Vetin'ry

That's what they call me around here now, and I think I respond better to that than when they actually say my name! Today started out normally, and it's been a pretty chill day so far. Milked some cows, fed some calves, cleaned up, etc. Before breakfast I checked up on the cows in the field and one of them was calving, and she had a heifer! So that's some good news! I guess I should explain why a heifer is better than a bull. Since this is a dairy farm we want heifers since they will eventually be replacement millers and will have their own calves, providing more milk and a larger herd. Bulls don't do this, and they just get sold off fairly young, and you do get some money for them, but not as much as a heifer who will have multiple lactations, there's a cow here that's ~15 years old and has had something like 13-14 lactations! So a cow like that will get a lot more money, which is why you want heifers! I think that the sperm they used is sexed so they will have more heifers, but it's obviously not fool proof.
Well that's a bit of info for the day! After breakfast and dealing with the new calf, we dried off a cow, which means its her time to stop being milked for a bit before she has her calf. So that was something I didn't think I'd see either! I'm really glad that I'm getting to see things that weren't even on my list of things to see! The farmers dad went to a big fair thing yesterday for dairy and he came back with a bunch of pamphlets and floor samples for the parlour, so it was fun to look through all of that stuff! They guys were all really keen on a few products, so they may order some stuff for the farm. There has been talk of getting mats for the parlour floor and the collection yard, which would be easier on the cows feet and if they slip (which they do often) its easier on their knees. It would be really cool if they got it, though cleaning it has presented a few problems, so I think some more research is necessary before they decide on anything.
After dinner I cleaned the milk tanks so now they're nice and sparkly! I helped with some chores, milked, and now we're going to get pizza for tea! Hopefully it's good! And the Internet here is being really wonky so if I don't post in the next few days that's why, but I'll write and save them and lost them all later, plus I only have 2 full days left, so it's not that much!