Fresh Milk from LuLu

LuLu gave birth to a little bull calf back in the hottest point of this summer in the middle of a drought with not much forage to eat.  Poor LuLu was so run down with the heat and rigors of labor and delivery that her condition deteriorated.  She got real skinny.  We babied her.  At several points, we didn't know if she was going to survive.  We drenched her with molasses, gave her minerals and supplements and what do you know?  'Ol LuLu pulled through.

She's not in terrific shape as the pasture went from full drought to dormancy for the fall/winter.  She's eating hay and a little sweet feed.  We have decided not to push her with daily milkings and have, instead, allowed her little bull calf to nurse on her at will.  Normally, we'd let them stay together and then separate the cow and calf overnight so we'd get the morning milk.  Instead, the calf has been getting all the milk and we haven't been milking.  This morning that changed.  We decided to slowly start milking.

Here is the bull calf.  We named him Nicky.  His daddy's name was Nick.  As we walked out this morning Nick was posing in his winter coat in front of the hay.  I nicknamed him "Nicky Hay-ley." 

We brought LuLu into the barn and quickly milked her while she ate her breakfast.  Since this is her first time in milk, she's a little nervous, but she doesn't kick while we milk her.  Tricia gets the two teats on the left and I sit on a stool on the right and get the two teats on that side.  In no time, we're done.

We milk into a stainless steel pail and use a muslin cloth as a filter to keep out the dust, hair, flies, hay, etc.  

Fresh, delicious, raw milk.  Tricia used some of this to make a big broccoli cheese soup using some of the broccoli florets we picked later in the afternoon.

The milk is still warm at this time as it just came out of the udder.  We pour it into half gallon sized mason jars and quickly chill it in the fridge.  LuLu isn't making a lot.  This morning we got just shy of a gallon of milk.

Once it has chilled for a bit, the cream rises to the top.  That is skimmed off and used for making butter, whipped cream to top homemade pies, or for coffee.

For years we milked every. single. morning.  It's been nice to have a break for a while.  But it's also nice to now have milk!  Funny thing is, fresh raw milk is, to us, a completely different product than the stuff from the store.  Good to have the real stuff back in our ice box!