I really wanted a Jersey milk cow to learn how to make cheese, butter and fermented milk products, but I am having the hardest time with Elsie. I visited my friend the other day and his cow was clean, not a speck of poop on her, not even her feet. Maybe it is how Elsie is fed? So I am changing that a bit too. I plan to plunk a bale in the fence corner and use the headboard and foot board of an old metal framed bed as the feeder panels. Then I will see if she will still lay in her poop.
She has a nice shelter with fresh straw in it. Freddy lays in the hay surrounding where they feed, not in the poop, but Elsie just plunks her big butt down wherever and ends up with her side and udder covered in shit. Gross!

It is awful to clean her. But now that winter is here, how am I going to clean her? I have a rubber brush and a bristle brush to first get most of the manure off her, IF it is dry. But when it is wet, that is not so easy and in winter, when the water will freeze right to her hair, what do I do then? 

The other problem is that she had mastitis and one of her teats is not funcitoning anymore. It is cold and the other three are warm. I don't know what will happen in winter. I am thinking it might freeze. Maybe I should make a bra for her. 

Freddy is going to be weaned at the end of December and sold, if I can sell him. Then I will be forced to get up and out and milk Elsie twice a day. I think I will milk her at ten in the morning and around eight at night or possibly a little later. The problem is if there are guests at the Inn, check out time is 11 am, so I may have to wait until then to milk her and if I am serving dinner for guests in the evening, dinner is at seven and I may have to not finish the clean up to be able to milk her at 9 or 10. I also do not have a light where she is being kept, so will have to milk by flashlight. 

Because she is a poopy girl, she poops when she is being milked and pees too. I have to be ultra quick to get the pail out of the way when she puffs out those big sides. I tell her not to, but she does anyhow. And when she is in the shelter being milked, then I will also have to clean up the mess immediately following milking and get her out of the little barn. She has a good three sided shelter, so she does not need to be in the barn. The barn is actually just an old granary that needs a new roof very badly. I can see daylight through the top!

Anyhow, I will really try with Elsie, try to milk her on time and try to get by the poop. I really do not like that part. My head is right beside that shitty flank and to me it is absolutely gross. Not all cows are that way, apparently, so if this does not work for me, I will sell my dear sweet Elsie and find a new girl who is not so messy. I would not sell Elsie until the new cow I got proved to be better than Elsie with her toiletry habits. Except for this problem, Elsie is a great little cow, easy to milk, easy to catch and halter and sweet natured. I think she would be even better without Freddy, becasue she is quite protective of her adopted son, as she should be. 

The cows that are boarded here should go home. I feel sorry for them. They watch Elsie and Freddy eating hay and they don't have any. I am surprised they have not busted through the three strand barb wire fence to chomp on some of that good hay. I sure hope the man pays me, because the fellow last year did not. He was supposed to give me a heifer calf in exchange for pasture, but I have never heard from him since he took his cows away. Not nice. 

Come on Elsie. You need to quit lying in the shit!

Currently I am milking the Jersey cow, Elsie, after her adopted calf has his fill. Some days he is less voracious than others it seems, or Elsie just produces more some days. Today, there was about three quarters of a gallon. Robbie is tied up because he had a few incidents chasing animals lately, so while I milk, he is restrained, but he did get his saucerful too. The mamma cat and kitten want some, but the dogs do not generally share. Jade would share with the cats, but she would be the only one and she is sharing a bowl with Ofcharka, who does not share with cats. The cow has mastitis and was treated with antibiotics so the milk is still off limits for humans. I do not think the antibiotics are good for the animals either, but they only get about a half cup if that and not every day. They love the milk. I tried pouring some for the chickens, but the dogs got all of it before the chickens had a taste. In the winter I will soak the grain for the chickens in the milk and let it ferment a little. I don't know if the dogs would like that, but then I can feed the chickens in their pen, which will be perimitered with livestock panels that the dogs are not welcome in. the truck has the geese and ducks that are going to the processors early tomorrow morning in the canopy. The ducks are in a cage to keep them safe from the geese. There are not that many, but the roast goose and duck in the winter will be very welcome. Thank you Elsie for your milk and thank you dogs for your guardianship, and thank you geese and ducks for your lives, for your flesh that we may eat. It is still hard to raise them and take them to slaughter. I may never get over that. 
Anyhow, the dogs enjoy the milk a whole lot and that is a positive!

I guess I am still a city chick. This morning when I was ready to milk Elsie, after Freddy had had his breakfast (the Holstein bull calf purchased to replace her calf that died) I saw that Elsie had laid in manure. Her left rear flank and udder were covered in it. GROSS! How on earth was I supposed to stick my head near that flank at close quarters and milk the shitty titty? Peeeeeewwwwe! 

Washing her was the only answer, but what do I do in winter? It is still summer and was warm and the flies were plentiful, because unlike me, they love shit. I went to the house and filled a gallon bucket with warm soapy water and started at the top of the flank. It took three buckets to get her clean and still there were dirty drips coming off her side. I was disgusted. I would never drink that milk. I would have to do better next time, wash her clean and dry her too, so no drips are going in the milk. 

Freddy did not seem to mind one bit. He was busy filling his tummy this morning and the smell and taste did not quell his appetite at all. I did mind. I was thinking about why I have the cow at all. Since she delivered her calf, things have not been what I imagined with the calf dying and then Elsie getting mastitis in one quarter and the many milkings to try to ensure she is still producing from the quarter, the medications and antibiotics. Gads. Giving a cow a needle is not for the faint of heart and I had to give her two at a time, because I did not have a syringe that held 30 ccs, only 20, so had to divide the dose and stab her twice. Even tied up, she would not stand still. Goats are easier even, and they are not easy, only smaller I guess. 

