarter is always there; it's the smaller part underneath, the reservoir, that gets milked out.  When I placed my hand on the fuller part on this particular day, I could feel that although it was firm (which is normal), it was not hard.  It had been well-nursed by Seb, so I knew this side did not need to be milked.

Here's the right side of Ebby's udder that same day.   The rear quarter had been nursed, but not the front (right).  Look at the fullness all the way along the front curve of that quarter.  The front quarter is clearly rounded and curved, especially where it connects with the rear quarter.  It was firm and hard-ish to the touch, so I decided to milk that quarter.  Today Ebby came in looking much the same, and I got over three cups of milk from the front quarter alone--of course, she didn't let it all down for me.  I milked it all the way out, since it was clear it had not been emptied in some time.

That's how things work THIS year!  LAST year those front quarters freaked me out, and I was constantly worried that Ebby was developing mastitis--until I thought to ask her former owner (who had milked her during her first lactation) if Ebby's front quarters were more fleshy than the rear ones?  Yes, was her reply--and I heaved a sigh of relief.  Sure enough, Ebby's mastitis test came back negative, and all my worry about those firm quarters was for naught.  This year I've been careful but not worried, because I know my cow's udder better.  It really does make a difference!

To recap, here are some of the situations that might lead me to milk whether I planned to or not:

• A full, firm quarter instead of a partially full or flaccid quarter.
• One quarter or side that has not been nursed, especially on a regular basis.
• If a cow has edema (pitting fluid retention) in her udder and/or umbilicus, I massage and milk, even if not much milk comes out.  Keeping things flowing is important, especially if there's congestion in the udder.
• Any redness (which is hard to see on a black Dexter!), heat (compared to the other quarters), or clumps in the milk.  (I'll talk more about clumps later.)

Q:  How do I decide which quarters to leave for the calf?

Usually, the calf is going to be a more efficient milker than I am.  So during the first weeks, if there's a quarter that needs milking, I try to get the calf to nurse that one.  I lead the calf into position on that side with its head facing toward the cow's tail and push its head under the udder.  With a reluctant nurser, I even bump the calf's nose against the udder several times.  Then I stand back and wait for nature to hopefully take its course.

So far, of the four calves I've share milked with, two have been eager nursers who didn't need encouraging, and the last two have been reluctant or shy.  Ebby's calf last year was particularly unwilling to nurse "on demand."  Seb, this year's calf, may respond to encouragement--or not.

When the calf is on the cow 24/7, the goal of OAD milking is to be sure the cow gets her udder emptied every day.  Some people milk out the easiest quarters and leave the more difficult ones for the calf.  Some people with a higher producing cow rotate, milking three quarters and leaving a different quarter for the calf each time.  With a moderate producing cow, some people rotate sides, leaving the opposite one for the calf.  The cow is always going to hold up some milk for her calf, so the calf will not go hungry.  At this point I'm milking because the calf can't handle that much milk.

In the past it has worked for me to finish milking out the quarters that were most recently nursed and leave the full ones for the calf.  However, this year when I tried that, Ebby would come in the next day with the same quarter un-nursed and extra full.  I've learned that Seb goes on "kicks."  He almost always nurses the rear quarters, but chooses to ignore the right front for several days.  Then suddenly he'll change and ignore the left front for several days.  So with this guy, I've learned to milk the fullest quarter all the way out.  That way I know it's getting emptied at least once a day.

So, like many of these questions, the ultimate answer to this question is:  It depends!  It's a process of trial and error, and I figure out what works best as we go.

Q:  When do I separate the cow and calf overnight, and how do I do it?

I don't separate mama and baby until the calf is handling all of the cow's production.  That means that she is regularly coming in with all four quarters soft, if not empty.

As I mentioned earlier, I start out milking TAD, transition to OAD, and when the cow is coming in for milking with all four quarters at least partially nursed, then I'm ready to separate them at night.

I've found the best way to separate is to shut the calf in a stall and leave the cow loose to graze, or at least have free access to hay in the barnyard.  It's a lot easier to put enough hay and water for the calf into a stall than it is to provide enough for the cow.  In addition, I believe that when we switched to putting Siobhan in the stall instead of Macree is when Siobhan got bored and started self-sucking.  So that's not an option I'm going to consider in future.

Since I'm not an early riser, and I'm not interested in milking at 6 am, I generally get the calf at about 8 pm to shut it up.  If I milk at 9, that's thirteen hours the cow and calf have been separated.

