1.9.22
A chilly 20 degrees out there this morning. Despite the predicted rising in our daytime temperatures, it has not quite been enough to disperse the accumulation of heavy, wet snow that graced our farm this past week. The final depth total was 18” which then started melting and packed down to a much more manageable 10”, slowly diminishing to 8” with the help of rain. The challenge is, along with the warming temperatures, wind and subsequent melting of the snow, comes a good 6” of slush. Slush, as I am sure most all of you know, is not easy to drive through! In fact, that slush takes you where it wants you to go no matter how hard to try to stay on the road despite having four-wheel drive vehicles! Darrell actually had to make the milk run to the end of our driveway in the Kubota tractor the other day to drop off jars, for customers, at the cooler by our gate. But I am not complaining mind, for we desperately need this moisture!
Just before Darrell’s birthday at the end of the year, his son Andy and granddaughter Lilli came to visit us, along with our 21 year old grandson Evan. It was so nice to see them for a few days! Unfortunately, Andy left his dad with a more than just birthday wishes, he left him with a rather nasty cold. Thankfully, it is just a cold and nothing worse, but a cold for Darrell is not something we take lightly as it tends to go right to his lungs and, true to form, this one has done just that! After going for nigh on two years with no such sickness, both of us are now under the weather. Thankfully me rather mildly but Darrell not so.
That is why, as I sit here by the fire, waiting for the first cup of tea of the day to brew, I think how nice it would be to just stay where I am in my easy chair. Feeling a tad bit under the weather, the prospect of heading out to milk is a little less than appealing this morning. However, it is a chore that cannot be put off, no matter how poorly or tired I feel. The prospect of staying in the warm house for an extra hour or so before heading out to feed and water the animals is rather tempting this morning. Yet I have a milk cow out there whose youngster is only 14 days old, and this necessitates that daily milking chores are a must for me until baby is old enough to take over milking out mum’s udder.
Just having two milk cows allows me the flexibility of deciding exactly when they should calve. This is a huge asset as I can space the calving’s out in such a way as to have two girls in milk at a time when I like to make cheese then have at least one cow in milk throughout the year. As a rule, we do not like our girls dropping calves in the coldest part of the year! However, my plans for Heidi to be A.I.’ed to a fine Guernsey bull last year did not come to fruition. Instead of taking to the Guernsey breeding, she ended up being bred naturally by our young bullock, hence the December calf. Disappointed in not getting a full dairy calf, we still are delighted with the little red bull Heidi popped out, even if he is destined eventually for the freezer!
The challenge of having a milk cow calve in late December is not the cold temperatures for baby, that is taken care of by a snug lean-to shelter filled with hay for the calf to snuggle down in, it is the milking chore. I get my cows on a once-a-day milking schedule as quickly as I can. The reason? Purely convenience for me. If I have an ambulance call in the wee hours of the morning that keeps me out past regular milking time, Darrell merely turns mum in with her calf and the calf takes care of the bulging udder for me. I feel a tad under the weather? No problem! Instead of separating mum and calf at night so I have a full udder to milk the following morning, I just let the calf stay with mum. This system has worked for me for nigh on 30 years. But what about mastitis some of you may be asking? Milk fever? Ketosis? Actually, I can say with the system I use to bring my girls to once-a-day milking, I have never had any of these issues – knock on wood! That being said, it takes time and diligence to keep a milk cow’s udder healthy.
Once a cow freshens – has her baby and comes into milk – that udder can hold a lot of milk! A wee calf starts out by drinking just from one teat. Now some folks will immediately start fully milking out all the other three quarters. I do not, as this in a home dairy cow can bring on milk fever. Instead, I go out several times a day and hand milk a small amount of milk – colostrum actually, which I save – from the other three teats the calf is not nursing. This slightly relieves the pressure on mum’s udder and prevents mastitis from occurring. After a few days I start taking a bit more and a bit more, only doing so twice a day, until the end of the first week. By this time, the calf, although not totally draining down a quarter, is starting to nurse on more than one teat, usually the two front ones. Now I bring the cow into the milk house and take almost all the milk out of the two hind quarters and some from the front ones. This promotes the clearing of all the remaining colostrum from the udder and by a fortnight after calving, the milk is good and rich and ready for the table! It also establishes the once-a-day milking routine in the cow. The thing is though, until the calf is a good month old, they cannot keep the udder milked down which means I must milk every morning no matter the temperature outside or how I might wish to stay by a warm fire!
As I look out the window, dawn is just breaking. On the horizon a faint peach coloured strip appears as the dark sky above it lightens slightly to a deep cerulean blue. It is time to put my milker together and head out to take care of Heidi. A sock filled with rice is warming on top of the tea kettle, ready to wrap around the pulsator on the milker so as to keep it warm during the trip down the hill to the milk house. It is cold out there, but I am thankful for the 20 degrees as it could be even colder. Drinking down the last drop of tea from my cup, I get ready to pull on my wellies and don my coat and gloves, plopping my trusty old woolen hat onto my head before grabbing milker and wash bucket.
Now that it is time, I no longer wish to stay by the fire. I know down in the milk cow paddock, Heidi will be patiently standing at the gate, eager to trot into the milk house for her morning grain. As she stands with her head in the stanchion, munching away, I will lean my head against her warm, full udder while the pulsator rhythmically ticks away, watching as the milk flows down the tubes to fill the belly of the milker. Glancing out the open door of the milk house I will watch the sky lighten even more, signaling a new day. Yes, even though I might feel a tad under the weather this morning, even though it is cold out there, a chore awaits… one I am more than happy to do.
