Eric, the AI technician, just left and hopefully, LaFonda is bred! I was worried that we had missed our opportunity because we expected her to go into heat last Saturday, but last night it was obvious. She was not her usual placid self; she was jumping on Lariat and mooing mournfully toward the neighbor's dairy farm.
Eric is a really tall, strong guy, but he was a bit worried about LaFonda's horns. Then she did attempt to kick him, so he asked if we had a gate or fence to hold her still against the stall. Once again, the pink iron bunk-bed frame from the garage sale came in very handy! I braced the fence and Eric was done in about a minute. LaFonda appeared to be in peak heat, so odds are good she will have a calf next spring.
We are now milking LaFonda just once a day, at 7 a.m. It's great that it is the coolest part of the day, because the weather has been steamy lately. Cadence and I have been alternating days milking, but when she leaves for school next week it will be totally up to me. I hope I am up to the task.
I am a very slow milker, even using the Udderly EZ milker, and I pass the time by singing songs to LaFonda. She seems to especially enjoy music from Fiddler on the Roof and folk songs like "I'm Just a Poor Wayfaring Stranger." Our signature milking song is sung to the tune of "Alberta, Let Your Hair Hang Down," with lyrics I re-wrote just for LaFonda and which I will share:
LaFonda, Let Your Milk Come Down
LaFonda, Let your milk flow down.
LaFonda, Let your milk flow down
Be careful of those horns
and I'll give you some corn,
LaFonda, Let your milk flow down
LaFonda, Let your milk flow down
LaFonda, Let your milk flow down
Watch where you swish that tail
Please don't step in the pail
LaFonda, Let your milk flow down
LaFonda, Let your milk flow down
LaFonda, Let your milk flow down
Step on my foot with that hoof
And I'll go through the roof
LaFonda, Let your milk flow down
LaFonda, You're my Dairy Queen
LaFonda, You're my Dairy Queen
Milk, butter cheese, ice cream
You're every milkmaid's dream
LaFonda, You're my Dairy Queen
3 comments:
Thanks for sharing your milking song! LOL! Now we need a video so we can see and hear you!
What a treat to read of! That is just so adorable to have a milking 'signature' song. I wish to have a cow I can sing songs to.
(How about a photo of you singing/milking?)
Thank you for sharing this charming little piece of your farm life. It helps romanticize the farm life I dream of.
~Illoura
Mostly I do find farming lives up to my romantic preconceptions of what it should be like, but sometimes reality is a little less lovely. Like when it is a sticky, humid 95 degree day and milking the radiant cow is like snuggling up to a barbecue grill in that temp and she is all muddy from last night's downpouring rain and it washed off her bug stuff and now flies are biting your ankles and tickling your arms and bothering the cow so she is antsy and stomping her feet and you are periodically switched in the face with her tail and the guinea hens are making a nerve-wracking racket outside the stall door and your stomach is growling because you started chores without eating anything and you haven't even had your coffee or your shower yet.
But usually it is more romantic than that, thank goodness.
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