The Milking Chronicles: Day 2

We begin this entry at last nights milking. Feeling that Treva was a bit lonesome, I asked dh to put Lot in with her as he seemed so eager to meet her, lol. Well that was probably the understatement of the year because he immediately began to love on her by grooming her as soon as he got in. This would continue for the rest of the evening. It was time to bring her to milk and we wanted to run him over to the arena with the others so that Treva could get in and out quickly. We were obviously kidding ourselves at that point, that little horn dog would not leave her side for even a second. The former cube whore as he used to be known was now smitten by this beautiful Jersey and was not about to let her go anywhere without him. :(

Deciding not to fight this particular battle dh proceeded to get Treva in the stanchion while Lot bullied his way through the barn door in an effort to be next to her. I could swear here were several times he tried to kiss her but she was not having it. Finally I got AR's bat and stood guard behind her to keep him in line on the side. He was trying to get in the stanchion with her, lol. All the commotion made for a very interesting milking. When we were done we began hosing out the stanchion and I gave him a quick squirt, turns out a cold shower has the same effect on Bulls as it does men, lol :) Thanks to that little discovery, we were able to get the two separated and he was free to roam with the others. I think she needed a break anyway, ;) After all that excitement we gave the pigs that nights milk and they really enjoyed it.

Skip to this morning when my alarm went off at 4, I did not set it, I told dh the time to which he asked if I'd rather get up at 5. I assumed that was rhetorical and went back to sleep. :) At 5 we started scrambling to get ready to tackle the morning milking. We had a plan, since all 4 quarters have to be milked out I'd take the right 2 and he the left. It was a little hectic as we really hadn't done much prep but it worked out. With the two of us milking the work seemed to go much faster and it did from start to finish it took 1.5 hours compared to yesterday's 3 hours. About 20 minutes before it was done I went in to get ready for work. We had reached our 2 gallon mark and passed it. We had to scramble to find another jug. Thankfully we had one and I rinsed it and the pigs got a gallon of milk this morning. We didn't realise that she would give so much, her average per day is about 4 gallon, so we were a bit stunned when we realised how much she still had left in her.

If you've ever used a breast pump (sorry guys) you'd understand the need to get it all out. While my hands hurt terribly, I knew that we had to milk her out. I would stop to stretch my hands as needed but switching hands tended to really help. I am hoping they will hold out just long enough to get the milking machine up and running. (side note: Vacuum pump was way too small, ordering something else, will update as soon as I have more info.) Well I need to start stretching, tonight's milking is just a few hours away :) Oh, and we will be making butter tonight, pics to come later. :)