December Day Five

Today didn't go as planned.

It started with a medical event for the MOML, concerning enough for our son to take him into A&E.

And I milked. Here we have the first cups on; see the milk flowing into the flask —

—and into the receiving can. (And then  through the filter, the cooler and into the vat!)

These girls patiently waiting their turn.

It's a nice time of the year to milk. It's not too hot, and the cows are settled and happy.  They're still producing enough milk to make it all worthwhile!

We can milk 18 cows at a time in our shed. It's a Herringbone Shed, characterised by the milker in the  pit, in the middle, and the cows standing at a slight angle in rows on either side. The milking cups are moved from one side to the other as each row finishes, and a fresh row comes in.

The end of milking, the last row leaves the shed. Now the clean up begins. 

(The wee spray bottles you see in the photo contain teat spray; each udder is sprayed after milking to help prevent infection and to keep the teats nice and soft.)

And after cleaning up, the cows are shut in their paddock.

YD collected the MOML from the hospital. Thankfully he wasn't suffering from what we feared and now all he needs is rest. Ironically he had already booked a few days away for a chance for a sleep in and some R and R. He hasn't had any time away from the farm since the beginning of June and we've just been through our toughest months. I said I would milk as the last thing I wanted was time away this close to Christmas! So this morning all I did was start my 2 days of milking early :-)

YD and Odie stayed until afternoon milking time. Odie, as all the kids do, insisted on feeding the chooks. He came up with a new way of giving them their pellets!!!

Our son-in-law helped me milk tonight. He hasn't really done much milking before (although he turns his hand to anything else on the farm) so this is an ideal opportunity to learn the ropes.

'til next time,

happy stitches,

Raewyn.