Ice cold milk....

Milk is abundant again!  Hooray!  Most of you know that I LOVE milk, and some of you even know that my mom will stock up on extra gallon(s) of milk before Jeff, the kids and I come to visit.  :)  I never expected to own a cow, much less to hand-milk one every morning, but have discovered that I LOVE it (when there is not a power struggle going on between me and the cow!) It's only taken a month of trial and error and lots of frustration to finally get the routine to be an actual working "routine": Bessie trotted right into the stanchion and let her milk flow---3 mornings in a row..... Lucy was quiet and distracted by fresh hay--3 mornings in a row..... Ruby did not break out of the stall 3 nights in a row. Over a gallon of milk, three mornings in a row.  This morning was a gallon and a half, and the calf still did not go hungry.  Looks like it happened like anything else seems to around here:  Something new was added to the routine (Ruby the calf was born).  We were totally ignorant of what was supposed to happen or what would work to continue getting our family's milk supply in addition to letting the calf stay with her mom (having never been through it before).  We tried some things, stumbled through some ideas, researched and brainstormed.....and finally something worked to be less frustrating and more productive.  I think "stumbled through" is the operative phrase, here. Like anything else, I'm also learning that the "routine" that works today may need to be tweaked or changed completely at what seems like less than a second's notice.....Kind of reminds me of when the kids were little, and their nap schedule settled into a predictable routine.  I'd breathe a sigh of relief and a little prayer of thanksgiving for the "routine" that I looked forward to, would get lots of stuff done while they were sleeping because I could PLAN on the amount of time they would be napping, and then have to readjust at a moment's notice when the nap schedule changed yet again! A great thing:  Russ and Jeff anticipated needing to confine the calf, and the stall is working great now.  I tie it shut in addition to the hook and eye closure, and it's worked 3 nights now to keep her confined until morning.  Bessie is full and ready to be milked in the morning, and doesn't even care that her little baby is not the one getting the first milk of the day.  Ruby has wised up and doesn't want to go in the stall at night, but is starting to like the grain mix that I give to Bessie, so I put a little in the stall for her.  Whatever works.... A problem on my part:  I didn't want to break up what I imagined to be the happy family unit of Bessie, Lucy and Ruby to selfishly take milk that the calf may have needed.  Wrong....Bessie makes enough for us AND for Ruby, and Ruby is hungry but not starving to death by morning.  I milk 2 or 3 of Bessie's quarters (one udder, 4 "quarters"), and Ruby quickly deflates the other 1 or 2 quarters after she is set free from the stall. One other thought:  I had to realize that the cows don't need to LIKE me.  I wanted the calf to act like a little puppy, all happy to see me (or the family), didn't want to be forceful with her, didn't want to use the PVC to get her where I wanted her to go, didn't want to "force" her to wear the halter or walk on a lead if it might break her spirit or something.  Silliness!  --Lucy the heifer gets whacked between the eyes or on the shoulder or rump if she is pushing me around.  That kind of roughness on my part evolved out of necessity.  (She has also learned to wait and take a cube of hay nicely from me before barging past me and into the barn).  --Bessie the older cow gets pushed hard to readjust where she is standing in the stanchion or gets chased out of the barn so that I can set up for the milking session in peace and quiet (without a big cow pushing her head into the armful of alfalfa hay or shoving past me to get to the grain).  --Both of the big cows get "persuaded" to move with the PVC pipe, if need be.  --Little Ruby isn't fragile by any means.  She doesn't need to LIKE me.  She just needs to go where I need her to go.  If there's another calf next year, I won't waste a whole month being timid about moving it into the stall at night, or worrying that it's feelings might be hurt if I separate it from it's mother. Back to the milk supply.  An added bonus that I've discovered since shutting Ruby away from mama for the night:  There seems to be a lot more cream now that Ruby isn't freely nursing whenever she wants to.  I take in the gallon+ that Bessie gives me, and somehow it has higher cream content than if I was milking her "hit or miss" between the times when Ruby was nursing. There is yogurt in the Crock Pot, keeping warm until tomorrow morning, and we've had ricotta cheese, we're talking about what kind of other cheeses to try making, and the home-made butter is mouth-watering...... Mmmmm....stop by sometime for a glass of cold, fresh milk!  For the moment, there's plenty to share.