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Dairy farmers are known for working long days, in all elements and include weekend and holiday hours.
With these long hours not only comes a lot of work, but being in the barn and around your cattle can also mean knowing, understanding and learning your herd and individual cows' behaviors and mannerisms. Sometimes this might be fun, or not so much depending on their personality, but it can also lead to sensing when your cattle are in their normal element or are showing something abnormal.
As a herdsman on a 100-cow dairy, and a dairy cow owner myself, I am always in awe of the different characteristics, and personalities that each cow displays. Some cows might have their certain spot on the parlor, or certain stall in the barn. Other cows might eat from the man pass in the barn versus through the headlock. No matter what it might be, from spending several hours in the barn and amongst the cow's day in and day out, I think that there is at least one thing that I can pick up as being unique on each cow in the herd.
In the case of a cow having a certain spot in the parlor or coming in first versus last, this is often helpful when detecting heats. Often a cow will be more active so it might come into the parlor earlier. She also might be hesitant to let her milk down. In addition, due to an increase in activity, she might go on a different side of the parlor than normal if chasing another cow. To some outside observers, or relief help, this might not mean as much, but from experience and knowing the individual cows, these signs can really be helpful tools.
There are several times in my 12-year tenure of working full-time as a dairy farmer that knowing how a certain cow acts or responds can tell me something about her health and well-being as well. Often if a cow is sluggish getting out of her stall or comes into the parlor in a later set than usual, this often sends me looking for other signs that she might not be feeling well. This might not always be the case, sometimes a cow might just be in an off mood that day, and nothing is wrong, but I would rather check into the case than later be surprised with a sick, or even worse, down cow.
Learning to read cattle and detect sometimes subtle clues that they are not 100% can often lead to catching a health concern before it becomes more severe. Whether it be a sore foot, or something more serious such as mastitis, looking for and recognizing various behaviors in the cattle can often lead to intervention and treatment earlier, often minimizing the condition before it becomes more severe and ultimately getting the cow feeler better sooner which is then more profitable. I highly encourage you to pay a little closer attention to your individual cows, try to pick up on one unique thing about them and try to learn and recognize what may, or may not be normal for them.
Holler is a member of the Trumbull County Farm Bureau board of trustees.