Milking

Early Milking (tail tied to the ceiling or she'll beat me with it haha)

I love going out to milk at sunrise and sunset!  It is so peaceful (well, once we get the fussy girl lined out and get to milk of course).  When we're in the barn we can hear the birds starting their day or roosting for the night, and when the snow is melting from the roof you can hear it dropping in sheets onto the ground steadily.  Opal usually sleeps in the corner of the stall, curled up almost like a cat.  Savanna loves to get to go, but isn't up in the morning so Cole gets to spend some solo time with us (my husband is going with me until Ruby is well-broke to milking).  This morning while I was feeding the other cows at the barn, I propped him up against the round bale to watch while I fed, and you could just see the excitement on his little face.  He was "talking" to the cows and got so excited that he fell over in the hay (it's hard to move normally when Dad super-bundles you).
This morning we put her in a stanchion and hobbled her, and she was much better with the hobbles this time!  Now we just have to get into a routine so that she'll let down more.  I'm working on getting her bag to soften, but it's difficult when she's just starting to get used to being milked.  This is only day three though so really I think we're doing just fine, she'll settle in soon.