Post by sora on Aug 2, 2006 23:35:50 GMT -5
Well, that was a long two days! I drove down to the lower mainland yesterday with the trailer and my 7-month-old baby. It took about 8 hours. We talked to the seller and saw the cows and the set-up that evening, then spent the night on a futon in the back of the van. A nice all-Jersey family farm in the middle of the sprawl of suburbia. The guy took over the farm when his dad died, his mom, who must be in her 80s, is still helping with every milking, feeding the newborn calves their colostrum bottles, etc.
After morning milking, we loaded up and spent another 8 hours getting home.
She came with the name Joanne, though she was mostly called "number 17" at the dairy. She's 2 years old, in her first lactation, a registered purebred Jersey, due with her next calf in December. She is such a sweet, patient, calm, gentle cow... everything I could have hoped for personality wise. Today she was trailered for the first time, spent 8 hours on the road, new owner, new home, new everything. But she is taking to it all without any complaints. Well, actually, she's obviously pretty lonely right now -- outside the kitchen window mooing for us. :-(
Our first milking did not go very well. I know the trailer ride was stressful for her, and she has never been hand-milked before. We spent an hour and she just would not let down for us... we only got about 2 cups. Then we called our neighbors for help. They came over, told us to lubricate our milking hands with bag balm or vaseline, and with their more experienced hands were able to milk out... about 2 quarts. She'd been giving 40 - 45 lbs a day at the dairy.
I'll try again in the morning. Hopefully she'll have settled into the new place and will let down better for me. I know her production may go down a bit with the move and the change to hand-milking, and I'm okay with that, but I am worried about her. I really don't want to have to deal with mastitis while I'm still figuring out the basics. I feel totally inadequate to the hand-milking task right now... I know it will get easier, but that first milking was just exhausting and the idea of getting up and doing it again at 5:30 is rather overwhelming. Better get to sleep so I can manage it. :-)
After morning milking, we loaded up and spent another 8 hours getting home.
She came with the name Joanne, though she was mostly called "number 17" at the dairy. She's 2 years old, in her first lactation, a registered purebred Jersey, due with her next calf in December. She is such a sweet, patient, calm, gentle cow... everything I could have hoped for personality wise. Today she was trailered for the first time, spent 8 hours on the road, new owner, new home, new everything. But she is taking to it all without any complaints. Well, actually, she's obviously pretty lonely right now -- outside the kitchen window mooing for us. :-(
Our first milking did not go very well. I know the trailer ride was stressful for her, and she has never been hand-milked before. We spent an hour and she just would not let down for us... we only got about 2 cups. Then we called our neighbors for help. They came over, told us to lubricate our milking hands with bag balm or vaseline, and with their more experienced hands were able to milk out... about 2 quarts. She'd been giving 40 - 45 lbs a day at the dairy.
I'll try again in the morning. Hopefully she'll have settled into the new place and will let down better for me. I know her production may go down a bit with the move and the change to hand-milking, and I'm okay with that, but I am worried about her. I really don't want to have to deal with mastitis while I'm still figuring out the basics. I feel totally inadequate to the hand-milking task right now... I know it will get easier, but that first milking was just exhausting and the idea of getting up and doing it again at 5:30 is rather overwhelming. Better get to sleep so I can manage it. :-)