More Cricket pics

[Deleted]

She's growing like a weed! Today she's 20 days old, but she must be 3 times the size she was when she was born. And strong? I'll tell you what, I'm really wondering whether I'll have her halter trained before she's able to drag me around the corral.

Here she is at 11 days old:





And yesterday afternoon, with a full belly, ready for bed:



Oh, and I finally found a turn-out halter that fits Bandit. It's a draft horse halter (for horses up to 1,600 pounds)! LOL! Hey, it fits her fat head, so who cares?

Here she is wearing it. Not a good picture of the halter because she has her face in the hay, but you know she has to have priorities, and eating is #1. Picture-taking is just not important to her!



~Lannie

[Kathy]

Bandit must have some high protein milk, Cricket is rounding out very nicely. They are both such nice looking bovine-gotta love those eye patches.

How are you doing with the milk/cream? Are you getting enough to star making butter and cheese yet?

[Deleted]

I haven't been, Kathy, but I think that's about to change. Because of a VERY frustrating day yesterday, I believe I've hit upon the solution.

Yesterday evening, when I brought Bandit in to milk, she was fussy. First time. She's been an absolute angel from day one. But yesterday she leaned. She leaned backward. She leaned forward. She leaned over to the left. She leaned over on ME. Oh, and did I mention she knocked the bucket over? Fortunately, I milk and dump into a stockpot, so I didn't lose but maybe a pint or so. It was killing me, trying to follow her leans, my back was screaming, and my patience was wearing thin. Then for no reason that I could fathom, she suddenly decided she wanted OUT of the stanchion, and right d*mn now! Usually she waits until after her pellets and hay are gone to do that, and I know from experience that I have exactly FIVE SECONDS to get her out of the stanchion before she plops poop all over the place (this is apparently how cows express their displeasure, having no English to communicate in a civil manner). So I hustled right up and let her out and she splatted all over outside just in front of the barn door. At least she didn't wallpaper the stanchion... again.

I was at the end of my rope (and hers! LOL!) by then and starting to get mad, so I just said, FINE, go back in your stupid pen then! Rich admonished me for letting her "win," but I was so mad I didn't care. He brought Cricket back to the pen and we turned them in together, then went back to put the barn in order. However, I noticed that Cricket had started nursing and Bandit, although she had no feed in front of her at the moment, was standing stock-still and the lightbulb went off over my head. I decided she was NOT going to win this round! LOL! I ran back for my bucket and got on the other side of her from Cricket and milked the two as-yet-unslobbered teats, and did I get milk! And cream! She stood there while Cricket nursed and I milked and she was empty in about 10 minutes, maybe less.

Previously, I'd been having Cricket start her out in the stanchion, then we'd pull her off and I'd milk, but she still held up her cream and I only got a very thin line, but there's a good inch-plus on last night's 3/4 of a gallon, and that's including the first part that I milked in the barn when she was holding her cream back. It's no wonder Cricket's filling out, considering all the straight CREAM she's been getting! LOL!

So tonight, I'm going to milk her in her pen. I'll just take her hay and pellets out, put her in with Cricket, and then take the other side. I don't care if I only get 2 quarters worth - it'll be at least as much as I was getting when Cricket wasn't nursing her at the same time.

I'll let you know how it works out.

~Lannie

[Deleted]

.... How's it workin so far Lannie?

[Deleted]

It went fairly well, actually. Other than the fact that in eating her hay, Bandit moves a little bit, then a little more, then a little more, and I have to keep scooting my chair to follow her. Last night I had to have Rich move my seat for me because I couldn't take my hands off "my" two teat for even a second! LOL! Cricket is lightning-fast!

I don't think I got as much cream as I'd thought I would. Need to wait till later today until I can see the creamline more clearly. For some reason, it takes a day at least for Bandit's milk to separate completely.

Also, after Cricket cleaned up Bandit's udder, we threw Bandit out for the night. Oh, the bawling! You can imagine. They don't seem to mind being separated during the day, but nighttime is "their" time, I guess. Anyway, I put my hands over my ears so I couldn't hear it. This morning, Bandit came into the barn as usual to be milked, and THIS time I got half a gallon from my two right-side quarters. Added to the 3/4 gallon I got last night, that's more than a gallon in a 24 hour period, and it was easier on my arms because I only had to milk out two quarters. The whole time, Cricket was MAAAAAAAAA-ing out in the pen, loud enough to wake the dead, but Bandit didn't seem to mind. She quietly stood there and ate her hay and pellets and I milked. It was very peaceful and enjoyable, AND she didn't poop or pee, which made it extra nice!

When I was done milking, I took Bandit back to the pen and put Cricket on her and she had her completely emptied out in 15 minutes. I left them together for a total of about an hour, because Bandit was washing Cricket all over and she had the rest of her hay to finish up as well. Then I kicked her back out to the pasture.

~Lannie

[Deleted]

I'm happy for you that it's working!! Can you imagine how much milk you'll get when Cricket is weaned?!?! hehe

How much cream did you fianally end up with? I saw you were making your first batch of cheeze..(that was you, wasn't it?)

That Cricket is so darn cute!!!

Kaza

[Deleted]

Yeah, that was me! LOL!

I have this thing all figured out now. It's perfect. Bandit and Cricket are separated all day, and at evening milking, Bandit comes into the barn for some pellets and hay while I milk out my two quarters as much as I can (she holds the cream up, though). When I've got those about down to nothing, we take her and the rest of her hay out to the pen and let Cricket in with her (the pen is divided into two sections and one is Cricket's "jail"). Cricket runs over to HER two teats (didn't take her long to figure that out), and within about a minute, Bandit lets the rest down, and I milk out another half-gallon or so, LOADED with cream. When it's all mixed together, I have just about a gallon give or take a couple of cups, and so far I'm getting a hair over 2 inches of cream on each gallon, so that's good. I'm still not getting all the cream because by the time the second "flow" is slowing down, I'm about beat from being knocked around by Cricket's bunting. Man, she is a HUGE pain in the boob! (Bandit's boob, that is! LOL!)

After about an hour of them being together (long enough to know Bandit's completely stripped out), I kick Bandit back out for the night and they're separated until after the morning milking, when I do the whole thing again. It's nice because this way, Bandit's nice and calm and I can take my time while she's in the stanchion, and I can do everything myself, and I don't need help. Rich still comes out in the evenings to haul Cricket off if I need a break or something, but it isn't necessary.

Anyway, I'm getting roughly a gallon in the morning, and a gallon in the evening, plus I'm sure Cricket's getting at least that much each time. So I figure Bandit's putting out 4 gallons a day, and all she's getting is pasture, hay, and alfalfa pellets. Everybody told me she wouldn't make any milk unless I grained her, but I knew that wasn't true, so I just didn't listen.

After Cricket gets weaned, I'm going to have to cut back on Bandit's feed I think, because NO WAY can I use 4 gallons of milk a day. Either that or I need to get a couple of pigs!

~Lannie