Milking Update

I don't know what I think about having a milk cow. On the one hand I absolutely LOVE her milk. It is creamy, light and delicious. I also love it that I always have good milk whenever I want. I don't have to go to the grocery store for disgusting cooked plastic stuff. I have lovely cream for whipping and I made blueberry ice cream the other night that was divine.

But, everything has its price, right?

Cindy is not easy to milk. I had fairly high confidence in the milking department because we've milked goats for years and years, but this is a whole different animal. Her handles are very small (tiny) and it is taking us about 45 minutes to milk.

At first she was very patient with our incompetence but I think each day gets a bit worse. Instead of us getting better, she's just getting less patient and she's starting to kick and toss her head.

So here are a few pictures of my two non-enthusiastic milkers. I have read that milking time should be peaceful and quiet with no distractions, and this may be part of our problem. We have goats banging against the gate and butting heads. The dog, Jack, is tied up so he won't disturb Cindy and so he usually barks and wants to join the action. We have someone on Kitten alert to grab the various barn cats that want to come try the milk. And then as milk is dribbling down Braeburn's fingers instead of swishing into the pail poor Cindy has to listen to, "I hate this. I hate this so much. Why, Why did we have to get this stupid beast? Oh, I hate smelling like a cow. I'm going to have to take a shower before I go mow lawns... The sound of this milk in the pail is all wrong. It should be gush gush foam foam, and instead it's a little sssshhhhh dribble sound."

Then Golden Delicious takes over and we hear, "I've got so much homework, so much homework. I don't have time to milk the cow. I'll milk my goats but this cow is just too much..."

The days the Spy Twins milk there is less complaining about the cow and more bossing each other around and way too much "expert" advice given freely to the other twin. I will forbear on details, but you get the idea.

So then Mr. Bechtel takes over and I take a turn and then we're finally done and then I wonder why I wake up in the night worried about cows and what to do when Mr. Bechtel goes out of town. And I know now why they say it takes a special family to have a milk cow, and today I'm feeling very average.