More About the Milk Cow (Zoey's second baby)

     Hannah has gone home.  She was a great milk cow but her temperament was never going to win her a lot of love.
    Zoey gave birth to a healthy little guy December 8, 2017.  It took almost nothing at all to remind her about going into the chute for milking.  She knows there's treats waiting for her.  All the work we did with her early on just keeps paying us back.  There's no kicking, no tail flicking, and no passive aggressive defecating.

    Still not without it's own individual challenges.  She still, as any good mamma would, does not let down unless the calf is there to stimulate her.  That does mean time training the calf to not be shy about coming over to suckle.  After about a week of persuasion and a little bit of chasing, he's got it now.

    The hurdle before that is the extra time in my day.  This is a winter calf, not ideal for our lifestyle.  It means the nights are long, too long to separate mamma and baby for morning milking.  I did try.  By one a.m. the bellowing started.  I tried to ignore it.  I tried to sleep.  I knew some noise was going to be inevitable and tried to rationalize it and tell myself that there is always a lot of noise the first time.  The calf is just in a small stall, Zoey can still see and touch but another hour down and I started counting the hours since darkness fell and we had separated and how many more hours till daylight.  Then I felt guilty.  Guilty and irritated because now I am responsible for this noisy, miserable, mamma.  But I wasn't about to give up on my milk acquisition.  I am too stubborn for that.  So I went out in the dark, glad for the very mild winter we have had so far.  Other than some confusion from the flashlight, Zoey went right to the chute, baby went right to mamma and I got my milk and went back to bed. 

    For now, because my sleep is precious to me, I separate in the morning.  The baby thinks that it's half alpaca anyway so he goes over and romps with the other yearlings.  For now I feel safe with this.  He is, in reality, half  low line Angus and he is naturally polled.  This means no horns to push the alpacas around with.  Mostly he is content to hang out with them and feel part of the herd until it's lunch time.  I come out at lunch time to milk but as you can see, this does break up my day a bit.  It means that there are some days where other obligations take priority and we just leave the little guy with mom. That's the beauty of the system.  I am looking forward to the spring when the days get longer and the night is short enough that we can change the arrangement without too much stress on all involved.
     A few new experiences to note.  Vertical cuts in Zoey's teats.  These are apparently caused from the calf's teeth as he strips the teat.  This didn't happen with the last calf and he is still too young to even consider weaning.  The suggestion is to use a Dremel and take the sharp edges off.  This will be similar to what we do to cut back the long front teeth of alpacas when they grow past the natural line of the gum palate.  My intention will be to just take a light sander to the edges so not nearly as severe.
    In the meantime we rub her teats with coconut oil to help her heal.  It doesn't help that it's winter and dry.
     We are a little more than a month into this and this is her second calf.  I am getting nearly half a gallon a day.  The cream is not as plentiful as Hannah's but it is thick and lovely.  For this being just her second freshening we are pleased and feel that all things have gone as expected within reason of what living beings can offer. The teats are longer this year and easier to milk, she knows what's going on so the learning curve is easy, and my hands are more accustomed to the job as well.
     It's important to remember in this world of industrialization that farm animals are not machines.  They can be bred to produce for the masses but that is not the goal with our homestead breeds.  We need to work with them as their individual needs and personalities dictate even when it means changing how we do things.  Owning our family milk cow continues to bring me great satisfaction even with the mental gymnastics of maneuvering around what is best for calf and Zoey for the end result.  What have I learned from this?  Next time make sure to breed for a spring baby when there are short nights.