DONE - No.27 - Milk A Cow

This challenge was actually given to me by Stewart, how he came up with it or where it came from  I have absolutely no idea. But when he told me I was seriously interested.  And now I've done it I would say that the day we had absolutely super exceeded expectations!

After a wee bit of research on where to do it I came across a small farm called The Old Parsonage Farm (Dartington Dairy) which is in Totnes, Devon.    Their milking experience involves both Jersey dairy cows and a herd of goats - mixed breeds.  It turned out to be more than just turning up and 'having a go' a couple of times.

We arrived on a Saturday afternoon, half decent weather thankfully, and we were met on arrival by Jimmy, a super friendly border collie (I think). There was also an adorable wee Jack Russell dog called Shandy but I didn't get any pictures.  Jimmy and Shandy escorted us throughout the whole experience.

We did also have human company in the shape of farmer Jon, a truly personable and enthusiastic farmer who was extremely generous with his knowledge and encouragement.  He was also brilliant at sharing not just the history of this particular farm, of whom he and his wife Lynne are the current tenant farmers, but also gave us a really good overview of dairy farming in general.   Coming, as you already know, from a Glasgow tower block I didn't grow up with much experience or knowledge of the actual nitty gritty of the farming world so his explanations and descriptions over the next two hours were fascinating to me and Stewart.  In particular, it turned out that this farm in the last century was actually quite innovative and apparently was the first to try out artificial insemination and soil testing among other things.

To start with we saw the herd being brought in to the milking parlour by the herdsman - another Stewart/Stuart.

This last picture actually cracks me up - I didn't spot it at the time, but look at the two gorgeous cows right at the back - completely facing the wrong way and staring straight at us.   They've both got such gorgeous faces though!

So, to the actual nitty gritty of the day - the chance to get hands on experience actually milking cows.  Now, I know a lot of people probably thought this would involve us sitting on a milking stool and hand milking lovely cows straight into a bucket.  Well, it didn't, this is a working farm, so it involved us using machinery in a milking parlour.  Was I disappointed - absolutely not!  We still got to milk cows and see how it happens everyday.   To begin with you do actually have to work the teats initially before you can put the machinery on.  So, I did get this hands on experience to begin with.  I know that this photo makes it look as if I found it distasteful but in actual fact I just didn't want to get it wrong and I didn't want to distress the cow!

After this is done each cow's teats are cleaned and dried before the machinery goes on to the teats.   We both put fingers in to the actual machines ourselves to feel the suction and it's really gentle.   So, four teats per cow, you have to pat the cow to let her know you're there, then you gently place the suckers over the teats.   The entire time the cows were in the parlour they were truly content and chilled out - this is a relatively small scale farm so the cows are seen as individuals with personalities and they are seriously well cared for.   You could tell...

 So, after we helped with a few cows each we moved on to a smaller milking parlour to help with the goats.  This was AMAZING!   Goats are so friendly and curious and inquisitive and attention seeking and they were quite frankly, quite bonkers.  Which suits me and Stewart right down to a 'T'. There were a few different breeds of goats and in total - if I remember correctly - they have around 160.  The goats go in 10 at a time, they have to go in order and it should work perfectly and it mostly did with only a couple of times two goats trying to get in to one stall.  It's mostly the same when it comes to milking goats but they only have two teats each.   Don't have any pictures of us milking the goats I'm afraid.   We got too carried away with just playing!

 

We did though help out by milking most of the 160 including putting the machinery on, and taking it off when they had finished.   Jon and Lynne mostly sell the cows milk to some local cheese producers and the goats milk they use to make their own ice cream and yoghurt.  At the end of our time on the farm we each got to taste their ice cream - I tried gin and elderflower, Stewart had real fresh mint and choc chip.  Both were bloody delicious.

This was a brilliant experience.  Jon was a superb host, the animals were beautiful, so well cared for and with proper wee personalities.   I think it's quite a new venture (though he has been farming all his life) and he has plenty of ideas for expanding the educational side of things as well as trying to get his ice cream out there as a high class artisinal product.   I can only wish them the best of success.  If you are interested - go to www.dartingtondairy.com  Tip though for if you do visit or do something similar - REMEMBER TO WEAR YOUR WELLIES!