I have decided that this season is my last summer milking cows. It has taken me a lot of thinking but I have made up my mind. A number of reasons really – among them and the most important: my family keeps growing, they do not live close to me and I cannot travel for eight or nine months of the year. I am tied to a cow. Sometimes my children need my help and I want to be available for them.
Another reason is getting the cows pregnant. My cow vet is far away now and coordinating with someone to breed them has become a real problem. Asking favours of people I do not know to breed cows I don’t want to milk. It all adds up.
It is a hard decision with a lot ahead but I know it is right.
So (as well as a few steers) I will be selling Aunty Del, Carlos (who has produced no calves) and Aunty Anna. Lady Astor is too old to be sold on, and she has been a good milking companion – once she accepted her training and stopped kicking me – but her udder needs special care so unless I can find her a special home, she can just make like a horse and wander about the back fields for a while.
It will be a wrench to sell the Aunties but it has to happen. Aunty Del is young – she has a real future as a milk cow. Alex, Txiki and Tia will go to visit a local low line Angus, but they will raise any calves they have as beef. Both of the young ones are half Angus. I am not milking them.
My fourth son who lives in New Zealand is out working in California for a few months and he has his family with him and I cannot visit them because I am milking a cow. This makes me sick. I so seldom see my family. How can they possibly understand. Choosing a cow over them. I need to be able to move about more now. That is all.
Anyway that is my decision. And I am happy with it. I will milk Lady until Christmas then hang it up. 
Today Alex leaves us and I am on my own for three weeks. John is home one day a week. But I am almost up to date in the gardens, Alex has left me in good shape, so as long as I put in the hours it will be alright. I really need the gardens to sell produce so I can go home to New Zealand for Christmas this year. I am happy to put in the hours. It all works out.
It is dry now – after all that rain. And hot. Now I am watering every morning and evening.
Rue the wee piglet came in and hung out in the house for the day, rearranged all my furniture and stuck his nose into everything, he played with a pile of ice on the verandah for ages but I got nothing done – he cried and carried on every time Boo and I went into the gardens. He is little and bony but healthy and bright so the pig lady is coming to collect him today. She loves it when I send her a runt. He will do well with her.
The corn is up. 
Oh and all the piglets are now together – the barn doors and both the backyard gates are wide open. No problems at all. The pigs adapted well.
I hope you have a lovely day.
Love celi
The weather forecast: If I had hay I would be cutting it. Hot and dry.
Saturday 06/10 0% / 0 in
A mainly sunny sky. High 89F. Winds SSW at 15 to 25 mph.
Saturday Night 06/10 0% / 0 in
Clear. Low 68F. Winds SSW at 10 to 20 mph.
The Kitchen's Garden 
49 responses to “A momentous decision”
What a great plan for you, Celi! I’m so glad you’re making the hard decisions early and doing what’s best for you. My husband and I are trying to forward-think our lives, and it’s been illuminating to see the picture as it is, and not what others would like it to be for us. Most (if not all) of our friends and family have their adult children close (within same state or easy day’s drive) and do not move around. We, however, are getting ready to launch both of our young adult sons out into the world, and our future looks very different with both of them possibly being at opposite ends of the world on any given day. Our future is full of travel, both for them and my husband’s job, so for us moving to a rental, lowering daily responsibilities around the house (read: garden and pets), and being flexible at a moment’s notice is essential. What an adventure that lies ahead! Good on you for shifting your life to align with your current and future realities. Most people find that too difficult. Maybe we’ll cross paths on a layover somewhere around the world in the future…. 🙂
Well done in making a very wise decision, as you say your family is growing and of course it’s only natural that you would want to be able, at a moments notice to join them where and when you want.
A tough decision to make. These days with air travel and distance being less of a problem finding yourself stuck because of something like milking a cow has to be difficult. I think of those women during pioneer times whose children married and moved away, sometimes not all that far by our standards, who were not seen again during their lives. Perhaps having the cow was a comfort back then. It certainly would be nice to have someone able to come and milk Lady A so you could scoot off for a visit. I know you will find the best possible home for the Aunties. I know the milk, cream, butter, yogurt, etc. will be missed. Change, the most constant of constants and not something that can be escaped.
