milkin

So on this very long dreary Saturday I decided to post.  The snow is almost gone here, and the rain has been falling. I know some are getting flooding with the snow they have and then the rain. I'm glad I live in wide open spaces on a hill ;) But it is wet here. It's spring after all.

So I have been milking Maggie, and my husband has been milking Dandie. Just to get her used to it. I milked Dandie once while my husband tailed he, a few days after she had her first calf. She knocked me off the stool, into Maggie. I managed to get the pail before she spilled all the milk but landed in Maggie's stanchion. I curled up to keep from getting kicked in the head, thankfully she didn't kick me. She just scooted to the side away from me. I picked myself up and looked at my husband. He just grinned at me and said "If that happens again, hit the gutter." The gutter being where all the pee and crap lands, if you didn't know. I curled my noes up at that, and began milking Dandie again. She didn't knock me off the stool again. I have milked her since then and she's doing better.

Our son has been chomping at the bit to milk his cow. We put it off to get Dandie more used to it, and we needed a new disc for the camera. We needed a picture. So the other day he got to milk his cow, the front quarters all by himself, by hand at that.

Here is my boy milking his cow. The black thing is a cow kicker, to keep her from kicking. She hasn't kicked with it on either.

Here is the milk coming out!! We didn't have any gloves that fit him. The purple boots in the back are me! I'm watching with a great deal of pride.
My boy didn't stop smiling the whole time he milked. He kept at it and didn't complain his hands were sore at all. Now he milks all four quarters by himself sometimes. He's always quite pleased with this new chore. He loves his cow, and now that she is productive it pleases him he's big and strong enough to milk.
Have a great rest of the weekend all!