Milking a Cow at Woodcrest Farm
When our local food group went to Woodcrest Farm, we got to meet Catherine. She is the person on the farm who takes care of all the cows. We got the very special opportunity to go with her in a small group and learn about the cows and how to milk them.
She was very friendly and did not complain a bit with all the kids surrounding her. The first thing that she did was go and get the cow. She brought her into a small milking shed. There was a tall shelf with all of the tools and things that she would need to use while sitting on the small stool, doing the milking. There was also another smaller shelf next to the other one. It held a bunch of buckets on it that she would put the milk in when she was done.
The next thing that Catherine did was open up a little metal lock and put a bucket of food inside. She fed the cow while milking to keep it happy. After that, Catherine put the cows’ head inside the lock and closed it. This device is used to make sure that the cow does not move around during the milking.
The third step is to clean the tools. Actually, only the bucket had to be clean. You take a clean cloth and just wipe around the inside of the bucket to make it sparkling clean. Fourth, Catherine started the milking. She sat down on a small wooden stool and milked while talking to us. She was a natural, and she multitasked! She talked to us about how she started on the farm, what she does now, and other things that she thought we might like to hear about.
Milking a cow is a simple task. First, you pat and rub the cow to make it feel comfortable with you. Second, you rub your hand down the cows’ flank to where the udder is. Next, you align the bucket to where the milk is going to come out. After that, you grab a hold of the udder, and you squeeze the top of it so that it won’t hurt the cow as much. You squeeze it until the milk comes out. The first bit of milk that you get out should go in a smaller container to put aside. This little bit of milk is called test milk. It is used to make sure that there is nothing wrong with the milk that humans and baby cows will drink.
You don’t need the test milk anymore if the milk is clean, so you dump it out and continue the milking. Catherine said that she usually can get about two gallons of milk a day. After she finished, she took the bucket of milk and put it on top of the small shelf. Then, she placed a filter on top of a jar and poured the milk from the bucket into the filter and let it drain into the jar.
“I do this so that the milk is extra clean and so that we can make sure that we are not drinking bad milk. Even though I did a test beforehand, we still want to be safe. We also do this so that it is easier to carry it to the kitchen, because we will need the bucket for milking later on.” Catherine told us when the milk had finished draining.
Then, she told us to back away from the cow. She pulled apart the metal bars that were holding in the cow. Catherine led her out into the pastures and let her baby run to her. She had left a little bit of milk left in the back of the udder for the baby to nurse. It was so cute to watch the little one sucking and walking along with the udder in her mouth!
Milking a cow at Woodcrest Farm was interesting because it was a fun experience, and it taught me about how difficult it can be. I’d prefer to drink local milk because I think it would be cleaner, and from this experience, I would know where it came from.
She was very friendly and did not complain a bit with all the kids surrounding her. The first thing that she did was go and get the cow. She brought her into a small milking shed. There was a tall shelf with all of the tools and things that she would need to use while sitting on the small stool, doing the milking. There was also another smaller shelf next to the other one. It held a bunch of buckets on it that she would put the milk in when she was done.
The next thing that Catherine did was open up a little metal lock and put a bucket of food inside. She fed the cow while milking to keep it happy. After that, Catherine put the cows’ head inside the lock and closed it. This device is used to make sure that the cow does not move around during the milking.
The third step is to clean the tools. Actually, only the bucket had to be clean. You take a clean cloth and just wipe around the inside of the bucket to make it sparkling clean. Fourth, Catherine started the milking. She sat down on a small wooden stool and milked while talking to us. She was a natural, and she multitasked! She talked to us about how she started on the farm, what she does now, and other things that she thought we might like to hear about.
Milking a cow is a simple task. First, you pat and rub the cow to make it feel comfortable with you. Second, you rub your hand down the cows’ flank to where the udder is. Next, you align the bucket to where the milk is going to come out. After that, you grab a hold of the udder, and you squeeze the top of it so that it won’t hurt the cow as much. You squeeze it until the milk comes out. The first bit of milk that you get out should go in a smaller container to put aside. This little bit of milk is called test milk. It is used to make sure that there is nothing wrong with the milk that humans and baby cows will drink.
You don’t need the test milk anymore if the milk is clean, so you dump it out and continue the milking. Catherine said that she usually can get about two gallons of milk a day. After she finished, she took the bucket of milk and put it on top of the small shelf. Then, she placed a filter on top of a jar and poured the milk from the bucket into the filter and let it drain into the jar.
“I do this so that the milk is extra clean and so that we can make sure that we are not drinking bad milk. Even though I did a test beforehand, we still want to be safe. We also do this so that it is easier to carry it to the kitchen, because we will need the bucket for milking later on.” Catherine told us when the milk had finished draining.
Then, she told us to back away from the cow. She pulled apart the metal bars that were holding in the cow. Catherine led her out into the pastures and let her baby run to her. She had left a little bit of milk left in the back of the udder for the baby to nurse. It was so cute to watch the little one sucking and walking along with the udder in her mouth!
Milking a cow at Woodcrest Farm was interesting because it was a fun experience, and it taught me about how difficult it can be. I’d prefer to drink local milk because I think it would be cleaner, and from this experience, I would know where it came from.
