The Milking Chronicles: Day 5

I know, I know, I skipped day 4. I didn't feel the need to subject you to day 4, but to quickly hit the highlights, the flies are back (especially in the evening) and that spells trouble when milking!! The fly in the milk disqualifies the whole batch and makes for very happy pigs.

Well since Lot left we allowed Treva to mingle with the other ladies. I should have known that Marian would try to corrupt my sweet girl. This morning she was out in the arena with the others, she had been returning to her corral even though the gates were open, and was not going willingly into the stanchion. To say the least I will not tolerate this kind of behavior and today she is back in her corral on temporary lock down. She has 2 corrals to wander and graze, and now she has time to think about the kind of cow she wishes to be. :)

On the upside, this morning it took dh and I 30 minutes to milk 2 gallons out. Since we only take 2 gallons in the house we milked the rest out into the bucket and the pigs got whatever was left. She is a great producer and I'm glad we are able to get her milked out daily. My hands are getting more used to it but they still hurt terribly. The new pump will be here soon so there is relief coming.

Flies - Part 2

Well, so far I am very impressed with the fly strips. I am amazed that there are so many flies, it's like they are being replaced as we get rid of them. Thankfully they are being replaced at a severely slower rate :) The jar with the water is a phenomenal fly trap, I had to add more water since it had trapped so many flies that you could no longer see any water. Scary!! It's weird though, it was like there was a bee line for entry to the jar, like they didn't realise that it is the jar of no return :) Pics to come soon :)

FLIES!!!!

I hate flies, I don't think I said that loud enough, I HATE FLIES!!!!!!! The worse thing about Kansas in the summer is flies. When we lived at the mobile home it was just as bad, so it's not just the whole farm living thing. Tonight I decided to take them to task and I have put out the fly traps, in the house, barn and the general corral area. I am eager to see how many we can eliminate. The children are very excited about this and have been checking every five minutes the progress of the fly strips. I cannot imagine what it must be like to be a cow or pig and having to just deal with the swarms of flies. The minute we set any kind of feed out for the animals the flies are there, waiting for the crumbs. The pig panels look like they have black polka dots. Fortunately for the pigs the mud helps to keep the flies at bay. The cows aren't so lucky however and have to keep swatting them with their tails, or heads. (that is hard to explain, you'd have to see it) They don't have as much trouble out in the pasture though so that may explain why they rather sit in the shade of the wild sun flowers.