Milk Cow is testing my patience - the kicking must end!

My sweet dairy cow had her heifer calf about 3 weeks ago... and I call her sweet because she really is...other than during milking.


Here's the deal:
• she came from a commercial dairy, where she had two calves previously
• I got her in the summer, she was very shy, not halter trained etc
• now she leads on a halter, loves scratches and is very sweet
• I expected to have to do some training with her for milking as she's only been machine milked before. The first week I saw steady improvement and now it seems like we've gone backwards
• she stomps, kicks (forward at my hand not out at me), and whips her tail around. It doesn't seem to have a specific trigger, I can go fast or slow, try different techniques, discipline her or not and her reactions don't seem linked to anything but I've stopped seeing forward progress
• I would, ideally, like to take the time to just train her to stand politely rather than using a kick bar etc, but I might have to.
• she also always poops at the beginning of milking, steps in it and then sends it flying everywhere with her stomping and kicking.
• I am tired of getting covered in cow poop twice a day and having to give the milk to the pigs because it gets dirty
• the pigs are thrilled, they want nothing to change.


...help please 🐮

Are you feeding her while milking? Sweetfeed or grain works well.

You could try something like this if nothing else is working.

https://www.chewy.com/weaver-livestock-cow-hobble-black-21/dp/1777710?utm_source=google-product&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=22434286072&utm_content=&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=22424245605&gbraid=0AAAAADmQ2V0xq70Yu4t1HNNVVZ6vSFTW9&gclid=Cj0KCQiAkPzLBhD4ARIsAGfah8iAHgsjRCfKHmVZ7oVI1K3lSJxtxnPTmsWr_4HOFkLsURuSsyfAPwgaAutMEALw_wcB

I have seen this used for horses so why not with a cow.

I believe it is called hobbles.

Hobbles is when connected loops tie a horse's front legs loosely together.

Why not use that on the legs that are kicking you.

I would image that soon the calf will not need to be protected by the mother.

ive always used this https://hambydairysupply.com/kow-kant-kick/ or something like it works great and cheap . also do you have a hip lift ? you wil want one incase she goes down

Feeding while milking recommended - also, are your hands warm?  

Another thought from overnight - in our early days of cow keeping, we bought a youngster, who had "jumped the fence" and was pregnant. Not knowing this, it was a surprise when she developed an udder - so by then very close to delivering.  I didn't believe my eyes, so bent over for a tentative feel. . . only to be kicked.  Cattle can feel a fly landing on their skin, so my touch was just a further annoyance - so what I'm trying to say - approach with confidence, patting her side as you go to let her know that you're there.  The first thing that a calf does is butt the udder.

Thank you everyone! I wanted to share a quick update and will try to reply individually when I can...

UPDATE: I tried using a belly rope (kick rope) last night and I'd say she was about 30% better and then this morning she was about 70% better with the kicking/moving. So I'm hoping this can help train her 🤞