12.15.24
Sometimes, when one has been so blessed by something in one’s life, when it is time to let that certain something go that has brought you so much pleasure over the years, it is hard. I can honestly say I have been blessed for the past 13 years to have had a phenomenal milk cow in my life, my Lass girl. In less than a month she will turn 16 years old. Her daughter Heidi whom she was carrying when she first came to us, will be turning 12 in February.
Darrell and I have had a milk cow on the farm for close to as long as we have been married. We got our first cow, an irascible Holstein called Mandy while we still lived in Bend, a good 33 years ago. She was a good cow but what I wanted was a Jersey, so all our other cows after Mandy were Jersey girls up until Lass came into our lives.
Most of the milk cows we have had, and there have been quite a few of them, came from dairies. Usually, a commercial dairy will cull a cow out of the herd when she is anywhere from 4 to 6 years old either due to a slackening of milk production, untimeliness in breeding back, chronic mastitis or some other such cause. So sometimes picking a cow out from a dairy cull list can be a gamble, unless you find a dairy operator who is trustworthy. We finally found one over in the Vale area of eastern Oregon. Oh, they still culled some of their cows each year, but they also loved all their girls. Seldom do you find a dairy these days who will bother milking an older girl who has only three working quarters, but these folks did. They had some finely bred registered Jersey’s and were honest about when they were selling this one or that, giving you all the production records and answering any questions you might have.
After receiving and perusing the list of cows that were for sale and marking prospective ones who caught our eye, we made the trip to Vale to look at the girls in person and decide who would come home with us. Almost all the cows on this dairy were purebred Jerseys although they did have a few Brown Swiss Jersey cross girls in the milking string. They were fine looking cows that had caught both Darrell’s and my eye in the past when we had visited the dairy. Asking if any of them were ever for sale had brought a chuckle and a reply of “Never!” from the owners Warren and Lori. However, on this particular day, after we had strolled through the friendly herd of cows, looking for the ones on our prospect list and finally settling on the girl we would buy, Lori asked if we were still interested in one of the Brown Swiss x Jersey girls.
Taking us over to another area of the barn, pushing through the throng of cows who came up to get a scratch or a pat, we caught sight of a slightly larger, dark coloured girl who had no interest in coming over to say hello! Lori proceeded to tell us that this particular cow, after having her first baby and was introduced into the milking string but definitly did not like being a milk parlour cow. She continually created a fuss in the line, which greatly disrupted the other cows and as such, had to go down the road. Looking at the young cow, who did not want us coming too close, we deliberated. She had a price on her that was a lot more than any other milk cow we had ever bought, was definitely not like the rest of the friendly Jersey herd, but she was bred, currently not in milk and would calve in the next couple of months. I was hesitant, thinking more of the cost than anything, but Darrell saw I was taken by that cow, so he sealed the deal, and we loaded the two girls up in the stock trailer and headed home.
Over the next couple of months I worked with Lass, finally earning her trust so that when her baby was born – a lovely heifer calf who is my Heidi girl – I was able to start milking her with no problem at all in our little milk parlour. Over the past 13 years, Lass has been a model cow. Never once has she offered to kick, comes when called, has been superbly healthy and given gallons and gallons of rich, creamy milk from which countless wheels of cheese have been made. Lass has a special place in my heart.
About four years ago, as age started creeping up on her, it began taking longer and longer for Lass to breed back after calving. Finally, two years ago we decided she would be put out to retirement in the pasture with the beef cows, living the rest of her life munching grass and hay and just being a cow. After tragically losing the Blackie cow we had bought to replace Lass in the milking string, we brought Lass out of the beef cow field and put her back in the milk cow paddock as a companion to Heidi. Miraculously, while we had our young bullock in with the girls to breed Heidi after she had dropped her last calf, Lass came solidly into season. Never imagining Lass would actually conceive, she did and gave us a fine bull calf this past July!
Now Lass has always been a good milker. With all our girls, I have transitioned them to a once-a-day milking schedule as soon as possible after they calve. This way, if my pager goes off early in the morning or we have to go somewhere and cannot take care of morning milking, the cow’s calf is there to do the job for us. Lass would routinely fill my milker to the brim, a good five gallons per morning milking with plenty still in her udder for her hungry calf. There have been times when I have milked her for well over 13 months before drying her up in those latter years when it has taken her a good while to breed back. This milking season however I have seen a big change in Lass’s production, her age truly has caught up to her. Instead of a full milker in the morning I am barely getting a tad over a gallon, and I feel blessed to get that!
So, it is time. Time to just let her raise her calf, let her take a well-deserved rest from being a stellar family milk cow. Does it make me a wee bit sad? In a way, yes. Heidi, her daughter who is now approaching the good old age of 12 herself, is due to calve next month. It will be hard to go without fresh milk until then, but we will survive. This time, Lass is, and will remain, in retirement until the day she passes away. She deserves it. As I look back on how this cow has been such an integral part of my daily routine over the years, I realise how much she means to me and how much she has touched my heart. It truly is the end of an era.