Milking cows

One of the things I enjoy when coming back to visit the farm is being with farm animals.  My brother has a small herd of Dexter cows and I love the chance to go up to his place when he is milking, makes me feel like a farm girl again.

Here are some photos from the Sunday morning milking session.  Currently being milked are two cows.  One is so tiny my brother has the kneel to milk her.  At the moment the two cows are only providing about 2 litres of milk between them and hopefully the more skittish cow that hasn't yet been tamed enough to be milked will be enticed into the bale soon.

Here are the babies who are separated from their mothers at night.  Aren't they gorgeous.

Here is little cow.

Slightly bigger cow.

 For those of you who have been following my blog for a while may remember this painting I did of my brother milking from a few years ago.  Different cow, same milking shed, same brother.  Unfortunately Teddy the ginger kitty is no longer with us.

  

This is Elmo the bull.  He has been handled from a very young age and is incredibly docile.  You can hug him and as this photo shows even sit on him, he just doesn't mind.

You can just see Bonnie's nose (Kelpie sheep dog) in the lower right of the photo.

Elmo has come into the bale to have a special treat, a few mouthfuls of oats usually reserved for the cows while they are being milked.

I really enjoyed seeing the cows again although my brother wasn't two happy with the other bull called Voodoo.  He had bulldozed his way through steel railings of the fence in the night to get to a cow in season.   Some major repair work has to be done.  All in the day of the life of a farmer.

Anne  xx