Milk Update

We had heavy cream on our fresh blueberries this morning.
I have tall cold glasses of milk whenever I want. The puppies get milk on their dry food in the morning.
We enjoy the luxury of having our own 'real' milk everyday.

I posted about how Katie did not get in calf from natural service and how we faced a dilemma with her not being in calf.
We had decided to wean the calves and start a milking schedule again.
Well here is the latest information on milking an open cow who has been lactating since September of 2017.
Her initial production when she arrived in January of 2018 was 5 gallons a day. We calf shared as it was just far too much for us. She fed Ben, Rocky, Bullwinkle, Redneck and Spotify. We pinched as needed and never lack for milk.

She is in good condition and such a sweet cow I am very pleased how things are continuing.

I was milking twice a day after we weaned the last two calves. That was giving us two gallons, sometimes two and a half per day.
Still a lot of milk for just two of us.

I have talked to our Jersey guy.....he suggested we milk her just once a day for a week and see what her production  does.  I asked about mastitis with just once a day milking and he said it was unlikely because of her low production.

So I have enjoyed quality time with Katie, every morning for a month now and I would call it a success. The first week her production dropped to about 3 quarts a day, then  it slowly started to come back.
Now I get one to one and a half gallons a day. Its a near perfect amount for us. She drops below a gallon during standing heat but comes right back.

Her udder is fine, no heat and no signs of mastitis, she stands patiently while I milk and yesterday, she started chewing her cud and tried to lay down. Its a relaxed atmosphere.

So we are going to continue to milk Katie and enjoy every moment. It will be an experiment and allow us to keep her. 

Now I am making tapioca pudding, with Katie milk.

God Bless you and keep you safe.

It’s a first...plus 1

Well we got the sheep on June 23, 2018. Ralph made a great deal on 12 crossbred ewe lambs, from one breeder not far from here and he delivered them. Katahdin and Katadin Cross with Suffolk.

We got our Ram on Feb 23rd, 2019
This fellow was from a top quality flock of White Dorper. About an hour away we had a nice drive and saw a great set of meaty, thick and well uddered ewes. Plus his set of sale Rams was really impressive.
Meet Samson.

He was not cheap, we felt that he was worth the money as we will be able to upgrade our flock with his genetics. Plus the young ewes were turning out better than we had expected from cheap sheep, so to speak!

We got our first lambs late yesterday afternoon. I said it’s a first plus 1 because The ewe had twins! Better yet both girls.

The delivery must have gone really well because I checked her at 4:30 and she was chewing her cud in the shade of the lean to. She was getting close, her due date was the 23rd. Ralph’s birthday. I had been checking her every three hours. All was well when I went back to the house to can potatoes.

Chore time is at 7:30...I took hen treats and other bits down to the barn and I heard a bleat, the funny, low bleat that tells you, you have missed the event.

Sure enough when I went to the back, there was Katadin licking a little white lamb, I called Ralph to tell him we have more sheep then I saw the second little lamb.

They were nearly dry and well licked off. The other sheep were curious but not intrusive and if the weather had continued to be good we would have left them out but it started to rain. Ralph carried the lambs low so our ewe could see them and she followed him to the barn....with one detour to chase the puppies.
Soon we had them set up in a clean pen with hay and water, water in a low pan so if the lambs got in it they could get out.

They nursed and pretty soon were laying down sound asleep. The deep little bleats of the ewe making a warm noise in the barn.

Today the sun was out so we took the little family back out. Sun is wonderful for baby critters. I checked to find them in the shade of the lean-to, napping.

It has gone very well with this first ewe. I know it is not always this easy. Having them born on grass, outside, with a good mother makes things so much better.

Now the adventure continues. We have 11 ewes to go. Patches, Ralph's favorite is next.

Watching these little girls grow will be exciting too.

God bless and we count the gifts he has given us every day.