Post by minigi on May 30, 2010 7:22:20 GMT -5
Thankfully DD had her baby Friday without our even being there, just woke up and there he was. Then we had the trouble getting him to nurse and then couldn't get the milking machine going. Finally got something to work last night. Joe milked 2 gallons off her this morning. But we thought we lost the calf. DD was out on the pasture grazing and the calf couldn't be found. We walked all over. Joe thought it must be dead, but I thought DD knew where he was since she was grazing and not looking for him or bellowing. Finally found him all nice and warm lying in a patch of clover pretty much as far from the barn as you can get. Which is funny because she had him in the barn. While we were looking for him, we were saying if he was alive we were going to pull him and bottle him, but he's just so darn cute running around the pasture with mom that I'm having a hard time doing that. If it was a heifer calf I'd be more prone to pulling it just from our experiences with goats. So anyway, my questions are if 2 gallons is a good amount to be getting, Joe says he was handmilking after and still getting milk out so thought there'd be plenty for baby. Her udder is really starting to soften up now, those first two days she was very hard and it was pretty impossible to hand milk. Also, when do you start to drink the milk? That first day it was almost orange, but now it is starting to look a creamier white color. Still can't find my camera to get any pics! Sorry to blab, but I am just so excited about our first cow and also overwhelmed looking at all that milk!!