Another option I've used at times is to separate the cow and calf in the morning for six to eight hours and milk in the evening.  Again, it depends on what works well for each particular situation.

This post is not comprehensive, but it covers some of the basics about how I approach share milking.  If readers have other questions, feel free to ask them!  In future posts I'll deal with some of the problems and situations that arise while share milking.

Tips for Training Your Dexter as a Family Milk Cow

Lately I've been getting lots of questions about milking.  Some of the most frequent questions are about how to train a cow to milk.  So I'll start at the beginning with my tips for training your Dexter as a family milk cow--with a newborn calf.  Don't be discouraged if you've got a heifer about to calve or a brand-new-to-you cow with a new calf.  Just look down the list, start where you are, and go on from there . . .

Start training your heifer calf from birth.  Halter train her.  Handle her all over.  Teach her to let you pick up her feet.  Rub and touch her little teats.  It's never too soon to teach her that you're allowed to touch her anywhere and that it feels good.  Most Dexters love food and treats; use them to your advantage to make friends and reward her for good behavior.

Set up a place to milk.  Get the stanchion before the cow, at least, hopefully before you try to milk her.  I was lucky that Siobhan, as a first-calf heifer, had just enough milk for her calf.  If she had been producing more milk and I had HAD to milk her, it would probably have worked out because she's a very laid-back cow and trusts me.  But it's always easier to milk when you have a place set up.  I know a couple of ladies who walk up to their cows in the pasture and sit down to milk, but those are rare cows.  Getting the stanchion set up means having the equipment and supplies you'll need at hand, which will help you relax.  It means being able to clean the udder properly, which helps avoid mastitis.  And if you're lucky enough to have a heifer calf, you'll be training her as a milk cow while you milk her mother!

Make your training count double.  Train your heifer to the stanchion while she's a calf at her mother's side.  I started milking Siobhan when Macree was two months old, so Macree learned early on that going in the stanchion means yummy things to eat.  By the time I was ready to sell Macree as a bred heifer, she would readily hop up into the stanchion, let me close the head catch on her, and stand like a rock while I handled her teats.

Start gradually. Get the cow used to the stanchion before you need or want to milk.  If she's halter-trained, you can lead her right up to the feed box and let her eat without closing the neck catch.  Do this several times.  Then when she's at ease, close the neck catch, but open it as soon as she finishes eating.  When she starts to leave the stanchion, let her go.  You can gradually lengthen the time you ask her to stand with the neck catch closed, gauging by her behavior how quickly to proceed.  

If your cow is less tame, you may need to "bucket lead" her to the stanchion with a bucket of feed.  You can put a tub of feed where she can reach it without having to get into the stanchion.  Let her eat it.  Try again the next day (or in the evening if you feed twice a day).  Each time, you can make her advance farther into the stanchion to get the feed.  Just remember, if your cow was not already getting grain, you must work her up gradually over a period of weeks; suddenly giving her a lot of grain will upset her rumen and make her sick.

Start with a positive attitude and the right goal:  Make the first few times milking about the cow having a positive experience.  It's not about the milk!  It's about teaching your cow that this place and this time are GOOD.  If you think positively and approach her calmly and kindly, she will sense your "good vibes" and be reassured.

Be flexible.  If you find yourself needing to milk your cow because her udder is too full, but the clanging bucket makes her nervous, "kick" the bucket! Milk onto the ground if you need to, that's okay.  In this case, getting the milk out is the goal.  If your cow gets upset and puts a foot in the bucket, don't get mad; you've got chicken food!  Next time try milking into a smaller cup or bowl and dump the milk into the bucket, safely placed where it can't be kicked.

Keep the calf near her head where she can see it and see that you aren't hurting it.  A calm calf will make for a calm cow.  (You'll probably want to halter and tie it so it doesn't wander around and knock things over.) Talk to your cow or sing to her.  Let her feel that this is a partnership, that you love doing this, and that she can trust you.

Get a routine and stick to it.  Cows like routine, some more than others, so milking at the same time each day and following a predictable routine will put your cow at ease.  Also, following the same routine each day will ensure that you don't leave out any important steps necessary for good udder care.  If you've read this far you are probably new to milking, so the link above is for the more detailed procedure that I follow, along with plenty of explanations.  At the end of that post you'll find a link to the simplified routine.  You'll develop your own routine to fit your situation and your cow, but this will give you an idea of what works for us.  Having said this, don't hesitate to tweak things that need to be changed.  Just do it gradually and not all at once.

