Post by Lannie on Nov 23, 2023 15:14:49 GMT -5
... but winter is JUST starting, and I'm trying to keep him as my backup milker. It's hard.
He's six months old, AND because I missed that one testicle, he's still technically a bull, and he's finally figured out that he can defy me. And win.
He was so well lead trained right up until the day he wasn't. I must be insane. Any normal person would just wean him now and milk the cow. But if we have weather... and I can't milk... then I'd have to dry Molly off cold turkey. But then again, we should be having a milder winter with El Nino weather (rather than La Nina).
I even got nose tongs so I could pull Joe off Molly, but I can't get them on him while he's nursing, he moves too fast. Then I tried just leaving him in his stall and milking Molly first, just three quarters, then let him out to finish. Yep, very little cream that way, and I couldn't seem to add enough to make non-rubber cheese, so I quit making cheese and have just been drinking the milk, which is delicious. For a while, Molly started letting down *most* of her cream for me, but that only lasted about 4 days and then she came to her senses and started holding up again. So I'm back to getting skim. But Joe was getting too much cream this way, and the stall floor and his behind were a MESS.
So now I'm trying something even crazier: Milking three quarters and when I'm almost done, I'm having Rich let Joe out of his stall to nurse his quarter, and if I'm coordinated enough, I can actually get ALL the milk and ALL the cream from between one and three quarters. I only got the three quarters the first day. The second day I got two. The third day I got none, because he managed to knock all the inflations off and slobber the teats before I could get them back on. I need three hands to do this efficiently. Today I got most of three and all of one. I still come in with at least a gallon of creamy milk (except for yesterday, I got mad and threw my quart of skim out on the ground). A couple days it's been over a gallon and a quart. It's really hard work, though, but that's how much I want my cheese. I have several jars of milk in the fridge now with 25% cream on them.
However, I'm getting close (really close) to just putting Joe across the fence with Horus and moving Stinky back over to keep Molly company. Stinky pushes Molly away from her hay, but if I put a pile in the cow stall and another pile in the manger, Molly will get one or the other. I'm just shaking in my booties that we'll have a blizzard or some godawful subzero temperatures that I won't be able to get my milker to work in, and I can't milk by hand.
Or maybe I should just suck it up and DO it. Joe doesn't NEED that milk. I DO. And I'm getting pretty old, so this kind of aerobics every morning is not really fun for me anymore. I just dread the thought of no more, "I don't feel like milking today, so I'll let Joe do it." I hate the thought of having to milk every day, every day, every stinking day.
Anyway, I share this because at this point, even I think I'm crazy to go to all this trouble, so if anyone ever says anything to any of you about how much "work" you do when you could just buy something at the store, you can say, "Oh, heck, you don't know the half of it. I know someone even crazier than me! She wrestles a little bull every day to get HER gallon of milk!"
You're welcome.
He's six months old, AND because I missed that one testicle, he's still technically a bull, and he's finally figured out that he can defy me. And win.
He was so well lead trained right up until the day he wasn't. I must be insane. Any normal person would just wean him now and milk the cow. But if we have weather... and I can't milk... then I'd have to dry Molly off cold turkey. But then again, we should be having a milder winter with El Nino weather (rather than La Nina).
I even got nose tongs so I could pull Joe off Molly, but I can't get them on him while he's nursing, he moves too fast. Then I tried just leaving him in his stall and milking Molly first, just three quarters, then let him out to finish. Yep, very little cream that way, and I couldn't seem to add enough to make non-rubber cheese, so I quit making cheese and have just been drinking the milk, which is delicious. For a while, Molly started letting down *most* of her cream for me, but that only lasted about 4 days and then she came to her senses and started holding up again. So I'm back to getting skim. But Joe was getting too much cream this way, and the stall floor and his behind were a MESS.
So now I'm trying something even crazier: Milking three quarters and when I'm almost done, I'm having Rich let Joe out of his stall to nurse his quarter, and if I'm coordinated enough, I can actually get ALL the milk and ALL the cream from between one and three quarters. I only got the three quarters the first day. The second day I got two. The third day I got none, because he managed to knock all the inflations off and slobber the teats before I could get them back on. I need three hands to do this efficiently. Today I got most of three and all of one. I still come in with at least a gallon of creamy milk (except for yesterday, I got mad and threw my quart of skim out on the ground). A couple days it's been over a gallon and a quart. It's really hard work, though, but that's how much I want my cheese. I have several jars of milk in the fridge now with 25% cream on them.
However, I'm getting close (really close) to just putting Joe across the fence with Horus and moving Stinky back over to keep Molly company. Stinky pushes Molly away from her hay, but if I put a pile in the cow stall and another pile in the manger, Molly will get one or the other. I'm just shaking in my booties that we'll have a blizzard or some godawful subzero temperatures that I won't be able to get my milker to work in, and I can't milk by hand.
Or maybe I should just suck it up and DO it. Joe doesn't NEED that milk. I DO. And I'm getting pretty old, so this kind of aerobics every morning is not really fun for me anymore. I just dread the thought of no more, "I don't feel like milking today, so I'll let Joe do it." I hate the thought of having to milk every day, every day, every stinking day.
Anyway, I share this because at this point, even I think I'm crazy to go to all this trouble, so if anyone ever says anything to any of you about how much "work" you do when you could just buy something at the store, you can say, "Oh, heck, you don't know the half of it. I know someone even crazier than me! She wrestles a little bull every day to get HER gallon of milk!"
You're welcome.