Pics of the girls munching on some greens

Comet out in the back eating what was left of my garden.

What a hard life! Wish I was one of my cows!

All the girls out munching grass after a long day of well munching grass...

The first year. Part 3

When the time came for me to go to the hospital and have our baby I was ready! It was hard for me to milk the cows and I was leaving the calves on them most of the time. I was lucky to get enough milk each day for us but that was fine with me.

I woke up in the morning ( actually I don't think I slept at all that night, I was hurting so bad ) Told Russell it was time to go and we went. Amber was born about 11:45 am on June 21st. It was a very quick delivery and I was ready for sleep! I stayed in the hospital for a few days as I had surgery while I was there. When it was time to come home a long time friend of mine ( Megan ) came to pick me up. Russell was at work so we didn't get to much of a greeting when we got home but the quiet was nice.

It was a few more days before I could milk the cows but I had to go to the barn and see them. They all looked good and didn't care if I milked or not. Elley was also close to having her calf. Maybe a few weeks for her. What was I going to do with all the milk?

I decided to go into cow sharing. That was the best way to use up all my extra and also allow others to take part and enjoy what the cows had to offer. But it was still going to take a while to let people know I had this option for them. I could not advertise milk as it is illegal to sell, but I wasn't selling the milk, I was selling shares of my cows.

I started checking around and looking into ways to tell people about this way for them to obtain what they were looking for. LeeAnne was also doing this with her cows and had been for a while. She had a few share owners and suggested that I post my name on the WAPF website.. So I did, and nothing happened. Well not right away anyhow.

July rolled around and Elley was very miserable. The weather was hot and she was very close to calving. I was up at the house and had one of the boys go down to do evening chores. Cows were hungry and I wouldn't milk until they had dinner. When Tyler got to the barn it wasn't long before he was calling me. Elley had her calf! A heifer! What luck was that to buy a cow that was Pregnant and have the first calf be born a heifer! We named her Fawn as her color was a fawn and she looks like a little deer with those big ears and brown eyes.

I started to get loads of milk everyday and still no one contacted me about the cow shares. I had no idea what to do with it all and decide that I was just going to have to milk the 2 cows and leave Elley with her calf this go around. So in the evenings I would milk the cows and put them with the calves and in the mornings I would pull the calves off and let the milk build up again for evening. During this I found that Elley was not just a good milk cow but also would nurse any calf in the country. So big Elley became my nurse cow.

I started working for my mom part time in the fall and acquired my first share owners around that time. A gal looking for natural foods to help with cancer issues, and her sister. Word has a way of traveling and before long I had a few more people that owned shares in the cows also.

Late that winter my husband and I decided to take a trip to Montana to visit his Aunt and Uncle and also to learn how to make cheese. It was a long trip but well worth it. We stayed just a couple days but in that time I learned to make Mozzarella and Cheddar curds. Also was sent home with some water Keefer's.

Time passed and I learned more about the cheese and all the fun stuff you can make with the milk. Also my Aunt and Uncle contacted me, I grew up on my Aunts milk cows. They no longer had cows and wanted some cream for the holidays to make a Sour Cream Raisin Pie ( they are so Good!) We got to talking and my Aunt still had her old cream separator and her butter churn! So she loaned them to me ( I still have and use both of them ) and I got her some fresh cream for the holidays. It worked out great.

Once in a while as they pass through town ( they drive truck for a living ) they well stop and load up on milk and cheese and have all the "Good Stuff" for a while on their trips.

The calves were growing, The baby was growing, and the cow shares were growing also. Life was looking good, my family was in better health then they had been in a long time and the boys didn't have as bad of hay fever come spring. All due to a couple of Amazing milk cows!

The " Christmas Cows"

Comet and Dancer came to me shortly after "Big Elley". I was still working with Elley and trying to calm her a bit when my husbands cousin in Montana called and asked if we were still looking for a milk cow. This was all in April-May of 2008. She had a friend in Victor Idaho who has a small Organic Dairy farm. He had a couple 4 year old Brown Swiss cows he was looking to sell and was worried he would have to sell them at an auction.

Russell said if I was interested I should call on them and see if we could get them at a good price. Two cows is a lot of money! So I called and talked with the owner. He said he would give me a good deal on them if I would take both cows as they were born a week apart and had grown up together and he could not see them being apart.

All the arrangements were set including me "promising" my doctor that I wouldn't go on any trips out of town being so close to giving birth myself. All said we ( including me ) loaded up in the truck again and traveled up to Victor Idaho. We arrived at the farm the cows were at and had to wait for the owner to show up. He was out irrigating one of his Organic pastures. When he showed up we walked back to where the cows were at. Comet was the one with the star and white feet and Dancer was the solid brown. These were the "Christmas cows" as the names state. Plus we found out they were both born in December.

Honestly they looked very intimidating with those horns! What had I got myself into this time! I already had one cow I couldn't touch and a calf that was still a year off at that point from having a calf! But me being me, I couldn't go all that way to come home because horns were intimidating.

We pulled the trailer around to the barn and got all set up to load them in. Come to find out the calves that were on them were going also. Mike didn't want them and couldn't sell them for much with being just a month and 2 months old. So cows and calves loaded, Paper work in hand, A quick conversation and once again we were on our way home with our new cows.

