...came home yesterday! she's a little jersey, so not too intimidating, and she's clever enough, for a cow. getting her into the pasture was a little bit of a fiasco, thanks to my dad, but in the end it was all fine.
matt and i even managed to milk her without a holding pen, just by tying her head to the fence and bribing her with munchies. yes, i milked a cow last night! by hand! i am very proud of myself about it. she didn't seem to mind at all, and i think she even likes me already (she mooed pleasantly at me this morning when i walked outside!), though she was kind of nervous about matt. i didn't empty her by any stretch of the imagination, i just wanted to ease her obvious engorgement and get her used to me doing it right away... so we ended up with about a 1/2 gallon, half of which she knocked over into the grass. but it was a successful venture overall.
it's really not hard to do, though i definitely learned something about what supplies i need to have on hand before i sit down next to her. namely:
- the bucket of water/soap/bleach with nipple rinser
- another bucket of wash water with a sponge or rag
- a small towel for drying hands and udders
- udder balm
- paper towels
- two gallon-size jars, pre-sterilized
since last night was a trial run, i will be more prepared this time. plus i expect matt to finish the milking stand today so we won't have to worry about her spinning around or knocking the jar over. my brother in law gave us a homemade milking machine which he always used, but honestly the thing seems not to be worth the trouble and fiddling it requires. i know it would drain her more efficiently, but it certainly won't save any time (considering setup and breakdown) and then i'll have a big machine to clean, sterilize, and haul into the house when i'm done every night. eh. and that's assuming i can even carry it...
we haven't yet let the dogs interact with her, though, and i am going to wait for matt to get home this morning before i try. they are going to be shitheads, i know it. i just don't want them to bite her udders or something like that and really hurt her. my hope is that she will charge at them right away to stop any nonsense before it starts--they aren't stupid--but if she runs they'll never leave her alone.
i'll post some pics of her later today.
matt and i even managed to milk her without a holding pen, just by tying her head to the fence and bribing her with munchies. yes, i milked a cow last night! by hand! i am very proud of myself about it. she didn't seem to mind at all, and i think she even likes me already (she mooed pleasantly at me this morning when i walked outside!), though she was kind of nervous about matt. i didn't empty her by any stretch of the imagination, i just wanted to ease her obvious engorgement and get her used to me doing it right away... so we ended up with about a 1/2 gallon, half of which she knocked over into the grass. but it was a successful venture overall.
it's really not hard to do, though i definitely learned something about what supplies i need to have on hand before i sit down next to her. namely:
- the bucket of water/soap/bleach with nipple rinser
- another bucket of wash water with a sponge or rag
- a small towel for drying hands and udders
- udder balm
- paper towels
- two gallon-size jars, pre-sterilized
since last night was a trial run, i will be more prepared this time. plus i expect matt to finish the milking stand today so we won't have to worry about her spinning around or knocking the jar over. my brother in law gave us a homemade milking machine which he always used, but honestly the thing seems not to be worth the trouble and fiddling it requires. i know it would drain her more efficiently, but it certainly won't save any time (considering setup and breakdown) and then i'll have a big machine to clean, sterilize, and haul into the house when i'm done every night. eh. and that's assuming i can even carry it...
we haven't yet let the dogs interact with her, though, and i am going to wait for matt to get home this morning before i try. they are going to be shitheads, i know it. i just don't want them to bite her udders or something like that and really hurt her. my hope is that she will charge at them right away to stop any nonsense before it starts--they aren't stupid--but if she runs they'll never leave her alone.
i'll post some pics of her later today.
0 comments: