This week on Friday the 16th our first calf, Brisket, was born! (Brittney named him Brisket as he will one day be dinner, we didn't want to get to attached) We had expected our milk cow, Truly, to have her calf for a few weeks now and didn't think she would wait this long but she did and God blessed us with a healthy bouncing calf.
We have two of our sisters from Texas with us this week. You can imagine their excitement to see a baby calf be born. Aside from the usual "that's gross" or two they really enjoyed being here for it. They are getting to play with little "brisket and having a good time.
Truly did great though the birth and I think she is going to be a very good momma cow. We have run into a slight hiccup with milking her though. In order for her to produce a lot of milk in the future we have to milk her utter all the way out every day from the start even when the calf can't drink it all. If we don't she will adjust her milk production down to what the calf needs and there won't be much excess in the future when we get to drink it. (you can't drink the milk until 7 days after the calf is born in order to get all the colostrum out) Well, Truly was always very gentle when being fed in her head catch before she had the calf but she is not being so placid now, if you catch my drift. We have had quite a few "kicking" episodes but she is starting to calm down. A lot of it has to do with me not being gentle and fast enough as I am a newbie milker. For those of you who have never milked...you will never need to work out your forearms again if you do. Popeye....look out! :)
The hardest thing now is getting her into the stall as she knows she will be locked in the head catch when she gets in. I think part of it has to do with her utter being sore and swollen from just having the calf and we are hoping with a few days of milking she will calm down and realize that we aren't trying to hurt her. So if you think of it....say a prayer that God will give Truly a heavenly Ritalin pill when she's in the head catch. We like our arms in the non-broken position. heh....heh.
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| Little sleeping Brisket. |
Wonderful! I'm so glad everything went smoothly. That calf is so adorable! I've never played with such a little calf... none of the cattle I've been around would let me. ;)
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to taste all the fresh milk and cheese and yogurt and butter that you'll be making, you farmer's wife, you! <3
I can't wait to taste all of that fresh cheese, butter, and all that good stuff too from my farmer's wife! If we can just get old Truly to stand still like a good old heifer we may be able to get some. Hopefully we'll have her trained by the time we can start keeping the milk. oooohhhh.....my mouth waters just thinking about getting that rich, creamy, fresh, white, delicious milk! Thank God for cows.
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