The Bobby is here at Last.

Every morning for the last 10 days John has pulled the 4am shift – he gets up that early anyway. I would check Daisy when I finished reading about 10pm, and when he got up to get ready for work in the morning at 4am, he would check her on the firewood run. 

Yesterday morning I lay awake listening to him shuffling out to the verandah, down the steps in his Crocks, across the yard, the sqrunch of gravel as he crossed the drive, silence as he crossed grass then the wee distant tired squark of the Popes door in the big barn door being opened.  Yesterday morning  I listened to the slow  sounds moving away, then cocked my head on the pillow at the pause, then heard the sounds  hurrying back in reverse. John never hurries. I was already half dressed when he barrelled back into the bedroom and said, Baby on the way!

I went to the barn, he went to make coffee. He brought me my coffee 5 minutes later thinking I would be leaning on the gate watching and Daisy and I were drying down a new calf.  Wow, he said. Daisy grunted as if to say she does not muck around.

The new Bobby (all the bull calves are called Bobby)  took a while to stand up, but had an alert head and bright eyes.  He is heavy and his feet are so small. But later (three hours later) he was up, dried off and in his jacket nosing about for a drink.  The Breeder said that such a heavy calf is often slower to rise. I fed everyone else as the sun rose. The barn letting out a sigh. 

Later I opened the big door and Daisy led her calf out into the sun, and there they stayed the rest of the day. She licked his jacket right off him, she was so proud. But when it cooled off in the afternoon I put it back on. They had both slept most of the day.

I milked Daisy at lunchtime. The breeder had been out to visit and was a little alarmed at the size of Daisy’s udder. She had begun to kick at herself and was ripping the skin. The teats were so far apart that the milking cups would not be able to reach. Like a toddler trying to stretch her tiny fingers on finite palms to find the octave on the piano.  So at lunchtime and then at 7pm I milked one side and then dragged my hoses and crept under the calf gate and milked the other side.  It worked. Tending to her poor frayed udder.  Using udder balm to massage her poor stretched skin and coax the colostrum out.  After the second milking she relaxed a little.  Massage  and vacuous chatter does help an engorged udder. 

In the evening I fed her baby from a bottle and settled him in the sunroom with Marcel who I brought in from his day with Minty. In the night when I checked them they were in separate corners, snuggled up against the straw bales that created cosy warm nooks.  All was quiet.  Daisy who is free to wander to and fro now standing guard from her pen.

This morning when I milk her I will let her calf back out and they can spend the day together again, and until I know I have her udder and the mastitis under control Daisy will be milked three times a day. But my plan is to let her have the calf in the daytimes hoping that the frequent sipping from the calf during this time will promote udder health. Then with a bottle I will settle The Bobby in the sunroom at night  then I will get a full milking in the morning (which will be shared with him too of course).

The milking parlour has been redesigned so that the calf can stand next to her while I milk  but cannot get in the way. This feels kinder. The important thing is to make sure the calf gets plenty of milk and the farm does too so I am sure there will be adjustments along the way.

So, now, I will reshuffle the days, wriggling a little to allow for the milking to fit in, like sand shifting down the side of a glass with the movement.  Finding a way for the calf and I to share the milking for a couple of months. And then milk for the next seven months. I am so full of plans.

But am so grateful that we have our wee calf and both Daisy and calf are both well so far.

Poppy is trucking along, developing a playful streak and I must be careful not to turn her into a big fat pig as well!!

Just think of the cheese! Oh I cannot wait!

I hope you all have a lovely day

your friend on the farm

celi