# New Milk Cow



## Oomingmak (Feb 26, 2015)

Yes it is that time again.............we need a new milk cow. Actually we have needed a new one for a while, but off farm work commitments have prevented us from getting one. You have to be around to milk it every day. I have made some changes and will only be away from home for three weeks in the fall from now on and my wife says she can fly solo for that length of time, so it was a green light with regards to a milk cow.

As luck would have it one of our neighbours, that lives about 5 miles away, has to go to Europe for a few months and called us to see if we knew anyone that could look after his milk cow. He is dropping his milk cow off at our place today and we are going to cow-sit it until late fall. It's a milking shorthorn. Okay, so fresh milk and back to making butter etc. It dawned on us that it would be a good time to get a young cow going as well to keep permanently.....she can come in every day with the visiting cow and have someone there for moral support and to learn and observe from. 

We have also located a very nice brown Swiss first calf heifer that we have committed to buy and just have to find time to make the 400 mile trip to pickup and trailer home. She is nice and quiet, and was bred Angus, so she has a good 'meat' calf at side. It's a bull calf and will become a steer soon after it arrives at our hacienda. 

The next few months will be interesting as we get back into the swing of things with the milking. Fired up the spare fridge in the pantry and washed our milking equipment and milk jars for letting the milk separate in. 

Our old list of neighbours that want raw milk have been called and are excited as well. We don't sell it, we have always just given our excess milk away. The recipients of the free milk always return the favour with whatever they have an excess of during the year that they know we would appreciate getting.

I can taste the home made butter and ice cream already.


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## Danil54 (May 8, 2017)

Congratulations!! Can't beat the taste of real whole milk, not the watered done stuff that they sell with the milk label. . . Fresh butter and cheese is so darn good too! One of my favorites is homemade cream cheese to make cheesecakes with. Yep, that is my major downfall in life. Top with caramel, chocolate, a few pecans. . . Oh wait, we're talking cows here.  I've only had one milk cow that we trained using a milking staunch. Kept her from trying to bolt, but still needed to be quick on your feet cause she could still kick out from the bottom. Betsey has a yearling jersey/Angus calf that we plan on breeding with our Holstein bull. When the time comes to start milking,hoping seeing us milk mom will make it easier for her. Have to wait and see. . .


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## Pessimistic2 (Jan 26, 2017)

Oomingmak said:


> I can taste the home made butter and ice cream already.


Oh, man, why you gotta be way up in " The land of ice, snow, mosquitoes and fresh air.!!" Fresh, homemade ICE CREAM??!! Arrrrrgggghhhh!!! :gaah:


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## tmttactical (Nov 23, 2015)

Pessimistic2 said:


> Oh, man, why you gotta be way up in " The land of ice, snow, mosquitoes and fresh air.!!" Fresh, homemade ICE CREAM??!! Arrrrrgggghhhh!!! :gaah:


Negotiate to get some for our --oops-- I mean your stash.


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## Pessimistic2 (Jan 26, 2017)

tmttactical said:


> Negotiate to get some for our --oops-- I mean your stash.


Uhhhh, about this "truce thing'"- - - - and Bo has a couple buddies, now!


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## tmttactical (Nov 23, 2015)

Pessimistic2 said:


> Uhhhh, about this "truce thing'"- - - - and Bo has a couple buddies, now!


Ah, but the real question is---are they guarding it for you or for me. Think double agent and you may or may not be guarded.


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## Pessimistic2 (Jan 26, 2017)

tmttactical said:


> Ah, but the real question is---are they guarding it for you or for me.


Bo wants flying lessons..he's on my side! Not to sure about the cat. Shot up the TV... :scratch


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## Oomingmak (Feb 26, 2015)

Well we have been babysitting the neighbours cow now for a couple of days and she is a real pleasure to have around. Stuck her in a pasture where we have a couple of young steers we are fattening up for a trip over the rainbow bridge this coming fall and she immediately rounded them up and became the fearless leader. Now they follow her around like they were her "teenagers". It is nice to hear the gentle tinkle of her bell as she grazing in the distance.

She had the wife and I trained the first day as to when she wants to be milked.
In the early evening we heard her bawling at about 8pm and found her standing at the gate waiting for us. The neighbour said she does not need to be tied up and will just stand there, and it sounded to good to be true as she just stood there while my wife sat down beside her, washed her udder and began to milk her into a shiny stainless steel pale. No fidgeting around, no kicking, no lashing of the tail........just stood there with her eyes half closed and the look of a happy bovine. When it comes to milk cows, it just doesn't get any better than that.

The fresh raw milk is absolutely wonderful to have again. Nothing like it.

We saved most of the cream the last couple of days and made some butter yesterday afternoon. My wife baked some bread yesterday and we slathered some of the butter on a couple of slices of fresh warm bread. Oh man, it just doesn't get any better than that!!

Next project will be some making some ice-cream, followed by some sour cream and the boss is going to try making some cottage cheese. When the fall harvest is done and hunting season is over I plan to try making some cheese. It has been a long time, but I have the urge to give it a whirl again, and that is usually when I make a bunch of sausage, so it will tie in with doing that nicely.

The dogs are enjoying the fresh milk, as are the chickens. Everybody is happy.
Only problem we have is that we have too much milk. We are getting about 20-22 quarts a day from her, which is too much to get rid of at this point. A couple neighbours signed on for milk immediately, but I didn't think about the fact that their kids have all graduated and fled the farm for work in the oil fields in Alberta. Holly crap time flies, in the back of my mind I still think of the neighbours as having several midgets around.............

Anyways, I think we have the problem of too much milk around. My wife called a dairy farmer we know that lives about 50 miles from us and he has a couple of cows that should be calving shortly. Undoubtedly one of them will have a bull calf...which he does not keep and will sell as a bottle calf......so we will drive over and pick up a bull calf next week, get it sucking on a bottle and put that excess milk to good use.


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