Post by Lannie on Aug 13, 2010 13:42:45 GMT -5
I know, I know, I was not too long ago complaining about milking in subzero temps, but now I find I must milk in the evenings as well as in the mornings, and I don't know how I'm going to do it. I need some tips from some of you that live in the Humid South! LOL! Don't laugh at me, we've been having severely hot temperatures these last few weeks, and the humidity has been staggering. I don't know where all this moist hot air is coming from, but I wish it would stop.
So lately, because I just can't function in the heat (I had heat prostration a few times, and now I just can't tolerate humid heat at all), I've been milking only in the mornings. But thanks to a weird combination of events, I find I have two new milk customers, and now I don't have enough milk to supply them, my original customer, and me.
I'm getting 2 gallons each morning, and I drink a gallon a day, so that leaves one gallon a day extra, which was fine for supplying the one customer (she only gets 3 gallons every week), and then I'd make cheese, or a big batch of clabber or something with the excess. But now I have two more people that will be wanting probably 3 to 5 gallons a week, and I won't have it. I have GOT to start milking in the evenings again, much as I don't want to. And still, I don't think I'll be able to make any cheese for a long time...
I have a big box fan up in the rafters of the cow barn that supposedly blows hot air down and out the big sliding door, and there's another smaller fan on the wall behind me as I milk that blows air on me, but when I'm snugged up against a sweaty cow, it's just TOO HOT. Does anyone have any tips for me to stay cool while I milk? My biggest problem (and it is a HUGE problem) is that when I'm hot and sweaty, I get really cranky. This is why I stopped milking in the evenings in the first place. I was losing my temper on Cricket every time she swished at a fly or moved a foot. I have rivulets of sweat running down my face, off the end of my nose, down my back, my hands (and her teats) are all sweaty and clammy so I can't milk efficiently, the flies are biting me, and then she smacks me in the eye with her tail and I lose it. She's very good in the mornings when it's cooler, but SHE gets hot, too, and the flies are horrible, even though I spray her, so she's more fidgety in the hot evenings. But I have to milk then, and I don't want to be cranky (and that's putting it mildly) to her. What can I do to stay a little cooler? I realize I need to work on controlling my temper, and God knows, I TRY, but sometimes it still gets the better of me.
(Rich already said he is NOT installing air conditioning in the barn! LOL!)
~Lannie
So lately, because I just can't function in the heat (I had heat prostration a few times, and now I just can't tolerate humid heat at all), I've been milking only in the mornings. But thanks to a weird combination of events, I find I have two new milk customers, and now I don't have enough milk to supply them, my original customer, and me.
I'm getting 2 gallons each morning, and I drink a gallon a day, so that leaves one gallon a day extra, which was fine for supplying the one customer (she only gets 3 gallons every week), and then I'd make cheese, or a big batch of clabber or something with the excess. But now I have two more people that will be wanting probably 3 to 5 gallons a week, and I won't have it. I have GOT to start milking in the evenings again, much as I don't want to. And still, I don't think I'll be able to make any cheese for a long time...
I have a big box fan up in the rafters of the cow barn that supposedly blows hot air down and out the big sliding door, and there's another smaller fan on the wall behind me as I milk that blows air on me, but when I'm snugged up against a sweaty cow, it's just TOO HOT. Does anyone have any tips for me to stay cool while I milk? My biggest problem (and it is a HUGE problem) is that when I'm hot and sweaty, I get really cranky. This is why I stopped milking in the evenings in the first place. I was losing my temper on Cricket every time she swished at a fly or moved a foot. I have rivulets of sweat running down my face, off the end of my nose, down my back, my hands (and her teats) are all sweaty and clammy so I can't milk efficiently, the flies are biting me, and then she smacks me in the eye with her tail and I lose it. She's very good in the mornings when it's cooler, but SHE gets hot, too, and the flies are horrible, even though I spray her, so she's more fidgety in the hot evenings. But I have to milk then, and I don't want to be cranky (and that's putting it mildly) to her. What can I do to stay a little cooler? I realize I need to work on controlling my temper, and God knows, I TRY, but sometimes it still gets the better of me.
(Rich already said he is NOT installing air conditioning in the barn! LOL!)
~Lannie