Kicking Heifers and kick bar???

Farfield

I have parlour trained a fair few heifers over the last month, some are still a bit fidgety and the kick bar stops this, or a battery clamp on tail. But i have 2-3 that the kick bar puts clean mental and send all flyin. If you hold up their tail while being milked they are grand, but this has been going on now several weeks and i cant have 2 people in the parlour all the time to simply hold up tails.
Gettin a bit annoying at this stage - any one got any better ideas? Dont want to start tying legs etc - just want to get them so its a one man job??

snowman707

going on for several weeks, means they are mastering you

we had one bitch of NRX this year something similar , after she hadn't settled in a day or two , we brought her back to to calving pen and bailed her up, nose thongs on and then kick bar, she bucked and jumped and every time she kicked it off it went straight back on until she settled

we have a good restraining gate with sides for handling these for our own safety

she is very tame now, just does a one step two step routine when clusters are coming off

st1979

I find the kick bar is not great used to use a rope found it much better. tied 1 leg to stall work and it soon settled them plus try never to shout at them at all. Not raising voice is probably the hardest part.

whelan1

yup keeping your temper and talk to them, quite hard when you are getting the crap kicked out of ya

Farfield

Funny Snowman, ours is a norwegian red/Friesian cross also - proper prick and small which means she has more room to mess about and flail at you!!!

grumpyfarmer

Farfield wrote: »

I have parlour trained a fair few heifers over the last month, some are still a bit fidgety and the kick bar stops this, or a battery clamp on tail. But i have 2-3 that the kick bar puts clean mental and send all flyin. If you hold up their tail while being milked they are grand, but this has been going on now several weeks and i cant have 2 people in the parlour all the time to simply hold up tails.
Gettin a bit annoying at this stage - any one got any better ideas? Dont want to start tying legs etc - just want to get them so its a one man job??

Having probably trained hundreds of heifers over the years the first thing I'd say is throw away the kick bar, any heifer that will settle with one will settle without one and the ones who don't it'll drive them nuts altogether, and I've found tying not much better. Holding the tail up is great but like you say a 2 man job. It's like the others say, calmness and perststancy is the best way. Only ever failed once, and she was evil... she broke my hand in the finish... which strangely enough ment she didn't go back in calf and got a magical mystery tour to macdonalds...

babybrian

I would be along the same lines of not using a kick-bar(find it drives them a bit more cracked).. had a few right c~?ts over the years too.

maybe try bringing them in at the front and putting a tongs on her and twist her head back towards the pit and tie it to the rump rail so her head is facing you...tie it loosly and if she kicks give it a little tug and hold for a few seconds then release again and do it again if she kicks again, she will soon get the idea. Try get your biggest cow in behind her too to give her a shove forward. should be a one man job although if she is a little short you might want 1 to hold her tail because with her head turned back she will have more room to go forward and you dont want a kick in the head!!!!

had to try this a few years ago and she is still here and is quiet as a mouse.

Viewtodiefor

How about a shotgun! Nearly did it once! Dirty f23ker kicked me in the head 4 stiches later and a visegrip on her tail she eventually got the message but i swore if i had one as bad again she would be gone to macdonalds. But havent had one thnk god

keep going

i find what works best for me is squeeze a few extra in to run and squeeze the life out of them especially if you get a good bossy auld one at the back to push up.try tó stay calm but it has been shown in studies that a few pucks helps;)(well helps you anyway).distract the heifer from her udder by rubbing around her tail bone

red bull

I was thinking of using some norwegian red straws this year, are they noted for being difficult to manage in the parlour ?

whelan1

whatever you do, dont give them extra meal to keep them quiet....

Farfield

Red bull, i bought these ones, but i have heard they can be difficult and our Ai man said so also.

