It's been over two weeks since I shared that Elsie and I were doing battle. We tried some new approaches, including Tony taking the brunt of her discontent. He's tough and the seemingly little swipes that hurt me don't generally affect him. Don't get me wrong, he got clobbered a few times too, it just doesn't affect him the way it does me! So, he ties her up, cleans her and starts milking. I've had more experience milking so I usually take over at that point and can get her milked out a bit faster than he can. However, he has to take time off work to do this, so I decided today that I'd try it all on my own again.
We were doing fairly well, with just a few attempted swipes by her, but then she got tired of cooperating. I wasn't in a hurry, so I thought I'd try an idea I had for restraining her leg. It didn't really work, and might have made her mad, because when I went back to milking (having basically decided that I just needed to get her emptied, w/o regard to collection) she kicked the top of my left hand. Twice. I must have had it hanging loosely from my left knee and felt that I was out of her way, but I was wrong. With just two connections, she managed to break blood vessels in 6 different spots! It's not very swollen, and will hopefully not swell, but it kinda hurts to bend the hand back towards my forearm. I didn't stop working her though. I grabbed her by the horns (easy to do when she's securely tied up!) and told her I AM IN CHARGE HERE! I finished milking her, cleaned and balmed her, but only got a pint of usable milk.
Anyone know where I can get a good used freezer?
Oh, dear!!! Well, back to the drawing board. Wanna try the rope trick again? It might work this time.
ReplyDeleteWe never stopped using it! The pen should be done this weekend. Poor Tony has so much to do that he can't finish a project before the next one demands his time. I'm hoping with Jasper nursing from the left while I milk the right will keep her still. Did I tell you my idea for getting a large metal tub to put under her? High enough that her foot can't get in, maybe put some weights in it to keep her from tipping it and then I can set the milk pail down and milk with 2 hands. What a concept! Haha.
ReplyDelete