Post by thystledown on Oct 8, 2015 7:57:11 GMT -5
It was a dark and foggy morning. . .Calling the cows at 5:15, in the dark, wondering if they can hear me or if I will have to get a 4 wheeler and go after them. I wish the English Shepherd puppy at my feet was grown and trained. As a girl I loved sending the dog after the cows and going back about my chores of putting feed out or getting the milking machines ready. Soon the dog would be back with the cows. It is hard to find those kind of dogs anymore. English Shepherds are still bred and increasing in popularity, but they aren't the same as the ones my grandfather and father bred. But culling and doing this kind of work--going to get cows on the own when sent without further direction--was more common then. Hopefully this pup has enough of that kind of blood still in her. I hear the horses thunder down from another pasture. Seriously?! Since when does c'boss c'boss c'boss sound like I'm calling the horses? But finally I hear an answering moo way in the distance. I quit calling. Heiferlump is a first calf heifer--though she is 3 years old. I hear the sound of her coming. Unlike the thunder of horses, the cows sound more like chains rattling as their toe nails click on rocks and each other. They appear out of the fog at the jog. I open the gate to let her through without letting the calf or yearling currently running with her through. Sierra the hereford in another pasture bellows and complains. She thinks she is a dairy cow. She has always insisted that she should come in the barn too. And I often let her. But not now. Heiferlump charges into the barn and down the driveway to her stanchion. She knows she will find sweet feed there. But even last year before she was milking, she would decide it was time to come to the barn and go through a fence and if the barn door was open go right to her tie stall--even without feed to entice her. If I had left something there, she was likely to jump right on it and smash it. That was, after all, HER place. Dairy cows get notions. Milk production is increasing again I notice this morning when I weigh the milk. She is on good afterfeed that should take us into November. After straining, I pour out bottles of milk for friends, wash the machine, and then run the rest through the separator, put the whole milk, the cream, and the skimmed milk for pigs into the milkhouse fridge. No bulk tank here like in my childhood. But here I only milk one cow once a day. Much more pleasant!!!! I have breakfast with my kids before school and turn yesterdays quart of cream into butter while I wash up the separator. Now I am having a cup of tea and telling you all about it. Hope you are having a golden autumn day and enjoying it as much as I am.