PMU

whelan1 wrote: »

whatever you do, dont give them extra meal to keep them quiet....

why not,it seems to distract them.I find the kick-bar or the tied up leg drives them looney. (had to factory one last year though,too dangerous)

whelan1

as they will keep kicking it off to get more meal, have 2 wagons at the minute that watch to see where you are, if you are not near them they will kick it off, wont take a kick bar and only way to get clusterback on them is to give them more meal:mad: false economics me thinks

lefthooker

I think the kicking bar is a great invention and wouldn't be without it.
I parlour train the heifers when I'm cubicle training them and find its a great help when it comes to milking. There always eager to come in to milk and cos they're mad to get their nuts they're distracted and don't notice/mind the kicking bar on them.
Works for me and usually takes the steam out of them;)

Milk Man

grumpyfarmer wrote: »

Farfield wrote: »

I have parlour trained a fair few heifers over the last month, some are still a bit fidgety and the kick bar stops this, or a battery clamp on tail. But i have 2-3 that the kick bar puts clean mental and send all flyin. If you hold up their tail while being milked they are grand, but this has been going on now several weeks and i cant have 2 people in the parlour all the time to simply hold up tails.
Gettin a bit annoying at this stage - any one got any better ideas? Dont want to start tying legs etc - just want to get them so its a one man job??

Having probably trained hundreds of heifers over the years the first thing I'd say is throw away the kick bar, any heifer that will settle with one will settle without one and the ones who don't it'll drive them nuts altogether, and I've found tying not much better. Holding the tail up is great but like you say a 2 man job. It's like the others say, calmness and perststancy is the best way. Only ever failed once, and she was evil... she broke my hand in the finish... which strangely enough ment she didn't go back in calf and got a magical mystery tour to macdonalds...

Battery Clamp on tail as high up as possible and forget the rest!!!

milkprofit

As baby brian says
bringing them in at the front and putting a tongs on her and twist her head back towards the pit and tie it to the rump rail so her head is facing you... l e. Try get your biggest cow in behind her too to give her a shove forward.
Never Failed

Milk Man

milkprofit wrote: »

As baby brian says
bringing them in at the front and putting a tongs on her and twist her head back towards the pit and tie it to the rump rail so her head is facing you... l e. Try get your biggest cow in behind her too to give her a shove forward.
Never Failed

You must have plenty time and not be milking many to do that.

milkprofit

150

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200
Usualy only need to do it o2-3 times

Milk Man

milkprofit wrote: »

150

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200
Usualy only need to do it o2-3 times

Indeed lol

tilting tim

Saw this advertised in a nz mag, looks a great job, emailed them a few weeks ago but never got a reply.
http://www.kickbuster.co.nz/template.asp?Main=video
What do ye think?

KickBuster

Hi Tilting Tim,

Sorry to hear of your experience with KickBuster, there was some trouble with the site and emails but that's sorted now, would you like me to contact you?

Kind Regards
Sirita Rautenbach

yellow50HX

yipp used to have the same problem eavery spring when we had milking cows. when the heifers would come in you would get a bit of jumping and dancing. as they would usually hang back cos they weretn used to bing milked it would be hard to get them in. most cows have their own routine and go into the same place everytime so we found that the heifers were been pushed out by the older cows if you werent quick enough you would get a load of young cows at the end.

we would leave them untill the last run and then try to squeeze them in with a few big cows and try them without the kicking bar 1st once they were settled in the parlour. the heifers would always be left untill last (diverting the beestings) most of the the time it worked if there was too much jumping then out would come the kick bar, if that didnt work then tie them to the bar.

i only remember 1 real bitch (my dad reckons he had only a few right dodgey one's over the years). she would tense up as soon as she got into the parlour and start kicking as soon as we went near her. the bar would drive her bezerk so had to try her leg to the rail. after a few weeks we would stop and she would be fine for about a day or too then back to the same tricks. he was going to cull her but she was the best milker in the herd, and once we go used to putting on the rope we just lived with it.

trying to keep you temper in check was always a struggle, but it never works shouting as the others then get agitated and it just snow balls.

i found it easier to leave a hurly and sliotar down the end parlour and then go out a lace a few shots at the wall of the shed and take my furstartoin out on the ball!!!