Milk
I was going through some of the recipes my Mom had collected and there was thin scrapbook she had compiled from magazines, using a cover from Famer's Wife for the cover of the booklet. In the back she had pasted an article concerning milk cows.
For those of you raised in the country, you may have had milk cows.
My recollection of milk cows goes back to when I was five years old. We had a small herd of Guernsey milk cows and a Brown Swiss. The Brown Swiss was dainty and smaller than the Guernsey cows. She was also very tame.
When my Dad was in hospital recuperating from nearly shooting off a hand and his forehead with shotgun, I would go with Mom to the milking barn and try to help. She would only let me milk the Brown Swiss, named Toy Cow. Learning to balance on a one legged milking stool was finally managed and I could get some milk into the pail while Mom milked the rest of them. She said I should be careful of the other cows as they could kick.
So I walked along the edge of the manure trough holding out the palm of my hand as I walked behind them, testing to see if they would kick. Luckily, none did.
Mom had put in an acre of vegetable garden and to keep me occupied, she would bring Toy Cow into the yard, who would promptly lie down under the crab apple tree and chew her cud. I would climb all over her. By standing on her withers I could just reach the green crab apples. They were small, very hard and very sour, but I ate some anyway, much to my later dismay.
One day Mom had place my brothers crib in the yard. I decided that Toy Cow needed a drink of water and I got a tin pie plate and went to the horse trough and filled it with water and placed in the middle of the crib. Toy Cow walked over and slurped the water and then ran her raspy tongue up my brother's tummy. He wailed and I got a spanking. Gee who would of thought.
For those of you raised in the country, you may have had milk cows.
My recollection of milk cows goes back to when I was five years old. We had a small herd of Guernsey milk cows and a Brown Swiss. The Brown Swiss was dainty and smaller than the Guernsey cows. She was also very tame.
When my Dad was in hospital recuperating from nearly shooting off a hand and his forehead with shotgun, I would go with Mom to the milking barn and try to help. She would only let me milk the Brown Swiss, named Toy Cow. Learning to balance on a one legged milking stool was finally managed and I could get some milk into the pail while Mom milked the rest of them. She said I should be careful of the other cows as they could kick.
So I walked along the edge of the manure trough holding out the palm of my hand as I walked behind them, testing to see if they would kick. Luckily, none did.
Mom had put in an acre of vegetable garden and to keep me occupied, she would bring Toy Cow into the yard, who would promptly lie down under the crab apple tree and chew her cud. I would climb all over her. By standing on her withers I could just reach the green crab apples. They were small, very hard and very sour, but I ate some anyway, much to my later dismay.
One day Mom had place my brothers crib in the yard. I decided that Toy Cow needed a drink of water and I got a tin pie plate and went to the horse trough and filled it with water and placed in the middle of the crib. Toy Cow walked over and slurped the water and then ran her raspy tongue up my brother's tummy. He wailed and I got a spanking. Gee who would of thought.
posted
by Ghostdancer



