Pre-calving handling and experience of the milking environment can reduce adverse reactions of heifers when they join the milking herd.
The benefits of training heifers include:
- Decreased stress for heifers and people as they are easier to manage.
- Increased milk production.


Introducing heifers to the milking herd
Heifers need:
- to be well grown (this should already be the case if they are pregnant), to compete successfully with herd mates.
- positive experiences associated with the new environment.
- a consistent sequence of events leading up to entering the dairy for milking.
- about 3-7 introductions to the new environment to familiarise them with it.
Managing heifers after calving
It takes heifers about 2 weeks to establish a quiet, reliable response to milking once they enter the main herd. Heifers that have had a difficult calving take longer to settle into the milking routine than heifers with easy calvings.
Heifers will generally be at the bottom of the social hierarchy and are physically smaller than older cows but you can minimise bullying by ensuring cows have sufficient space on tracks and in the yard. In large herds, separate mobs so heifers are not with dominant cows.
Other tips:
- Treat any painful udder conditions promptly so pain associated with milking is minimised. Ensure that heifers are not over-milked as this will cause sore teats and a fear of milking.
- Rubbing of the udder can be useful to help heifer let-down.
- It is best to mate heifers to sires that will result in small calves.