And here we have Bessie, the big bony Holstein that I get to use for my very own. She is an old commercial dairy cow that the ranch bought through the sales ring a few years ago to use as a nurse cow for bum calves. She was super sick with a uterine infection, and although she got over it and raised a pack of calves that year, she didn't get bred again. She had been turned out to run with yearling heifers and forgotten about. Then in March, Josh came home one evening and said she'd popped out a calf! So we got her in and started milking her. She was a little wild after her milking hiatus, but she gentled down nicely and has become very sweet. In addition to feeding her own calf and us, she has two bum calves....that's a lot of milk every day!
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| Me, Bess, and bum #2, dubbed Skinny Baby |
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| Bess was not fond of Skinny Baby when he first showed up and kicked the snot out of him when he tried to suck, so he had to be fed with a bottle for awhile. She has decided he's okay now, so we can skip this very cute but inconvenient feeding step. |
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| Doris is our neighbor's 3-legged kelpie/collie pup who is the official supervisor of all barnyard activities. |
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| We pony-sat Peanut-the-bomb-proof-pony for a friend while she was on vacation for 2 weeks, and the girls had tons of fun with her. |
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| Guildy got up almost every morning that Peanut was here and rode her around while I milked the cow. |
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| Silly girl! |
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