~Milking~

   I've been begging Dad to let us milk the cows and finally he started to build the milking shed! Its a very smart milking shed as well..... Its got tree sides and very fancy feeding trof  Dad built himself... there's a short race and a water trof and well lets not get into too much detail... Any way now that that's finished all we needed to do was get the right cows and train them. That was easy enough Dad and Grandpa went to our herd and picked two. The one was Savannah, the foster mom to Kriegoff, she and her baby came to grandma's house where the milking pen is with the other cow Dolly {I named her} and her calf  Elle. Now the training began! It was a long and tiring process but after a few weeks of training we are getting about two and a half leters of milk a day.We milk them in the after noon at about 3 to 4. Dolly is the better dairy cow of the two but they both good. Now I can drink all most all the milk I want!!! I love milk!!! {hee hee}


Milking tips:

1} Don't let the calf get to the cow first.
2} Don't let the cow kick the bucket over.
3} Be careful of the back legs.
4} Move slowly.
5} Don't leave a jacket or something draped over the fence. {Believe me I know!}
6} Use milking balm.
7}Don't put all the milk in one bucket. Milk a little then pour it into another bucket you keep far away from the cow.
8}Get help. Don't do it on your own.
9}Get into a rhythm.
10} Don't play with the calf!

HeYyO.......

hello ...SO sorry it has taken so long to write up and stuff but I've so so busy! On Thursday I had my big bang dance concert andit went so well! I got the best senior modern dancer of the year! A huge honour that I am so grateful of!!!!!!                                                                                                                                                                       
Sadly I'm not going to be able to dance with Helen and all my dance pals any more coz  I'm going to Merensky boarding school next year but i will still be able to dance there and i plan to do well! Iv just come back from a high school preparation camp. It was Awesome!!! I'm so glad I went! THE SCHOOL IS OUT FOR THE DECEMBER HOLIDAYS!!!!!!!!!!  so YES!!!!! now lets go crazy!!!
 No not really coz iv got quite a few things iv got to do ......Like get all my stuff ready for high school and stuff...... boring!! any way..... catch up with you guys later........ lol mickeyB xxx

Krieghoff and Rigby!

As you know there were twin calves born on Thursday, one black and white one and one brown and white one. Sadly the mama cow couldn't look after both of them and took the stronger of the two, the black and white bull calf that we decided to call Rigby and left the weaker of the two calves, the brown and white bull calf that we called Krieghoff to die in the middle of the bush. { and our bush is not that fun to be in at night when you a weak calf all on your own } Dad thought that may happen so we went to look for Krieghoff on Friday after school.{which in my case was till 10:30 that day} We found little Krieghoff all alone with one mama or brother in sight. Wait! I'm missing one important fact. Thursday night one of our other heifers calved and sadly her calf died while she was giving birth. So Savanna which is her name had all the milk for her baby that had died and poor Krieghoff was abandoned so Dad took Krieghoff in Sherk , which is the name of my green pickup, and put him with Savanna in hope that she may adopt him. Sadly she didn't! But Krieghoff has to drink and Savanna has to be milked because she is engorged! So we put her in the race and milked her. Savanna had never been milked before and was SO good! She just stood there and didn't even fight! We had to milk another cow, Princess and MAN was she a PAIN! But Savanna was as good as gold. We took the milk that we had from milking Savanna andput it in a bottle to give to Krieghoff. Poor guy! He was SO hungry! We have been doing that for two dats now and have pretty much mastered it. If you want to strengthen your hands all you have to do is milk a cow. That is the fastest way! Krieghoff is so cute!  He comes up to you and sucks your hand. You can lie down with him and he comes up to you for cuddles. I think I have fallen in love with this little calf. He is half the size of the other calves we had Saterday. Poor Krieghoff! 

Double Trouble!

     Well today is a very important, or extraordinay day. My Grandfather has bred cattle pretty much all his life and he has never had twin calves! Now out of all the cattle {and there were hundreds} he has never had twin calves. That must mean that cows don't have twin calves very often. Well they don't. Actualy there is only about a 2% chance that a cow wil have twins. It just doesn't happen very ofter. With goats yes! I heard of a mama goat that had six kids. Now she has her hands or should I say hooves full! Well today, which also happens to be my cousin, Chantal's 17th birthday, we had three calves born! No not tripletts. One little girl and two boys. here's the seceret : there were only two mommys! Yes twins!!!!!! Twin bull calves!!! Now that's DOUBLE TROUBLE!!!!! The one is black and white and the other is brown and white. Dad said the black and white one was born first but I like the brown and white one more. Their mama's name is Friendly because she is so friendly.{Dad named her}JohnD thought we should call them Crash and Eddie like in Ice Age but Dad and Mom didn't really like that idea. Mom thought we should call them Jack and Russel but I think that is a little weird. Jack and Russel, Jackrussel come on! The little girl is white with brown spots on her. Her sisters name is Bonnie so I thought we should call her Connie. It rymes with Bonnie and sharts with "C" for Chantal. Friendly lost her calf last year sadly. But it was her firat calf and normally cows struggle with the first calf. But do you know what I think? Oh thats a dumb question I haven't told you what I think yet. Wel I think that maybe she had twins then aswell but it was just to much for her or that calves were to weak so they sadly died because we never did see her first calf or calves.I wish all the cows had twins. Then our herd would tripple every calving season! So much to say and to little time to say it!  

My little new baby calf!

  Earlier this year I bought a cow from my Dad. Her name is Hart. Biz named her when she visited us a few years ago. We knew she was pregnant and where checking on her. And on the 27tth of October she calved! It was a little heifer! {girl} She is SO cute!!!! I decided to call her Blessing, Blessy for short because she was born on my cousin Ben's birthday and because Biz named her mom. Come on! It had to start with "B!" And obviously she is a little blessing. Blessy is brown and white. She has a white nose, and white feet. She is so full of jumps! A perfectly strong and bouncy calf! We plan to milk Hart and Mom said she would pay me R10 for a liter! Till later MickeyB
P.S. Here is a picture of little Blessy and her Mama, Hart!

Hart and Blessy! Not even a day old!

Hay, its working!

Hay , finally , I got it working! Well done me!