Three in Two

This year is the first year we have tried an idea that we have talked about for a while--milking three in two.  For those of you who think this is some sort of code, allow me to demystify this statement.  We are milking three milkings in two days (every 16 hours) instead of four milkings in two days (twice a day milking).  We have thought about starting it as our cows are winding down in their lactation for the past two years.  This was the year...and so far, my husband loves it.  We lost a little bit of milk when we first started it...at least we think we did.  It was raining then and we had just used up some nicer quality hay and switched the cows to some lower quality hay.

Our milking schedule has been DAY 1:  4 AM and 8 PM.  DAY 2:  12 noon.  So every other day is the same and every other day my husband gets to sleep in, for which he is VERY excited.  We read about it in an article from New Zealand and decided to give it a go.  We didn't try it earlier, because other models we have seen had a five or six day pattern instead of every other day and that didn't seem realistic to us.  It was a little bit difficult to adjust to the late night milking, but it made it much easier to adjust to sleeping in the following morning.  Some of the benefits that the article pointed out, were that it would benefit hoof health as the cows were not required to walk as much (since they are being milked one less time every other day), and that the cows gained body condition from not having to walk as much.  I have not seen either of these things necessarily, but the logical progression behind them makes sense.

I will ask my husband about the exact numbers as far as milk-drop goes.

Until then, God bless each of you as we walk through this Christmas season remembering the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

UPDATE:  I asked my husband about the milk-drop.  He said that we lost two pounds per cow when we switched to three milkings every two days.

Going for a Ride

My brother-in-law takes care of our heifers.  He sent my husband this with the comment,

"You'll notice that moose has developed superb balance."

 Apparently, Alaska, whom my brother-in-law calls "Moose" likes to climb in the feeder wagon, and is not the least bit compelled to exit said wagon whereupon it starts to move.  In fact, it looks as if she is enjoying herself quite thoroughly.