Every morning Zai & I head down to the milking shed & spend time milking Bessy our jersey cow. This would have to be one of my favourite jobs around the farm. Not only do I get to spend time with my eldest son, but I also get to lean up against the side of my nice warm cow and relax while I wait for her to give us her milk ( it's winter here & it's been cold lately)!
It's 22 months since Bessy dropped her calf & during those months we've been on a steep learning curve. Having a house cow is exciting, but it certainly isn't easy. I had every intention of writing about our milking journey here, but to tell you the truth, the memories are laced with embarrassment at all the simple mistakes we've made. Neither Dave nor I have had any previous milking experience so you can only imagine how entertaining our antics would have been to anyone who actually knew what they were doing. I would say we have a good handle on it now, although I'm sure in 10 years time I will look back & wonder what I was thinking...
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| Our Bessy |
Recently one of my blog friends Farmer Liz from Eight Acres emailed me a complimentary copy of her ebook Our Experience with House Cows. We have shared similar experiences with both our house cows' first calves being stillborn & having to get the cow to adopt another calf. We have both made mistakes that I'm sure everyone new to milking and cow ownership can attest to. Ironically, we have both settled on using much the same equipment & have both had wonderful success with our house cows now.
Our Experience with House Cows is primarily Liz's personal experience with their two house cows. It tells the story of her journey with her house cows from novice to experienced. I love the fact that as she tells her story in this ebook she also relays enormous amounts of thoroughly researched information to support her decisions. Farmer Liz is a vestibule of knowledge on this subject and she has a captivating writing style which is easy to read. I love that there are many practical suggestions throughout the pages.
The chapters include:
Why own a housecow? (including a section on raw milk)
Bringing home a house cow ( including how to transport & choose a cow)
Milking ( including hand milking, machine milking & training your cow)
Calving (including pregnancy care & cow mothering (which is very useful if you are like me & used to sheep who mother in a completely different way)).
Calf Care ( including fostering & weaning)
Pests, parasites, poisoning & preventing illness
The home dairy ( yoghurt, kefir, cheese etc.)
Some really handy supplier websites for Australian house cow owners.
And so very much more...
I was so impressed with Our Experience with House Cows that as soon as I read it I emailed Farmer Liz & offered to write a review for it. I know many of the people who read here either have a house cow or are raising a calf to become a house cow or dream of having a house cow & this could be beneficial for you.
Our Experience with House Cows is available in pdf or ebook format. For more information please visit the House Cow Ebook website. This is the book I would love to have had before I began this milking journey. It may have saved me some of my embarrassing errors.
As for my milking experiences ~ would you like to hear about them?
Have a lovely day
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Disclaimer: I was given a copy of this ebook for my own resource. I was not asked to write a review nor did I receive any remuneration for writing this review. All views are my own.
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