Some days, we have multiple fresh cows. Since we want all the calves to receive colostrum from their own dam, we needed an easy way for the calf feeder to know which milk came from what cow.
We put these locks on the milk bucket, and we can put the cow’s number on the lock. The lock’s opening number is 0000, and since we never have a cow with this number, the lock never opens. In the example in the photo, the heifer that calved is number 0419, so the number on the lock matches that.
The calf feeder is not involved with the milking process, but by using this system they always know exactly what milk to give to what calf.
Jos Tuiner, Texas
