Chicken Scraps Blog

I finally got around to making this short video of how we milk our cow.  Bo was the camera man for most of it, and the music came from Internet Archive.  Enjoy!

Anybody who knows anything about math will tell  you that 1 x 1 does not equal 3.  But then, most people don't raise goats.  For, you see, in the goat world: ONE Ritz.  (See "Our Family Farm Animals" page for more info about Ritz.) ONE X ONE Nelly.  (See "Our Family Farm Animals" for more info.) = 3!    Yesterday, around noon, I put Nelly in the stall, as she was full-term on her pregnancy, and looked like she might be going into labor.  The day dragged on, and I could see that she was definitely in early labor- laying down, getting up, pawing the ground, walking around the stall, then laying down, getting up again, etc.  Night came, and still no kids. We (Farrah, Savana and I) sat in the stall for a long time last night, and even considered sleeping in the barn so we wouldn't miss out on the birth, but to no avail.  We finally went inside for the night.  I checked on her at about 3:20 AM, and she

Perhaps this should have been part one in this series, because this should happen before the calf is born if possible.       This primarily applies to a first-timer, that is, a cow about to calve and/ or be milked for her first time.  The goal of training her is to get her used to the idea of being milked, and teach her to stand quietly for you in the stanchion (or wherever you milk her), and to let down her milk.  Before I go any further, here are a couple definitions of terms I'll probably use quite a bit. Stanchion:   A structure which restrains the cow by holding its head between two boards or pieces of metal tubing, and possibly also includes a sort of chute to keep it from moving its back end around too much.  (I will explain our model of stanchion later on.) Blossom in the stanchion.  The board in front is her feed tray- this isn't a necessary part for all stanchions, but she is short, and had a hard time reaching her food when it was at ground level. L