Anyhow, that is the down side of milking a cow. Because she is on antibiotics, the dogs and chickens are getting the excess milk, but she is not producing much over what Freddy drinks anyhow. Maybe it is the mastitis or she is just becoming comfortable with the whole calf and milking situation. Maybe she will let her milk down and be true to her average which was 3 gallons a day with 30% cream. I was dreaming of fresh butter and cream spooned on blueberries and and and…. Oh well. She is still a great cow, even if she is a little untidy. Sweet Elsie!

Elsie, the Jersey cow, was supposed to have a calf and I was going to share her with the calf, that is I would milk her one time a day and calf could have her the rest of the time. That way, also, if I had to be away, the calf could take over for me and I would not have been bound to stay and milk the cow. 

But Elsie's calf died. So I got a replacement calf. What a way to term it? As if Elsie's most precious little baby girl could be replaced with a large hunkering Holstein bull calf. My goodness, he is twice the size of Elsie's baby, which disappeared for the most part, over night. I did see a large German Shepherd running into the area where she was. We have trouble with a pair of dogs that live across the road, but eating my baby calf is just too much. When my big dogs are a year older, those dogs won't be coming here anymore or they will tear them apart, or at least send them home crying. 

So, I went to the vet in Bonnyville this morning and they are not familiar with mastitis in dairy cows and were not sure the best route to follow. I tried to go to the St. Paul vet but they close very early and were not open by 5 pm. So, I got some long acting penicillin at Peavey Mart, just in case. In the meantime, I have been milking Elsie, but she is holding her milk or not producing much or something, because she is supposed to give 3 gallons a day and I am getting just over one. She has mastitis in one quarter and tonight I was able to move it out a little. She was very uncomfortable before because that is the side her calf preferred to suckle from and she was sore from the vigorous and strong suction of the baby. 

As it turns out, Elsie did not want to let the bull calf actually nurse from her though, so I am ending up milking her twice a day and then have to bottle feed the calf. He gets a half gallon of milk twice a day, so a gallon a day and that is it. Man is he strong. He is a day old and when he bunts that bottle, I get sent flying backwards. No wonder Elsie did not want to nurse that little fellow! Anyhow, that might change some with the smell of her own milk on him tomorrow. If he is that rough with her though,maybe it is a good thing not to allow him to nurse. I cannot afford the time to milk and bottle feed twice a day when there are bed and breakfast guests, at least not at the times they would have been accustomed to. I am going to milk Elsie at 10 am, maybe 11 and again at 10 pm. It was best to milk her this evening with solar lights, no mosquitos or flies and the smell of the night…way better than the day. She is so patient with me and stands so fine. Some one really trained her well. 

So, now, two more chores are added to my day. Whew!

Three days ago, Elsie, the beautiful Jersey cow, nearly ran me over and she pushed me aside and ran through the gate when I was letting the rams out. She ran into the bush and I tried to get her back, but she would not have anything to do with me. Then she disappeared. 

She has been missing for three days. I tried to find her every day, twice a day, morning and night, but I didn't even find a trace of her. 

Tonight she came to the barnyard where she lives with the rams and allowed me to milk her. She was heavy with milk, but the teats on her right side were tender as though they had been voraciously suckled, so I knew the calf was alive. The right side was cheesy though, so she has mastitis in one quarter. I got about two gallons of milk, but it was hard work. Elsie has small teats and milking her by hand is not that easy. I need a milker fast. And I need help with the mastitis. I will get help from the vet tomorrow morning. 

After milking Elsie, I followed her. She went around to the highway in the south west section where there was a tiny trickling bit of water that the cows had trampled into quicksand. She stood there staring at the mud, but she did not need water, because she drank when I brought her in to milk. It was almost dark and I could not see much, but suddenly I saw why Elsie was standing there. Her calf was dead and stuck in the mud. 

I got two long sticks and tried to pry her out, but that did not work. I got another stick and used the first one as a fulcrum and the body let go, but the suction of the mud was very great. I got the back legs out and then pulled hard. Nothing, so I pulled harder and there was a little give, then slowly, slowly, the calf came out. The mud is grossly smelly with cow poo and run off from the ditch. I cried for the little one, just here for a day or two and to die in such a horrific manner…it just was not fair. I left her there because she was too heavy to tote home and I will go back in the morning and bring her in with Elsie. Now I need to find a milker for Elsie or another calf, but late calves are rare here. Poor Elsie. 

My heart is heavy this night. 

I was letting the rams out to the pasture this morning and Elsie, who usually waits by my side for her turn pushed me aside and blasted through the gate. I was NOT going to let her out because she is very pregnant and I wanted to keep her close to home. I ran after her and tried to catch her, but she was not having any of it and ran into the bushes. I gave up and went out a few hours later but could not find her. 

I started looking for her at 5 30 this evening and covered the entire farm corner to corner and back. Then I phoned my friends who have a quad but it was getting dark by then. They still came and ran it through the bush where she often stays, but we could not find her. I was worked about the coyotes and the calf, but there are the other cows in that area and depending on where she is, the dogs would not let anything near her. The problem is, if she is further away at the south or east ends of the property, they may not protect her. 

Elsie, I sure hope you are safe and if you had your baby, she is safe and sound and well shielded from danger. Protect my Elsie and the baby, Creator and bring them home safely tomorrow. Please.