We Have a Milk Thief!

I've talked in other posts about our milking routine.  We keep Rosie and her little bull calf, Aussie, together all day.  He's able to drink as much milk as he wants.  At around 5 pm each day, we separate the two and that enables Rosie to make milk for us overnight.  We separate the two by locking Aussie in the barn overnight.  Then the first thing the next morning we go out and before putting the two back together, we milk Rosie.  By doing this, we're able to share the milk with Aussie. 

Aussie stays in the barn overnight while Rosie makes milk for us!

This morning we had an issue.  Before I went out to milk, Tricia told me that the little bull, Aussie, was out in the pasture with Rosie.  How could this be?  I had separated them the night before.  How did he escape and did he get all of our milk?  I would soon find out.  When I went to clean Rosie up to milk her, her bag was completely empty.

The perp had a very innocent look on his face.  He was sitting as if nothing was wrong, but you can almost see his milk moustache.

So we have a crime.  Milk was stolen. 

We have a motive and we've determined who the perpetrator was.  We need to deconstruct the crime and determine how it occurred to keep it from happening again.  In my estimation it had to be an inside job.  There had to be an accomplice.  But who?  The locking mechanism on the barn door is on the outside.  Aussie is locked INSIDE.
 

The barn latch

Who could have opened the latch from the outside and set Aussie free?  I found out the answer.  I was in the barn yesterday, preparing food for all the animals.  I usually lock myself in.  I happened to look out in time to see Annie, our Nubian Goat, use her nose to pop the latch up and enter the barn.  I thought it might have been just a lucky break, so I latched it again and watched in amazement as Annie popped the latch open again!  Annie sprung the milk thief, Aussie, loose.

Here is a mugshot of the accomplice:

What a guilty face?!

I've now taken some steps to fix the latch.  I even watched Annie to ensure that she is now unable to unlock it.  The crime has been solve and all is well again on the farm.  Well, except if you are Aussie.  He's not so happy with me!

The unhappy milk thief