The Poultry Keeper

milkmaid · Joined: 19 Apr 2005 Posts: 6895 Location: isle of lewis

i was just given a great pressie from daughter
she has been running the local dairy farm for a couple of weeks and asked the boss if he minded if i could go milking
i've never machine milked before ,i tend to go down once a week when she is home don water proofs and feed calves with her ,and have a cuddle ,been in the parlour
but helped her do the lot yesterday
we took meg out the cow dog ,and walked down to the last field about a 1/3 of a mile and bought the cows home ,they are grazing down by the shore ,loads of birds around ,the dog worked well ,rounding up the cows ,she looked really happy ,she's 11 now and is norths mum ,it was hot bless her ,we got down there and they were all grazing happily ,walked them up the road to the farm ,they went into the yard ,it really is a skilled job each cow has the place it would rather be milked and the side that it's safer or prefers to milk on ,several things amazed me the sound of the milking unit ,sets some of the cows off milking and the milk squirts out ,it seems to only be their own unit that does that ,i washed loads of udders an put on a few units ,the units were heavier than i thought they were ,she let me do the ones that don't kick ,i hand milked a cow something i'd never done and got peed on a lot,we then gave a calf it's first bottle one thing i didn't know as well is dairy cows produce a lot of milk to much for one calf ,after each cow had been milked they walked out into the night feild ,they need to be closer for the 3 am milking ,and settled down to grazing or sunning them selves again ,each cow gets a feed when it's being milked
we walked down and feed the older calves in the field heifers and bullock calves ,with using archi they all look the colour of Thornton's chocolates Cool

,and today i'm off to judge a local poultry show ,so yesterday was a milk day today is chickens Cool

,after i've feed the goats of course Embarassed

Gilly C · Joined: 22 Jun 2006 Posts: 2348 Location: South Cumbria

sounds lovely Very Happy

I used to go to my friends Grandfathers as a child we used to milk only 12 cows but by machine going back to the 60's though bet things are a lot different now and play in the hayloft !

milkmaid · Joined: 19 Apr 2005 Posts: 6895 Location: isle of lewis

not really gillyc parlour is really old ,only 50 cows at the moment which is tiny against todays herds ,and it's a 5/5 heringbone ,and 60 years old Wink

mojo · Posted: Sat Jul 26, 2008 8:41 pm Post subject:

sometimes the sun shines the birds sing and you get the sort of day you deserve.............glad for you suz

debcat · Posted: Sat Jul 26, 2008 9:45 pm Post subject:

Glad you had a good day yesterday Very Happy

how did it go today?

EGirl · Joined: 01 Nov 2007 Posts: 944 Location: Dublin, Ireland

Sounds perfect! Lucky you.

milkmaid · Joined: 19 Apr 2005 Posts: 6895 Location: isle of lewis

good lots of birds,
lots of cows ,music and just an old fashioned show Very Happy

i'm ever so lucky to get the chance to do these sort of things

CP · Posted: Sun Jul 27, 2008 11:12 am Post subject:

Count your blessings! Wink

Sounds lovely, I'm quite jealous. Rolling Eyes

Welsh Duck · Posted: Mon Jul 28, 2008 9:33 am Post subject:

Glad you are having a great time.

I have been in a milking parlour as well, it was a herringbone with eight each side. It is really interesting so I can relate to the joy you have experienced.

All the best
Tony