Milking time

Everyday we have to milk our calved cows, just to release the pressure from their udder - their calves are still with their mums, so they are still drinking her milk, its just they can't drink all she produces. Today we had 6 cows to milk - there are more in a separate paddock that have just been born in the last 36 hours, and they will start their daily trip to the milk shed tomorrow.

To entice the cows to the milk shed, we put their calves in a trailer and tow it behind the quad bike so the cows follow. As long as the cows can see their calves, they are happy to be milked. When we have a few more calves, we will be taking them away from their mothers, they will be put in our calf shed and taught to drink off 'milk bars'. When they have learnt to suck of the bars, they are then put in the paddock and fed from a milk trolley.

This picture shows Farmerboy driving the bike with the trailer, and the 'girls' following. The cows are happy, they are swinging their tails and waddling in with their very tight udders.