Those who are following regularly will note there has been no blogging the last couple of days. Having to bring the cows into the barn every morning so that I can keep Lucy's injured teat working is taking a lot of time. The way our milking parlor is configured, I have to bring in all of the girls so that Lucy can't move around quite so much. It is a time consuming process but one that is necessary, like so much of what we do on the farm.
Very good news! The vet looked at Lucy yesterday, believes that even though it is a severe injury, it was a clean cut on the skin and is healing very nicely. We are only using my organic yarrow oil on it, and he is impressed. :) Last night Liefschon held her tail to keep her from kicking (our usual routine) and I put the milking machine on her. She danced, but not too badly, and responded to massaging of her udder. I was able to milk out about a half gallon of milk. This is huge! If any of you had been here the first few days, you would have thought that she would never ever again in her life tolerate being milked from that quarter. She is such a good girl! She has suffered mightily, but is obviously on the road to complete wellness. I am so happy for her, and for me! I have suffered a few bruises and scratches from the kicking, and it will be good to have my mornings back again. We should be able to quit the morning hand milking within a few days.
As for the rest of the farm, the hay was finally delivered yesterday. It was supposed to be here Wednesday, then 9 am Thursday, then noon, then 3 pm, and finally arrived at 5:30. It had to be wrapped once it was here, to make a fermented hay called balage. That is what you do with hay that is too wet to be conventionally stored, and the cows love it! My drive is over a half mile long, and there are a couple of sharp turns on narrow roads to get to it. I didn't measure the semi, but it was carrying 25 tons of hay - 63 bales that are about 3'x3'x6'. It was close, but the job got done. We finished well after dark, and it was drizzling rain the whole time. The truck driver was a little worried about getting the truck back out of the paddock where we put the hay, because the ground was a lot softer by the time he left. Fortunately, the truck was a lot lighter, and all was well.
So yesterday was a pretty stressful day, but a lot got accomplished. Lucy is on the mend, and the girls have a more than adequate supply of hay for the winter months.
There were fifteen fat chickens roosting in the Moop last night, and all other critters accounted for.
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