Starting to Get the Hang of It

I am happy to say that we are finally getting better at milking. I no longer feel panicked as 4 pm approaches every day and I wonder how, how I am going to get the milk out of the cow's udder and into our milking pail.

First, I called Taci, who we bought the cow from, and said, "I don't think this cow LIKES me. What shall I do??" And Taci gave me some pointers about making milking time a special treat time of the day for the cow. She also told me that the cow loved to be brushed and to spend some extra time brushing her.

The next thing we did was to assign just one person to help me with milking. Prairie Spy was willing and ready to help. So now it is peaceful and quiet back at the barn with just the two of us. Prairie Spy really does all the work. He gives her the grain with kelp and salt mixed into it. He ties her up when she's done with her grain. He brushes her down. He ties her tail on the off side of her with baling twine up to her halter so she doesn't swish us with her tail. He washes her udder. He milks. I take over when his hands get tired and then he finishes up. Then Prairie Spy lets her out to graze and I take the milk up to the house, strain it, put it in a sink full of cold water and ice cubes, and then transfer it to the fridge.

And the milk! The milk is wonderful!