They Say That Breaking Up is Hard to Do

Tonight we'll show you the evening routine.  All throughout the day LuLu and Betsy spend quality time together.  Betsy will drink her fill of rich, Jersey milk and then she'll go nap in the shade somewhere, shaking her ears to chase off pesky flies.  LuLu keeps a close eye on her girl as she grazes in the pasture.  As the sun begins baking down and the heat rises to around 96 degrees, the cows find shade under the live oak trees and rest.  They'll nap, conserving energy.  Lots of times, if the moon is bright, they find it is comfortable to graze at night.  

At around 8 pm, Tricia and I go out to the barn and open the gate.  It's time for the overnight separation.  You see, daytime milk is 100% for Betsy.  However, LuLu's nighttime milk is all ours.  We run LuLu and Betsy into the barn.  LuLu is greeted with a bucket of sweet feed and alfalfa in the trough.  This encourages her to get into the habit of coming in the barn.  We turn the fan on and Tricia waits with LuLu as she eats her supper.

Betsy is run into a stall on the side of the milking stalls to keep her separated from her momma.  They'll moo and fuss and carry-on, but they'll get to get back together in the morning after milking time.

Here's an overview of the separation operation.  I'm in the goat milking stall on the south side of the barn.  When LuLu is finished eating, we'll go ahead and run her out of the barn.  She can go chase down her supper with some water or do whatever she'd like.  We leave the gate to the barnyard open so that she can come at any time of the night and touch noses with Betsy through the gate.  We just don't want Betsy getting her milk.  We have to be considerate neighbors as we do have next door neighbors and sometimes the momma cow will bellow for her calf and it is so loud it could wake the neighborhood!

Elsie, our heifer, comes to check out what's going on.  There is nothing she'd like more than to get a bucket of sweet feed and alfalfa.  She's a pig.  The thing is, we have a little rule: While grass is growing in the pasture, the only way you'll get feed is if you give us a calf and are in milk.  Elsie, you are on the clock.

Tomorrow morning we'll milk LuLu out and then put her and Betsy back together.  Betsy will be so happy to get her share of the milk.