Don't pet the cows!

Growing up in the country you learned about electric fences at a young age. One of our neighbors had a pasture surrounded by an electric fence. The neighbors son would always lean against it with no apparent problem. He would always tell us his dad had it shut off.

In reality he was wearing insulated boots and wasn’t acting as a ground. Like dummy’s we trusted him. When we least expected it he would grab one of us and old on tight. Not being insulated we would get a nasty jolt

Another trick he pulled was when we were moving some pipes lying along a fence line. We had moved several pipes before he repositioned one to touch the hot wire. The next time I grabbed a pipe I got a rude awakening

I don’t know if they’re still in use but the “weed burners” were the worst of the bunch. The current was strong enough that it would burn of the tops off damp weeds when they touched the wire. I think they started their share of grass fires
 
projectnut said:
Growing up in the country you learned about electric fences at a young age. One of our neighbors had a pasture surrounded by an electric fence. The neighbors son would always lean against it with no apparent problem. He would always tell us his dad had it shut off.

In reality he was wearing insulated boots and wasn’t acting as a ground. Like dummy’s we trusted him. When we least expected it he would grab one of us and old on tight. Not being insulated we would get a nasty jolt

Another trick he pulled was when we were moving some pipes lying along a fence line. We had moved several pipes before he repositioned one to touch the hot wire. The next time I grabbed a pipe I got a rude awakening

I don’t know if they’re still in use but the “weed burners” were the worst of the bunch. The current was strong enough that it would burn of the tops off damp weeds when they touched the wire. I think they started their share of grass fires
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That’s exactly what got me.

The fences are pulsed every few seconds and my boots prevented me from making ground.

The cow didn’t have the benefit of having boots on and when I touched him and the fence it completed the circuit.

Dairy cows are fairly docile so I don’t think these fences are all that powerful.

I’ve been in the milk house and had the slobbery things put their head under my arm and licking me.

If you have never been in a modern dairy farm it’s pretty interesting. The old mill house is gone and automated to the point that the cow, not the farmer controls the milking.

When they get too much milk it’s uncomfortable and they head for the milk house chute. Once in the chute they get shuffled into one of the stalls and the stall grabs them by the head and gives them sorghum? molasses? Something sweet as a treat to calm them.

The machine the automatically cleans the udder and attaches a sucker to milk the cow, and when this is all done the cow wanders off back into the field.

Blew my mind the first time he explained it to me.
 
I didn't know that. First and last time I milked a cow was when motorcycling across the US. I asked a farmer if I could camp in his field and he invited me to the house. This was in the 70s. In the morning he woke me and asked me if I had ever milked a cow. He knew I was more city (suburbs) than country. Any way all the others were hooked up, and I got to do one the old way. But I didn't think they were that automated back then. I thought he had to attach all the lines. How does the machine know where each test is? Optical recognition?
 
woodchucker said:
I didn't know that. First and last time I milked a cow was when motorcycling across the US. I asked a farmer if I could camp in his field and he invited me to the house. This was in the 70s. In the morning he woke me and asked me if I had ever milked a cow. He knew I was more city (suburbs) than country. Any way all the others were hooked up, and I got to do one the old way. But I didn't think they were that automated back then. I thought he had to attach all the lines. How does the machine know where each test is? Optical recognition?
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It just pulls a high volume of air and kinda makes a circular motion until it hooks on.

There’s also fire involved to burn off hairs. If a hair breaks the suction that teet does not get drained and can cause problems so the whole thing shuts down.

I’ll see if I can find video later. He said the system was over 1M dollars.

I asked him how he could afford that and he said Land O Lakes owns him for 20yrs after he’s dead.
 
Not the same system Doug has, but similar.

And while it may seem to suck to be owned by a corporation, this is the only way he can keep the family farm and he makes a steady income vs Boom/Bust of selling the milk on the open market. His cousins own a sister fasrm adjacent, but they went to horses decades ago and while profitable for them, they have a lock on that market.


 
RaisedByWolves said:
His cousins own a sister fasrm adjacent, but they went to horses decades ago and while profitable for them, they have a lock on that market.
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I never heard of anybody milking horses for profit. They probably do have that market locked down. Lol

I loved your story by the way. It’s always interesting to hear from the point of view of someone outside the circle, so to speak. A lot of folks like to say there’s nothing to do outside the city. I say those people got no imagination. Ha!

Anyways, thanks for sharing! Great story!
 
We had 4 kids die when I was in primary school from wizing on the live rail of the train line.
There was a huge lecture in assembly a few mornings later but I must admit it didnt stop us playing on the train line
 
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