Post by kellyj on Jun 29, 2008 19:04:31 GMT -5
The last three nights/days have been the craziest milking times for me. The first night I had finished washing up Shasta and had attached the machine to her. Then I heard thunder - close. Too close considering the fact that my kids(10,8,3) were in the tub and wives'tales or not I didn't think it the best spot for them. I've never moved from the stool with the machine on but made a mad dash to the house to tell the kids to get out of the tub. I ran back to the barn, thanked the cow gods that Shasta was unfazed by my departure, told Shasta we had five minutes of 'peace and quiet' to go. No sooner had I said go then a flash of lightening and clap of thunder hit simultaneously. It put the power out and deafened me- immediately I prayed to the gods of little children that they were ok. Took a deep breathe begging the cow god to put the power back on so the machine could resume. I counted to a full 60 - no power. "Holy sh*t I have to milk by hand." (I've owned Shasta for ten days and it's been twenty years+ since I've milked a cow by hand.) One of the instructions in KFC for milking properly was to have a calm and quiet spirit - I knew I was doomed.
The power came back on.
The kids were fine.
I filled one wine glass with milk and the other with a nice red wine, took a deep breathe and strained the milk. The full amount was there. Shasta hadn't batted an eye the whole time - not even when that crack of thunder hit. The power went down right when I finished cleaning up and stayed off for hours.
Last night I had to be on board a boat for my in-laws 50th anniversary at six. That meant I had to move milking up 45 minutes. I got 3 quarts less then I should have. I fretted the whole evening that my cow was going to get mastitis.
This morning Shasta was filthy. She had clearly laid in and rolled her udder into every available flap. It took half and hour to clean her and I still wasn't convinced my milk was safe. The chickens were delighted to have their dish overflowing with fresh milk.
At noon today I noticed that one of my goats was stumbling. Like he was totally hammered-kind-of-stumbling. I've owned goats for less than a week, they are here to eat poison ivy and I know nothing about them and to be honest am not overly fond of them. But clearly something had to be done. I dashed to the computer to study my options. Decided that he must have acidosis (sp?). When I got back to him he had tipped over sideways and lay gasping. I forced in baking soda while my ten year old massaged his belly. He burped like crazy and took off. He's fine.
Tonight the flies were after Shasta with a vengeance. She stomped and swished and shivered insanely the entire time I milked her. If I ceased massaging her udder the milk stopped flowing. She was empty-ish in seven minutes vs the normal five. But gave the full amount. Given my new found confidence thanks to saving the goat's life I am hopeful (though not positive that she won't get mastitis.
If you had asked me three days ago what I would do if Shasta got mastitis, bloat, MF or any of the other things I keep reading about I might have known the technical answer but also know I would have been totally panicked - after the last three days - I think that maybe, just maybe I might not freak.
KellyJ
The power came back on.
The kids were fine.
I filled one wine glass with milk and the other with a nice red wine, took a deep breathe and strained the milk. The full amount was there. Shasta hadn't batted an eye the whole time - not even when that crack of thunder hit. The power went down right when I finished cleaning up and stayed off for hours.
Last night I had to be on board a boat for my in-laws 50th anniversary at six. That meant I had to move milking up 45 minutes. I got 3 quarts less then I should have. I fretted the whole evening that my cow was going to get mastitis.
This morning Shasta was filthy. She had clearly laid in and rolled her udder into every available flap. It took half and hour to clean her and I still wasn't convinced my milk was safe. The chickens were delighted to have their dish overflowing with fresh milk.
At noon today I noticed that one of my goats was stumbling. Like he was totally hammered-kind-of-stumbling. I've owned goats for less than a week, they are here to eat poison ivy and I know nothing about them and to be honest am not overly fond of them. But clearly something had to be done. I dashed to the computer to study my options. Decided that he must have acidosis (sp?). When I got back to him he had tipped over sideways and lay gasping. I forced in baking soda while my ten year old massaged his belly. He burped like crazy and took off. He's fine.
Tonight the flies were after Shasta with a vengeance. She stomped and swished and shivered insanely the entire time I milked her. If I ceased massaging her udder the milk stopped flowing. She was empty-ish in seven minutes vs the normal five. But gave the full amount. Given my new found confidence thanks to saving the goat's life I am hopeful (though not positive that she won't get mastitis.
If you had asked me three days ago what I would do if Shasta got mastitis, bloat, MF or any of the other things I keep reading about I might have known the technical answer but also know I would have been totally panicked - after the last three days - I think that maybe, just maybe I might not freak.
KellyJ