That's the 'old' stuff. Now it's all about robotic milkers. We are positively last century with our tie stalls and hang 'em high milkers (the ones with the hooks that Anna was complaining about - yep, entanglement!).

Hi Mary, I'm still here, just quiet. I've left the moderator's job for good. Just too much in my life right now. There was a horse pull/benefit for Melissa and the kids today. I love farming communities. It was sponsored by the Amish church and the Stateline Draft Horse Association (I may not have that quite right), food, a Chinese auction (why 'Chinese' I don't know) and a horse pull. 300 chickens went out the door nicely barbequed and there were hamburgers and fries, ice cream, pies, baked goods and Amish iced coffee - lots of milk and chocolate or caramel with whipped cream. I'm not a coffee drinker, but I've been told their coffee is near lethal.

Click on the bottom photo, those are the mini horses, talk about spirit!

Oh, no moderator. Sorry to see you bow out Kathleen. I guess life can get overwhelming. I can barely keep up with my garden. I don't know how anyone can keep up with a farm.

How nice to hold a benefit that looks like such fun! Did those minis actually pull that sled?

I think I can, I think I can!

Looks like a very heavy load.

Very nice for them to hold a benefit for Melissa and the kids! Sounds like a good time was had and good food to share.

Anna, thanks for describing the milking for us. Easier to picture what you are doing now.

Yep, those guys pulled that sled. I think the final weight was in the area of 1600 pounds. The big guys went up to nearly 4 ton before they were finished. There was also a steer there that weighed 3040 pounds and was 8 years old. He was either Ayrshire or Red and White Holstein. He was just darned awkward. They had him pulling but I missed it - eating!

Thanks Anna. I thought that would help us. I haven't been in a dairy barn in years, there are none around here. A friend of ours built a new barn, using money from some government program they had going in the 1970's, put in a double 6 herringbone system, got into financial problems and lost the whole thing. Uncle Sam doesn't know a whole lot about milking cows, dictating this and that about running the place, the bottom dropped out of milk prices, and the rest is history. He's had a tough go of it ever since.

Kathleen, it's nice to see you. The Amish know how to hold an event, and it was nice of them to do that for Melissa and her family. How are they doing? Will they be staying in your area? And how is Stan? Is he back to milking because of lack of anyone else to do it?

Arlene, that isn't how I do it............that is what I WON'T do........parlors.

Sorry, I meant for your description here:

Typical is either stanchion, tie stall, or a combination of the 2..........some of each. Milking systems...........several kinds, and I have yet to find one with the units we used to have. I don't know why some manufacturers have made things so heavy, hard to handle, and just plain stupid things on them............hooks to put over the pipeline that when you go to leave the stall with the unit the stupid hook gets caught on your clothes, or the cow's armpit........just dumb.

Most have 50-70 cows. I won't "do" parlors..........if they have enough cows to justify a parlor, they better have the help to make it work. I don't need/want the grief of dealing with a parlor. [/quote]

Looking at the before and after pictures of the parlor makeovers, I decided my uncle's dairy would have been the "before" of the before picture.

LOL on that comment.

Mary, yes, Stan is milking. He has two lovely young women who help with the milking evenings and some mornings, Kelly our hired girl and Jessie, our granddaughter. Both want to go into agriculture, but not dairying. He feels almost too good and will go until he HAS to stop.

Melissa and the kids are doing probably better than expected, but there are a lot of blue days and I'm watching them all. Erin, who is 7, has probably come through the best. Jake, 9, is quite tenderhearted and doesn't talk about Adam because he doesn't want to make his mom sad. They will be seeing the counselor at school.


I started the new post here: The thread "September, harvest home" in Farming forum