Miss Dolly Update

 

It’s a beautiful sunny day. After the thunderstorms last nite everything smells fresh. The lightening show was amazing and lasted for over an hour. We sat on the back porch with the Maremmas and watched for a long time. The power displayed was awesome, so much so I was hoping to catch a glimpse of the Lord Himself coming through the clouds.

The meaties will all be gone in a week and there will be a lot less poop to clean up! Cletus will get a break too, as he tries everyday to watch them, plus the chickens at the other end of the yard, plus the calves, sheep and goats in the pasture. To complicate his life more, I put the goats and milk cows in the draw, out in front of the house. Bruno sacks out in the house during the day. He doesn’t share Cletus’ on-call 24/7 work ethic, he only works the night shift.

Dolly had a voracious appetite this morning and cleaned up all her hay and grain! She also had more milk in her bag than Mo could drink. I am so encouraged and very grateful for her recovery. I clip a lead rope on Emma twice a day, and drag her to the draw or back to the house. Dolly usually just follows. Today she led. She just walked through the gate and headed on over, knowing exactly what I wanted her to do. She is the worlds sweetest, bestest cow, and EmmaLou is slowly learning from her example. Emma let the new leppie nurse with CWilly this morning, very generously.

My Jersey cows bring me so much joy. I wish everyone could know what a great feeling it is. They are amazing animals. They give sweet companionship, lots of fresh creamy milk for us, for the dogs and chickens, for the leppies, meat for the freezer, they are great for my garden, and good weed destroyers. They are definitely #1 in the pet department as far as being useful pets. Dolly had a bath yesterday and she seemed to thoroughly enjoy it. Say what you will about me over-indulging my cows with feed, baths and blankets, they deserve the attention and in return they make my heart feel full and make me laugh. It sad that most of the world will never know what a great experience it is to have a good cow.

The rest of the day was spent making soap with the remainder of my goat milk, a batch of Colby cheese and doing random things around the house and yard. In the evening, Dolly felt so good, she not only led, but she led us astray. She took off towards the barn and started peeking in all the trucks and checking the horse trailers. I guess she thinks she is up to a ‘road trip’. After capturing her and sending her back to the house, I turned the 3 calves loose. Emma stood quietly while all 3 nursed again and I had to chase Mo back to Dolly. He drank until he was content but she had more milk than he could finish, so I had to milk out one quarter. She gave me a gallon. What a great cow.