A few weeks ago, we got a new cow from a local farmer. We had been buying milk from him and told him that we were looking for a certain breed that he had. He offered us one cow, but we decided on this cow, even though she was a different breed than we were looking for. She is a Brown Swiss and they are supposed to be great family cows. We were looking for a milk Gyr, but our new cow was inseminated with a Gyr, so hopefully a Brown Swiss/Gyr girl will be born in 9 months!
This girl was transported in the back of a truck. When she got to our property, she was facing the front of the truck and they tried to get her out, but the truck bed was slick. She slipped while turning and then just jumped out of the truck. It was crazy to watch, and I wish I had my phone on me to take a video! She was very timid when she arrived and had many adjustments to make. She used to be able to roam with the other cows, but we put a harness on her and tied her out as we have gardens around we don't want the cows to have access to. She also was going to be milked with a machine instead of by hand. And she would be getting used to using a milking stanchion instead of just standing in one area.
It took her a solid week to trust us enough to stick her head into the stanchion. Because of this, she wasn't fully letting us milk her. She was so stressed, we were barely getting anything, so she ended up getting mastitis pretty bad. We have been treating her, but we still have one more treatment and 4 more days before we can get milk for consumption. This crazy girl was named Lily by me, but my son who has been doing the milking decided that since we have a blackberry, her name should be Raw Strawberry. I'm still not sure what she will be called, but the previous farm didn't have a name for her.
She is getting more used to us and mostly willingly goes to get milked now. She likes it when I sit right by her head while being milked. If I'm not there, they say she's a little more difficult, so my new job is cow whisperer. Well, actually I talk to her and sing while they milk her. Ha! I hear it calms them down. Hopefully she and our other cow end up being good milking cows for us soon. Our other cow is set to have a baby in about 20 days, and hopefully it will be a girl. Having 2 milk cows and no milk at the moment sure is a challenge, but we're still able to buy it from the farm. We're looking forward to when we have enough again for our daily needs from our own girlies!
