Fifteen days before we arrived, Rosita, a half-holstein cow, gave birth. We were talking with Pio and Lisa, and when they found out that we did milking at school, they were excited to institute milking again at Refugio. When there were more refugees, cow milking was a part of the regular chores. Rosita and her baby are sequestered every evening to allow mommy-baby time, and when they were put in the pen in the evening on our first night, we tried to milk her.
Our first attempt was not very successful because she has been in the field all day with the other cows. A number of other calves share feeding on the available mothers, so when we were trying to milk, Rosita had little to give. She kicked at Saoul, and our half a cup of milk got poofibers in it.We decided to isolate her from her baby and see what would happen. For the rest of the nights, we played with penning and tying up the mama and her vaquito. Rosita pushed out of the fence one night, and jumped it another. Trying to imagine how a heifer heavier our trailer was able to jump a four foot wooden fence is a bit of a mind bender.
We had to tie her head to a post to keep her from running around. Noe suggested we tie her back legs together to keep her from kicking. Sam and Noah were excited to help, and rose early a couple of mornings to help. In all, we got little milk, but Rosita became more amenable to the ordinaros, so lets hope Saoul keeps trying.
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