Janie is a year old half Jersey heifer. She is the spitting image of her mother and the sister of Carole Jean who I was milking this morning.
Carole Jean was in the barn waiting for her turn to eat, while I was feeding the masses in the pasture. I dumped most of the bucket in the trough and some in one bowl that Sissy quickly claimed. As I was walking back, I see Charlie (pronounced Sharlie--the one I am pictured with on the site--she is a Charolais) standing in front of another bowl looking lost.
Charlie is usually one of the bossy ones, but she let Sissy steal her bowl and for some reason she didn't want to go to the trough. So, I turned around and scooped some of the feed back out of the trough and put it in her bowl.
As I was walking back to the barn Janie decided she would follow me. I tried to send her back but to no avail. She missed out on breakfast.
While I was milking her sister, Carole Jean, she stood there outside the milking area just watching and hoping that I would give her something. I didn't.
Then like my grandfather before me, I started singing about it. "I want to be a milk cow when I grow up, I want to be a milk cow when I grow up, so I can get all the food I want, I want to be a milk cow when I grow up."
I didn't say it was a good song, just a song.
So she left and I continued doing what I was doing. When I was done, I stood up and saw her with Emma (Emma is not even a month old calf with white on her face--and cute as a button). Emma was attempting to nurse off of Janie. And Janie was standing there letting her, even while Emma was bunting. (Bunting is when they head butt the cow right in the belly or udder really hard to get her to let down the milk.) Emma was being pretty gentle about it with Janie and Janie didn't mind.
She really does want to be a milk cow.
Just a side note: Janie has been trained for milking from the first time she let me touch her as a baby.
Carole Jean was in the barn waiting for her turn to eat, while I was feeding the masses in the pasture. I dumped most of the bucket in the trough and some in one bowl that Sissy quickly claimed. As I was walking back, I see Charlie (pronounced Sharlie--the one I am pictured with on the site--she is a Charolais) standing in front of another bowl looking lost.
Charlie is usually one of the bossy ones, but she let Sissy steal her bowl and for some reason she didn't want to go to the trough. So, I turned around and scooped some of the feed back out of the trough and put it in her bowl.
As I was walking back to the barn Janie decided she would follow me. I tried to send her back but to no avail. She missed out on breakfast.
While I was milking her sister, Carole Jean, she stood there outside the milking area just watching and hoping that I would give her something. I didn't.
Then like my grandfather before me, I started singing about it. "I want to be a milk cow when I grow up, I want to be a milk cow when I grow up, so I can get all the food I want, I want to be a milk cow when I grow up."
I didn't say it was a good song, just a song.
So she left and I continued doing what I was doing. When I was done, I stood up and saw her with Emma (Emma is not even a month old calf with white on her face--and cute as a button). Emma was attempting to nurse off of Janie. And Janie was standing there letting her, even while Emma was bunting. (Bunting is when they head butt the cow right in the belly or udder really hard to get her to let down the milk.) Emma was being pretty gentle about it with Janie and Janie didn't mind.
She really does want to be a milk cow.
Just a side note: Janie has been trained for milking from the first time she let me touch her as a baby.