These tips are very general and should help to get you started.  Next time I'll try to cover some specific questions and problems that readers have asked about, as well as some that have come up in my own experience.  You know the old adage:  "Experience may not be the kindest of teachers, but she IS the best!"

Yesterday I Sold My First Grandchild

Seventeen months ago, our first Dexter grandchild was born right outside our back door.

We named her "ZH Siobhan's Macree" because Macree is an Irish term of endearment meaning "my heart."  Siobhan obviously adored her, and we did, too.

She was lively and fun . . .

. . . and oh-so-sweet.  On my birthday that July Macree and I had a bonding session where she melted all over my lap while I caressed her for 20 minutes.  I will always treasure that memory.

Macree's new owner wanted her bred so when she was 15 months old, she met our bull, Mrald Crown Royal. This past weekend I brought Macree up near the barn to be ready for the vet to draw blood for biotracking, a non-invasive pregnancy check.  She missed being with Royal, Siobhan and Wellie, and Sir Loin the steer, but she hung out with them across the fence and even shared their hay.  When they wandered off she would go up and eat hay with Romeo.  She hung around the barn a lot, too, wanting our company.  That's when I got this photo of her scratching what itches.

This photo just cracks me up!  Macree says, "See how Dexter-ous I am?"  Silly girl!

On Thursday the biotracking came back positive--she was pregnant, and she was ready to go to her new home.

Here's Macree coming up to meet her new owner, not quite sure what's going on.

Macree showed what a good girl she is, walking right into the stanchion to eat her bit of grain.  She has been easy to train, having gotten used to being tied next to the stanchion while her mama was milked since she was two months old.  It was an easy step up into the stanchion itself, and even fastening the neck catch didn't faze her.  She lets me touch her udder and teats without so much as twitching a foot.

Finally it was time for one last hug and kiss.

Macree found something yummy on the trailer door.

A sweetheart to the last, she stepped right up into the trailer.  I don't know why I felt like a traitor--probably because I couldn't explain to her what was happening.  She took it perfectly in stride, though, and started eating her bedding.  The trailer disappeared down the road on the way to pick up a new steer buddy before heading to her new home, a very good one where she'll be very well cared for.

A couple hours after the trailer disappear down the road, I got a text:  "Happy cows!  :)"  And that made me a happy grandma!

How We Halter-trained Our Dexter Heifer

This post is done by special request for a reader who asked how we trained our first Dexter calf, Siobhan, to lead.  He remembered reading that her dam was a "touch me not," and he wondered how we went about getting her heifer to be so gentle and easy to work with as a family milk cow.  They have a cow who is similar to our Sara and hope to train her heifer as their milk cow.  As I looked back through my old photos to try to find some tips for him, it occurred to me that I should share them in a blog post.

This post is not a tutorial on the best way to train a Dexter to lead, nor is it exhaustive in its suggestions.  It's merely an account of what we did, including some mistakes we made, but since we can look back and see that it turned out well, it seems worth sharing.

Sara calved on Nov. 4, 2010 in the round pen next to our barn.  Siobhan, as we named the calf, was adorable, but we weren't allowed to touch her!  In fact, the only photos I have of Siobhan as a small calf are across the round pen with my telephoto lens.  Whenever we came around, Sara would move her baby to the opposite side of the pen!

Like many "newbies," we had made a couple of errors.

1)  We had no way to get animals from the barn to the pasture unless they could be led.  Up till the time we got Sara, we always led the horses back and forth, and that worked fine.  It didn't work for Sara!  We had to drive the trailer into the pasture, lure pregnant Sara into the trailer, and drive her up to the round pen.  Luckily, we did that a couple days before she calved.

2)  We had no system set up to be able to separate an over-protective mama from her baby.  So all we could do was watch from the sidelines.  Again, luckily for us, Sara was an easy calver and an experienced mama, Siobhan was a vigorous calf and a good nurser, and they got along fine without any help from us.  Talk about beginners' luck!

Herb was already in the process of building a barnyard when Sara calved.  The next day, Sara and Siobhan are in the round pen (far left), while the fence posts are set, braced and ready for the the wire.  (As a side note, we used no-climb horse fence to be sure the barnyard would be reasonably secure from predators, a safe place for small Dexter calves.)

By Nov. 13, the barnyard was finished, and it joined the round pen with a gate next to the stall on the left front side of the barn.

We were now able to let Sara into the barnyard where she and Siobhan would find shelter for the winter, and her hay could be kept dry.

