Thursday

Another below zero day at the dairy. We haven't post-dipped the cow's teats for the last three days - that way their udders are as dry as possible while they walk back from the parlor to the barn. The owners haven't wanted us to scrub the parlor either (certainly OK w/ Mike and me) thinking that the foam we use would just freeze to the wall. To add to the workload, we had two freshen today, a heifer and a cow. The cow knew the drill and stood still to be milked. The heifer was emphatic that she wanted nothing to do w/ us. Jose reached in to prep her and she nailed him w/ a left hoof. He reeled back and since his face wasn't bleeding, I figured she caught him lower down. I asked if he was OK and he gasped he was but didn't move. So it was up to me. Fortunately I have longer arms than Jose. After realizing that she couldn't reach me, she seemed to quiet down and I got the milker on her. Like I said, just another day at the dairy.