One Week With Milking Cows, Our Experience!

Monday again?? Yes it is and I am determined to have a good week. I've mentioned in my last few posts that I haven't really been feeling on my at my best lately. I figured out that that is probably due to just taking on WAYYY too much at once. I've felt like I just want to hide in the closet at times. Thank goodness I find my kids pretty cute or I might be seriously neglecting them right now. How can I resist my 2 year old's funny interpretations of grown up conversations and my 7 year olds "I love you" drawings. Then there's my son's cleverness that never ceases to amaze me. Check him out at Brickfinity! And oh the teenager years, trying to get a word out of our 14 year old is always fun, right moms? lol.
Anyways if you follow my Instagram you may have noticed that we got a cow a few weeks ago. Two actually.

They were very sweet. I've never owned a cow before and I was very excited to learn all about milking and grooming and all that goes along with being a cow owner. But mostly it was about the milk. See my kids looooovvvvveee yogurt, and of course ice cream, cheese, arroz con leche, flan is my husbands favorite. Well you get the picture. And I really wanted to go all natural with our dairy (I do realize that making cheese, ice cream, condensed milk is pretty ambitious for a first timer but that's me), so I requested that my husband include cows in his continuous collection of farm animals (we're at well over 40 at this point). I knew it wasn't going to be easy but I'm the type that when I want something I jump in and hope for the best (after agonizing over the decision for weeks or years that is lol, what can I say I'm a Libra). So he found two free cows. They weren't young but we figured they weren't too old either from what we read about their life span. A very cute chic from the north end brought them over. I even accused my husband of looking on craigslist for hot ladies with free cows lol. She's married sorry! Anyways, she gave me a quick milking lesson. I picked it up pretty quickly if I do say so myself! You kinda have to massage it from the top of the teet. If you've breastfed before I'm guessing you'd pick it up quickly as well. But after only a day my husband started having doubts. He had  wanted miniature cows and to us with no experience they seemed pretty big to be "miniature". Now that we've seen a full size cow up close, they were definitely miniature though. Regardless, they were bigger than expected.
Cow size chart. We are guessing our cows were mid size or mini size, we didn't really measure them. We think micro cows will be a better fit for us as we only have a little under 2.5 acres.

 Secondly, one of the cows had some nerve damage or something on her back legs which made it awkward for her to walk and my husband just wasn't comfortable with that, he was afraid she didn't have much time left, though it didn't bother me much. She also was pretty difficult to milk with a strangely shaped udder compared to the other cow. Lastly, the milk that came out of them was a clearish, yellowish color. I didn't know much about milking a cow but I certainly didn't want to drink whatever kind of milk was coming out of them. I figured that maybe that's just how it looked when it was fresh from a cow and it would turn white after a few minutes or something, but I just dumped it on the ground before finding out. I know to some of you farmers out there I sound pretty clueless and I am. Hey I never imagined I'd be living on a farm ok! Well after a few days my in-laws came over and decided to milk them for us. They said they used to have cows back in Mexico. But when they saw the milk, they immediately told us something was wrong. They didn't know what exactly but they said the milk was bad. Maybe the cows were too old they said. Ok so it wasn't my imagination. They said the milk should be white. Well they haven't been in Mexico for quite awhile so I decided to YouTube it just to be sure and low and behold, every video I watch showed cows with white milk coming out. (Watch a video on how to milk a cow here. Notice the color of the milk). I researched a bit and thought they might have mastitis but wasn't too sure. At that point my husband said he didn't want the cows anymore. For me I had already gotten a bit attached to them. So it was difficult for me to say ok send them back. But the woman who had given them to us had told us that she wanted to make sure the cows were well taken care of and that if it didn't work out or they weren't a good fit to call her and she would come get them. So we did. She was very nice about the whole thing and she said they were healthy but it was fine, she had a few places lined up for them. When she came to get them they were intent on staying and it took quite a bit of effort (mostly on her part lol) to get them in the trailer. I almost told her to just forget it and leave them here. But the truth is I'm just not experienced, and my opinion is that cows with any type of health conditions (even if it's something small) should go to someone with more knowledge. I think starting out with a young healthy cow is best, especially if you have a lot to learn.
So we had one week with miniature milking cows. The experience was good for us and the kids. They mostly just grazed all day on our grass and let us and the kids pet them. When I got them to stay still I milked them in the mornings. And they seemed to get very attached to our horses and followed them around. The horses were definitely the bosses. It was very cute. When I wanted to put them back in the pen I just pushed them from behind in the direction I wanted them to go. If you ever get a cow remember to get some fly solution because the flies literally coated their faces, oh and use a towel to apply it because they freaked out when I tried to spray them with a spray bottle lol. Also be prepared to get slapped in the face with a tail sometimes when milking. Lastly, with all of the animals I take care of now, I have gained quite a respect for them and their lives. Animals have emotions, they have needs, and personalities. When I see how the U.S food industry is treating them it truly breaks my heart. I am not advocating for anyone to be a vegetarian or vegan or anything like that. But even as we eat animals or don't, we should have respect for their lives. Nothing makes me happier than every morning when I let my horses out of their pen and watch them race around our property, free and happy. Watching our kune kune pigs sun bathe, or the goats bleating at each other, and the hens and roosters digging for worms in the grass, gives me a sense that all is right in the world.
If you notice my 7 year old is in most of the pictures with the animals, it's because like her dad she is a serious animal lover, more so than the other kids.

I'll be honest, I've never been an animal lover in the sense of wanting to care for animals, I HATE poop, and I don't like the extra responsibilities that come with a owning a farm. But since moving here I have gained a new understanding of mother nature, it's something my kids will grow up with, and that's not something you can put a price on. My hope is that the U.S food industry will go back to a more traditional way of doing things, and not these cattle factories where animals are abused, but where they are respected, taken care of, and loved as they should be. After all, we are what we eat. If you've ever thought of owning a farm, or even just some chickens, my advice is- DO IT! Be part of the solution, support organic, free range, and humane farms! Our children will thank us some day.
The back of our chicken coop, they also have a whole shed inside with a little door to go in and out as they please. My husband put the fence up after 3 of his roosters got killed.

Ever thought about starting a farm or wondering what it's like? Ask me anything and I'll answer as best I can! 

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