Yes, the only thing constant, is change and without it…we are stuck in a rut which helps no one to move forward and do what they must! I admire you for making this huge, difficult but very important decision. Our families must come first for our happiness and theirs. You will be able to bask in their love and they in yours, so much more often! As it should be!
J & D > Similar hard decisions to be made here. But nothing like giving up milking: that’s such a major major aspect of daily life, and of course there’s the special relationship that develops with the milk cows. That’s why we didn’t start. You’ve given up the reality ; we gave up the fond hope – and at the very point where after nearly forty years of gestation (pun not intended) it was about to come to fruition. It was too late.
It’s a hard decision and lovely to have milk, but it is an awful lot of work. Don’t tell Lady I said this, but the hottest beef (and most expensive) in Europe right now comes from old milk cows in Galicia, who’ve been out to pasture for a few years 🙂
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/event/article-3265012/Tom-Parker-Bowles-reviews-Lurra-Great-Spanish-Steak-friend-war-Basque-beef-London-s-best-just-good.html
I won’t tell John either!!
Good idea 😉
Lots of thoughts Celi.. milking is such a committment, so it will feel lovely for you to be freed from that… and at the same time so hard to make a decision like that which involved other creatures and their welfare… and yet when it’s the right decision for you, it will work out for them… the universe always balance the right things out… and how lovely to think you’ll be in NZ this Christmas… any chance of another rendezvous? I’d break an arm and a leg to get to see you – actually no – been there, done that – but will drive for miles anyway…!!!
You are a wise, sensible and good woman and have reached this decision using those talents and I totally respect you for it and understand. We only have two small dogs and life is complicated enough so I can only imagine how many considerations come into play to organise a trip. Big hug xx
A tough decision, but, one that sounds right for you and your family. Life never stands still and we must learn to adapt and move forward, even if that means making tough decisions:)
Absolutely logical, to my way of thinking! You have had to make changes all the time since I first came to have a cuppa some four years ago . . . . you know what is needed ! And this makes total sense – wish you could do it this year. My only problem is that we all need milk products for a balanced diet . . . so hope you will find some organic sources to fill in the gaps. Good weather and lots of energy for the growing garden in the meanwhile till your next wwoofer arrives . . .
Bravo! Hard choice perhaps, but a good one
I’ve always toyed with the idea of milking a goat or a cow but two reasons have held me back. One, as you’ve mentioned is the need to be there every day, sometimes twice a day at about the same time each day. Two, they have to have babies to have milk, seeing that I recall only one creature that left my care before its time was up I’m sure I’d be over run! (Ach, she was a good cow/goat, she can say, or ach, such a bonny wee baby, lets keep him/her.) See my point? And tell John you have enough love and room in your heart for both families. I have my John’s in laws, nieces, nephews, etc. from his deceased first wife as well as his siblings’ families as well as my siblings’ families (no natural kids of my own) and we celebrate life’s happenings with all of them. Fortunately so far we do not have to travel far to do so but I have one grandson in the marines boot camp right now so who knows!
Any tough decision which results in a sense of resolution or relief has been the right choice. It will be a wrench to bid farewell to your girls, but the freedom it will give you from the daily chore, the careful planning, the raised and lost hopes of AI, the expense of it all, will help to compensate. I hope you’ll be able to source some good clean milk for butter, yoghurt and cheesemaking; surely there’s *someone* else out there who’s thinking and working along the same lines, and even if you have to freeze quantities of it because you have to buy in bulk, that’s still better than none, isn’t it? Bravo, Miss C, a hard decision well made for all the right reasons.
Oh boy, what a decision. I completely sympathise. I also have to chose my growing family in Vancouver over my love in the UK and vice versa. Although they all understand, no one likes it. 😦 I know you’ve made the right decision. Hopefully there will be a milk cooperative among your friends where you can get fresh milk from.
While I’m a bit surprised to hear of your decision, I’m also not surprised.
As I dreamed of having a homestead with my goats and flocks of guinea fowl, chickens and ducks, I also struggled with the idea of limited travel. In the end, my homestead dreams never came true so instead I travel without worrying about animals, other than my dogs who I can take with me or board.
I look forward to reading about your future travels as you visit you family both here and abroad.