Nov. 19 was a red letter day!  Sara allowed 2-week old Siobhan to approach me and make friends.  That was an encouragement to us that a "touch me not" cow could produce a friendly calf.  Not only had Siobhan's sire Hillview Red Wing shared his polled genes, but apparently his genes for good temperament as well.

We took advantage of our barn's design to create a pen where we could separate Sara and Siobhan.  If you look at the photo of the barn above, you can see the support posts across the front of it.  Serendipitously, they were 12' apart from side to side, and 10' apart from front to back--the perfect distance to be spanned by corral panels.  Two 10' corral panels end to end created a long pen in one "bay" of the barn, and one 12' panel closed it off at the front.

We began making friends with Siobhan, brushing her with a soft horse brush and getting her used to being handled.  A trick that I recently learned from a "cow whispering" young lady is to observe where mama licks her baby and replicate that with the brush or scratches.  Mama knows her baby's sweet spot!

It was easy to lure the curious, food-loving Siobhan into the pen and close it to keep Sara out.

By Jan. 3, we were giving Siobhan halter training lessons.  We kept a halter on her to make it easy to get hold of her.  Since then, we've discovered the handy mini halters that have a "catch strap" on the small sizes, perfect for getting hold of a skittish calf.  While we were in the barnyard working, we would tie Siobhan up short, leaving her to figure out on her own that fighting the halter makes it pull, while yielding to it relieves pressure.  We never leave a calf unsupervised while it's tied!

After Siobhan had been tied for a while, it was time to practice leading.  We applied gentle pressure to the lead rope and waited for her to take a step forward.  As soon as she did, we immediately released pressure to reward her.  Another bit of pressure, another step, another release.  We limited our work times to about 10 minutes.

Sometimes Siobhan got stubborn, as you can see from this pouty face and braced stance!  We learned that trying to get her to move sideways was often easier than asking her to walk straight towards us.

The carabiner clip on the halter is the solution I came up with because the rings tend to disappear into the folds of flesh under a bovine chin, making it hard to clip the lead on.  It was a good way to clip on quickly, then move the clip to the more secure ring before tying or leading her.

By Jan. 7, Siobhan was beginning to follow on the lead.

Sara, of course, was always worried that we were going to harm her baby.  That's why our pen was vital to being able to work with Siobhan in peace--from mama AND the curious horses!

In February, Siobhan enjoyed a scratch from Kim Newswanger, Sara's former owner.  The difference is remarkable between Sara, who actually knew Kim (and who always responded better to Kim than she did us) and 3-month old Siobhan making friends with a stranger.  Again, this highlights to me that how you handle a calf and the calf's own temperament are just as important--if not more so--than the dam's influence on the calf.

In March, Siobhan met our daughter's new puppy and was extremely friendly.  Sara has never liked dogs and kept her distance.

By Apr. 2, 2011, Herb had finished fencing in a 2-acre pasture behind our house.  The pasture is across a drive from the barnyard, and when both gates are opened, the four gates create a fenced alley between the barnyard and pasture.  This enabled us to turn Sara and Siobhan out to pasture without any fear of Sara getting loose in between barn and pasture.

Although Siobhan got handled less once she was turned out to pasture with Sara, two weeks later I was able to walk up to her in the Lower Pasture, clip a lead rope on and lead her.  (That pasture almost connects to the Home Pasture with all the gates open, another key part of our pasture design plan for animals like Sara.)

On Aug. 9, Siobhan was 9 months old.  She was used to a halter because she'd always worn one.  Even though this one had the chin clip broken, it still stayed on, and we had no problem taking hold of it or handling her on a lead.

Siobhan and Sara both got new halters for Hallowe'en.  Unfortunately, we simply couldn't keep a halter on Sara; despite the horns, she always managed to scrape it off, and eventually we gave up.

Let me add one important caution here:  When haltering a calf, ALWAYS monitor the halter and loosen it as the calf grows!  Halters can and do get too tight and cause actual injury if not loosened as necessary.  A halter is for an animal that is handled regularly!  Even a grown animal can gain weight or add a winter coat that makes a halter become too tight.

Siobhan has always loved to have her chin and throat rubbed and does not mind having her halter handled.  This photo was taken Nov. 9, 2011 when she was a year old.  I'm convinced that early habituation has made us able to turn her loose for weeks at a time, then walk up to her and put on a halter.

A naturally good temperament, regular early training and periodic reinforcement work have combined to turn Siobhan into a family milk cow that is easy to handle and lead anywhere.

