COWS ARE COOL: LOVE ‘EM!
35.
The ‘Gentle’ Bessie
By sarah Rath
It was a clear, fall evening and Father and Brother were ready to milk the cows. I asked my father if he would teach me to milk, for it was the common belief that all farm women knew how to milk. I didn’t. ‘Come along,’ my father said.
I tagged along but when Bessie, the cow saw someone in a skirt, she rolled her eyes. Even though being the most gentle of the herd, she was suspicious of me.
Father gave me a three legged stool and a milk pail. He demonstrated how you squeeze the teat and then release in sort of rhythm. I sat down, and after a couple of squeezes, Bessie decided she’d have to do something about this. She raised up her left hind leg and stepped squarely into the pail. I jumped up, the stool fell over, and I ran. Bessie thought, ‘I got rid of her.’ I’ll bet she smiled to herself, our Gentle Bessie.
And I remained the farmer’s daughter that never learned to milk cows.
(Rath, Sarah. About Cows. Minocqua, WI: NorthWood Press, Inc., 1987)
The ‘Gentle’ Bessie
By sarah Rath
It was a clear, fall evening and Father and Brother were ready to milk the cows. I asked my father if he would teach me to milk, for it was the common belief that all farm women knew how to milk. I didn’t. ‘Come along,’ my father said.
I tagged along but when Bessie, the cow saw someone in a skirt, she rolled her eyes. Even though being the most gentle of the herd, she was suspicious of me.
Father gave me a three legged stool and a milk pail. He demonstrated how you squeeze the teat and then release in sort of rhythm. I sat down, and after a couple of squeezes, Bessie decided she’d have to do something about this. She raised up her left hind leg and stepped squarely into the pail. I jumped up, the stool fell over, and I ran. Bessie thought, ‘I got rid of her.’ I’ll bet she smiled to herself, our Gentle Bessie.
And I remained the farmer’s daughter that never learned to milk cows.
(Rath, Sarah. About Cows. Minocqua, WI: NorthWood Press, Inc., 1987)
The highest lifetime production of milk for a single cow is 465,224 lbs by the cow named No. 289.
The greatest amount of milk produce in one year was 59,298 lbs by a cow named Robthom Suzet Paddy.
The greatest amount of milk produced during a single day was 241 lbs by a cow named Urbe Blanca.