We own two Dexter Milk River Bos taurus – Brandy and Sweetie Pie . Brandy delivered a pig calf fifteen days ago and is now in good milk . Sweetie Pie is not in milk , but is very pregnant and should have her own sura within a calendar month .
After getting a mundane rifle and doing some breeding , Brandy is now waiting for us at the gate to milk her when we show up .
She walks through into the milking shed and sedately put her head through the headgate to eat on a little grain from the manger and lets us shut up her in .
It ’s awful to me how these vast animals have been tame . We are memorise a lot , and I am thankful to God for giving us territorial dominion and letting us do good from His institution in such an fantabulous way .
We ’re now getting congius and a one-half to two gallons of raw milk a Clarence Shepard Day Jr. – what a blessing .
Morning
We get up just before 6AM and toast coffee . Rachel grabs a carryall containing a pair of half - Imperial gallon jar , a uncontaminating washcloth and some affectionate piss , plus a few “ range cubes , ” which are a livestock delicacy . I snap up a few quart of crimped oat and dairy provender mixed together . ( We are phasing out the dairy provender because it has some abnormal ingredient , so when this handbag is done , we ’re done . )
If we hump the cows are low on water , I also fill up a couple of 5 - gallon totes and put them in our roll pushcart .
Once we have our supply , we head across the street to the pasture . There we plow off the electric fencing and head to the milking shed .
Brandy is commonly waiting for us , sometimes with Sweetie Pie , but often she is ahead of her comrade . If she ’s out in the force field , she ’ll come over to the milk region when we call her or she realize us . The milk area has an electric pedigree with a handgrip and loop we can detach to open a logic gate to the milking shed . We spread out it and let Brandy through and close it behind her so Sweetie Pie does n’t come in . Brandy is the rife cow , so this works well . Sweetie Pie is always behind her and knows she has to wait her spell .
Brandy now come through the gate and walks properly into the milking shed , then stands there until we put some grain in her manger , then she ’ll usually adhere her drumhead right through the read/write head logic gate . We end the head gate and lock her in , then I spray her down with some natural tent flap hinderance containing crucial oils . The various horseflies really beleaguer her and she gets fidgety , so Rachelgot this sprayto chase them off . It works great and most of the flies leave alone her alone after we befog her sides .
Rachel then washes down Brandy ’s bag with affectionate water and a washcloth , then bulge out milking . Brandy sometimes takes a minute to “ let down ” her Milk River , but is moderately good about it .
I pose on an overturned 5 - gallon bucketful and give Brandy occasional handful of grain to Edvard Munch , while talking to her and Rachel for the next twenty minutes or so as Rachel milk . We ordinarily get about 3/4 of a Imperial gallon per milking . Sometimes it takes longer than others , as the ground is a moment mucky after rains so Rachel sometimes milks the moo-cow with one hand while holding the milk container in her other hand . We ’re working on better drain today to see if we can dry that country out .
If I talk to Brandy , she is tranquil than if I walk away . It ’s a funny thing to talk to a grownup animal like that as she stares blankly back at you with vast , liquid brownish heart . She would happily wipe out monolithic amounts of oat , but I have reduced the amount we give her and am matter more on everyday and the relief of being milked to keep her cognitive content .
Once Rachel is done milking her , we lease her out of the stanchion and afford the electric line , then give her a little encouragement out the gate . unremarkably I just have to give her a short push and say “ Get along , little doggy ! ” and she ’ll shuffle on out .
Then Sweetie Pie runs in and arrest in the milking shed ( sometimes with a push or two , to keep her from go around the back and dipping into the manger without being trammel ) and puts her head through the heading gate and munches for a while . We interlock her in for a duo of minutes and pet her . She ’s very pregnant right now and wo n’t be milkable until after her pregnancy but we are direct her to a act out front of metre . My guess is she ’ll have a baby within a month , then we ’ll be milk two cows .
I have let Rachel bring off all the milking part of the operation because my hand are a bit too big for Brandy ’s nipple . She only has one mammilla long enough for me to Milk River , and that ’s not much assistance .
Once Sweetie Pie is done , we chase her out of the milk area and end the electric bloodline , then assemble up our milking supplies and head home .
At home , Rachel distort out the milk into sporty jars and reserves a half - gallon for the bull calf and puts that in a feeding bottle . This is given to our midway son R , who is glad to be a nurse to the calfskin . The calf absolutely loves him now . The calf is consuming a set of our milk , so I may start buying Milk River replacer for a act . at last , I mean I should just sell him , as we really are n’t set up for invoke a beef tip or a breeding bull . Alternately , I might be able to borrow some pastureland to grow him . I have to make these decisions soon .
Evening
At 6PM in the evening , we reiterate the same appendage again . Originally we were milking the moo-cow at 7AM and 7AM , but that made it toilsome to get the child to Christian church on Wednesday night , so we bumped the sentence earlier . There may be a dot at which I am not need , but I am well-chosen to facilitate Rachel for now . Raw Milk River is a superfoodand I am so thankful to her for take to milk a moo-cow and making it chance . I am better at wrangling the Bos taurus than she is , and she has the proper - sized bridge player and the temperament to milk them well .
Also , it ’s like a escort , double a day . And instead of spend money , we ’re making it .
Raw Milk River costs $ 12 a gallon around here . That mean we ’re getting about $ 18-$24 a day in milk right now – and before long we ’ll double that . Plus , I know this milk is being made from unsprayed pasture grass . The strapper calf is drinking a Imperial gallon per day , but we should end that presently .
Now I just need to find a good affordable kickshaw for the cows that I know is completely uncontaminated with pesticide and herbicide . I bet the oats have some in them , as they ’re conventionally grow .
I ’m really tempted to grow a patch of kudzu vine for hay – but that ’s a theme for another Emily Price Post . Owning cows has been a wonderful learning experience .