We're continuing the tradition with Macree, her 2013 heifer.  Macree just followed me into the stanchion yesterday, with only a little urging from the lead rope, and stood there eating hay until I pushed her out!  She hasn't been in the milking parlor since I weaned her in February, but she has good memories of getting fed in there--and a habit of going where she's being led.

That's one reason I'm a fan of early halter training!

Siobhan's Super Anti-Self-Sucking Harness™ 2.0 and 2.1

Here's a post on the genuine, original Siobhan's Super Anti-Self-Sucking Harness ™ from March of this year.

The harness worked great for Siobhan, but as time went on the surcingle tended to slip around and end up hanging off to one side or even upside down under her belly.  We would regularly go out in the morning and find things hanging every which way.  Occasionally Siobhan would even rub the whole surcingle forward over her head, and we'd find it trailing behind her.  The surcingle was buckled in its tightest holes, so there was no easy solution to the Case of the Straying Surcingle.

Once again, it was horse tack to the rescue.  In early May I was visiting our daughter Katie in Houston, and we happened to drive past a tack store.  Katie helped me look through all the wonderful tack possibilities until we found just the right thing:  a leather crupper, designed to keep a horse's saddle from slipping forwards.  (I'll guarantee you, I was the poor clerk's Weird Client of the Month, buying a crupper for a self-sucking cow!) The crupper is pictured below, the black leather strap that goes around Siobhan's tail.  Not sure it was long enough to reach the surcingle, we also picked up a red trailer tie down with clips at both ends.  It's a good thing we did.    

Here is Siobhan's new, improved Anti-Self-Sucking Harness™ 2.0.



Here's a different angle to show how it all fits together.

My poor girl is so patient with all her "costume changes."  If they ever make a Barbie Cow, Siobhan should be the model!

You can see that the red tie down allows for movement so the harness is not restrictive, yet the clips were smooth and did not dig into Siobhan.

The crupper has a neoprene sleeve around it where it goes under her tail, and it rides high enough that it doesn't get manure on it.  All in all, I was delighted with Version 2.0.

At the same time, I decided to make extra sure that Macree wasn't pushing up her weaning ring and nursing on Siobhan.  I had purchased some antique weaning devices off E-Bay for fun, but I figured the old-timers knew a thing or two, why not learn from them?

So Macree got her own "Medieval torture device."

The chain looped under her halter to be sure it didn't fall off.  Once I was sure it would stay on, I was able to remove the orange weaning ring.  The reason I'm showing this device here is that I think it would make a great substitute for the spiky screws I put in Siobhan's halter.  I ended up removing those screws because she showed no inclination whatsoever to suck on Macree; I had only put them in originally because other cow mamas had warned me that self-sucking cows sometimes end up sucking on other cows or heifers.  Siobhan hasn't done it, but maybe this idea can help someone else whose cow does.

By the time Siobhan had been wearing her harness full-time for five months, the surcingle was showing a lot of wear and tear.  Several rings had pulled off and others were loose.  It was time to replace it.

I was delighted to find the exact same surcingle on State Line Tack for under $30 AND a 20% off coupon.  They even had a pony size available, and after measuring Siobhan and talking to a customer service rep, I decided to go with the pony size.

Here it is next to Romeo's shabby old one.

When I took the old one off, it was clear just how well-worn it was.  Considering that a surcingle is meant for periodic use for probably an hour at the most, I have no complaints with how this one held up to rain, shine and fence-line scratches 24 hours a day for five months!

Here's Siobhan in her new outfit.  It's a much better fit, and if it relaxes with time, there are still more holes I can tighten.

There's plenty of room for Siobhan to move in her
Super Anti-Self-Sucking Harness™ 2.1.

Several times since Siobhan freshened on May 26, we've found her with her old harness completely off or with the PVC pipe and tie down missing.  Each time her udder was as full everywhere as I expected it to be.  I really think that the harness has cured her of self-sucking, but I've kept it on her just to be sure.  I figured that the longer she's "helped" not to self-suck, the more likely she is to really be broken of that terrible habit.

When it's time to breed her, of course, it will have to come off.  It would be terribly dangerous for the bull to be mounting her with the possibility of hooking a leg somewhere in the harness.  (The thought makes me shudder!)  When it's time to dry her off, she'll have to wear the harness again, as the temptation to self-suck will be strong.  For now we just take things as they come, and the harness is a tool to help Siobhan "be all that she can be," a great little family cow.