Now was the challenge of milking them. How was I going to do this being pregnant and all. The kids had never milked before and me only a few times when I helped out my friend. At least I didn't have to do it by hand. I had ordered a milk machine and a couple buckets and strainer and all the goods BEFORE I got my first cow.

My milk shed was not yet finished or cleaned out as it had been used for storage and hadn't had a milk cow in it for 40 some years. But it had the stanchions still, just needed lots of cleaning and re arranging. So instead I used the boys portable wash stanchion for the 4H steers. I ran the cows down a little ally way into the stanchion, they had to back out and this was hard to get them to do.

I got the first one in had all my stuff set up and was able to bend my fat pregnant belly over far enough to milk the cow. And what would you guess happened? Whack!! she kicked me right in the leg! I was so mad! But these were my cows and they had to be milked. I was determined to get the job done. I was in to deep to back out now and also had to teach the boys to milk as it was already June 16th and I was due to give birth any time in the next week or so.

So I finished milking the first "Bad Cow" and proceeded with the next. Got her moved in and washed up. All the while doing the best I could in case feet came flying at me. She just chewed her grain and waited. I got her hooked up to the machine and milked out with no issues. Thank goodness that was over!

The next few days were spent working with the cows and the kids and finally a phone call to my friend begging her to milk when I went into labor. No way were the boys going to be ready to milk while I was away! Not any issue other than they needed more time and the cows were still giving me fits at milking time!

But that first glass of good Fresh Raw Milk from my own cows was so worth every pain and ache and trip and everything that had already gone into it! And I was on my way to becoming a dairy cow milk maid. It was looking to be a great summer! 3 new cows already that year ( Elley, Comet and Dancer ) and a new baby of our own on the way!

How it all started

Ok so blogging is new to me but here we go.

The milk cows started about 4 years ago when I started working for the Casper Alcova Irrigation District. Or at least the idea of them did. I worked with a gal who had a few and we became friends. She was going out of town on a planed trip and needed someone who could milk her cows for her.

I learned how.

I fell in love.

I bought a heifer calf from her.

My First milk cow!

But it would still be 2 years before I could start milking. As the heifer had to grow up and have a calf of her own. This was bothering me because I wanted to milk NOW! So the hunt began for a cow in milk for a reasonable price..

And as I hunted I found all sorts of interesting stuff about the Raw Milk and how it was better for my family, and looked at pictures of people and their milk cows. Even joined an on line group of milk cow owners from across the world.

Still no luck with a milk cow. Then I found out I was PG with our daughter and the hunt became a must! I had to have the milk not just for me but for her also. ( not that I wasn't getting any from my friend, she was giving me what she could spare ) I had a growing family, 3 boys and one more on the way.

I was talking with my sister on the phone one day and she told me a friend of hers in Colorado did some book work for a small dairy. From what she understood they had a cow that wasn't producing enough for them. She would be sold or put in the freezer. I was able to contact the friend and through her the owner of the Dairy. I found out the cow was a 5 year old Holstein Jersey cross who was in fact bred back to a Brown Swiss bull. The cow was dry but due to calve about the same time I was due to have our daughter.

The dairy owner got all the blood work and testing done on the cow for us to be able to take her across state lines. My husband his youngest son and myself loaded up in the truck and headed for Colorado. It was about a 4 and a half hour drive from us to them. But what a trip! I was so excited about my first REAL milk cow!

When we arrived at the dairy all the cows were in line for milking. ( ok not all but a good number of them ) I was looking in all of the pens trying to figure out what one of those big black and white cows was going to go home with us that day.. We found the owner and his dogs. ( I don't think they leave his side very often other than to rest under the horse trailer while my husband was trying to back it to the loading pen ) Got backed to the loading area and waited while one of the workers walked to a back pen and started moving this giant black cow up to our trailer. So where was this Holstein cross? I was expecting lots of color like all the other cows around us!

She came lumbering up to the trailer and jumped in. Big belly and all. I looked her over and she looked me over and we came to a silent agreement that with or without white spots she was going home with me. I paid the money for her, we talked for a bit about her and what she was bred to, and then we were on our way.

When we got home I managed to put a halter on this cow that towers over me and she pulled me out of the trailer and into her new pasture. She lived behind our house with the calf that I purchased from my friend. Not to be touched by anyone even me. We couldn't get close to her. I had no idea what I was going to do with a cow that I couldn't touch or catch or even look at without her running away. And being Pregnant myself not much I could do.

I went down to the local feed store and purchased some horse treats and some grain. Found a feed tub from the horses and walked out to the pasture.. Poured the grain into the tub and walked away a few feet.. The cow who at this point got the name "Big Elley" knew what grain was and came running for it. She ate it all and then went back to her grass. So I found her weakness. Amazing that something her size would have a weakness.

Day by day she ate her grain and day by day she allowed me to come closer while she was eating. She would even allow the kids to come and watch and eventually she would stretch her neck as far as she could to pluck a treat out of our hands with her tongue. A small understand of you don't touch me and I wont hurt you was about all I could get out of her but it was a start.

So that is how it started with the cows and I well post more later about the rest of them but one at a time is much better and lets you get to know them as individuals, as they all are and they all have such character that to add them all at one time doesn't allow them to be "who" they are.