How to Milk a Cow! The Equipment Used to Milk a Cow!

How do you milk a cow? What equipment do you use? We will show you! In this video we cover the different milking units that have been used on our family dairy farm. We show and explain the progression of this technology over time. Also we cover the pros and cons of each system. Thank you all for watching! Make sure to like and subscribe!

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Gierok Farms
P.O. Box 706
Eau Claire, WI
54702

[gregjohnston]

Nice trip down memory lane! Surge buckets, 100 ft barn and carry milk to the milk house - strainer on milk cans, concrete water cooling tank. Enjoyed every minute.

[stanhensley]

All my inlaws milked. My father-in-law had 4 brothers that lived with in 4 miles of each other. That was 50 years ago. Now one grandson is the only one left. Not getting rich doing it. 😪. What about robots.Yes, cost is high but they are get better and better. Our nephew works so hard. Can not find anyone to help milk. Things change but young farm kids are not wanting to work so hard for so little payback. Our 2 children ran away for the farm.I didn't blame them. Great history lesson about what goes into milking. Thanks 😊 .

[guernseygoodness]

Your dad definitely has “farmer’s hands”, the sign of a hard working dairyman. We were conventional dairy farmers milking up to 300 cows until 1998. 2011 my wife and I along with our 4 children started dairy farming again but as a raw milk producer bottler. We started with a six stall flat barn with Delaval buckets. 5-6 years ago we put in a pipeline and added 4 more stalls and we bought the same claws you use.

[wildforkids]

Brought back old memories when I learned how to milk back in 1969 with the Surge Bucket Milkers! Thanks for sharing the history.

[ryanbachman]

I remember milking cows for different people some would hang a barn cleaner link on the unit. Some units were heavy so the cows would milk out better. Now the units or tear cups are very light. Things change every day. God bless our farmers. Enjoy your videos

[michaelbailey]

We used the surge milkers when I was a kid. They were a step up from the Universal milkers that would handle two cows with one unit. My job was to hussle milk to the milkhouse and fill cans. Thanks for another fine video. I can't express the satisfaction I feel watching expert farmers managing a small dairy herd today. You folks dispel the lie that you must get big or get out.

[gregschlafer]

Started milking in 1960 with 2 surge buckets and a milk pail. Bulk tank was 148 feet from the last cow. Long walk with 50 pounds of milk. Loved the video!

[raymitch]

When I first started working for a dairy farmer he sent me to a “Introduction to Milking Principles and Procedures “ course which was a week long at the provincial agricultural college. I learned a lot of what you spoke about and each afternoon we did a milking in a different milking system on local farms. That was 25 years ago.

[brucelinebaugh]

A trip down memory lane for me Dad used surge milkers too . The first two you had so did we . I remember breaking fist calf heifers to the old milkers with straps . Pipe line was installed in 1969, we got are third sure milkers in the mid 1970s and did not have to use the straps any more . So nice to see a small dairy farm still in business and still using ear corn . We also used ear corn to feed the dairy cows .Dad quit milking 1984, as a 60 year old now sure do miss that way of life . Thank you so much for your channel so l can relive those times .

[claylueckemeyer]

This was the most educational and interesting video about dairying I've ever seen. None of the others took the time to explain in detail, everything that it takes to successfully run a family dairy farm. Thank you for bringing it all to us. Very well put together!

[terencenelson]

We bought our farm in 1953 (I was 10 years of age) and milked by hand for at least a couple of years before we bought our first Surge. It was revolutionary to us!

[TSB]

In 1982 I married a Calumet County Brillion, WI farm girl that milked Guernsey's with Surge pails, and had a step saver! It was a big day for farmers going from cans to a bulk tank. We've talked with our four kids about how the process started and what age you were to join in. Help wash buckets and inflations in the morning. In the aft you can "set the milkers", then before milking began get the wash water ready. Haul it all out to the barn. Get the straps off the hook and start putting them on the cows; then begin washing cows at age eight-ish. Then you get a heads up to put a milker on. This would depend on if you were tall enough to put the hose on the stallcock. Then, do you have enough muscle to take a full pail off the cow, carry it to the step saver and dump it in without calling for help! Oh that's right...Guernsey cows never fill the pail! My mother-in-law liked their test to be "5". Their milk went to a cheese factory, and you get a better cheese yield from colored breeds. Our kids have been to farm friends at chore time, but they only knew about milking with a pipeline. Hills and the name Gierok brought memories of home...as in Whitehall!!! Tony's Tavern in Pleasantville was a hang out in the olden days! His wife Helen made the BEST pickled eggs! I was raised in town but had lots of farm friends and milked plenty of cows. Thanks for the trip down memory lane!

[jamesmorrison]

Hello I dont remember the type of machines we had. I do remember milking by hand was my first thing lol. Cows that freshened or cows that had mastitis were milked by hand. Think your right we were never really taught just milk the cows sort of. The best for me was the sound so relaxing as the milking machines worked the cows eating there chop. You have great content to me top rated number one on utube. Have a great day.

[kevinschroeder]

Hold up both of your hands. That was my Grandpa's and my Dad's milking system. My grandpa Siekmann had huge hands, like bear paws. You didn't mess with that man.

[davidkimmel]

Thank You for the memories. I miss milking and the cows.

[matthewdavis]

Growing up we had a double hearing bone setup with a pit that eliminated kneeling and bending over. That allowed 5 on each side with ground feed drops for all 10 cows. It made it nice and really let you check cow health from feet and udders too. I miss milking cows and being around them every day. It's a shame that it is so much start up cost to get back into it and make a life of it again. Great video as always

[douglasmacarthur]

at agree 100% with you about lack of knowledge on milking procedure .
I knew a guy who milked using 9 surge buckets. Taking the units off timely was not a concern and washing/scrubbing 9 buckets afterwards was left to his wife.

[bryanginder]

Your dad was right on about them milkers! We still have all them milkers hanging up in the shed also, we used surge and still do, even have the original surge leather straps hanging in the feed room!!

[johnthompson]

Great video!! Grandpa, born 1912 milked 20 cows by hand by the light of a lantern. That is the machine you forgot to tell us about. I think the dual pulsation in the Surge mimics hand milking? He had 80 cows by the 1950s. Great guy, miss him a lot. John T.

[anthonyhengst]

Those buckets that you started your video with is what we still use today. We have 6 of them and I'm kind of proud to say I am the pulsator guru. We can still get straps at Fleet Farm yet and Farm Home center. How much longer I don't know. Fortunately we are very close to Amish communities too. It was neat to see all the other styles of equipment for milking cows.