# Meeting the neighbor's cow



## Matt n Lee (Dec 12, 2017)

Hi yall. we normally post over in sheep and pig forums since we dont have a cow of our own yet. But we are on the hunt and we went over to meet the neighbor's Jersey/holstein mix here she is.


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## Pastor Dave (Dec 12, 2017)

It's alright, if I posted just in the Rabbit forum, not too many would see it. Just use your own journal under Social.


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## farmerjan (Dec 12, 2017)

That is a very neat home made stanchion.  And Bessie might be a jersey holstein cross, but I sure don't see the holstein in her.  She looks pure jersey to me.  Pretty cow.  She looks like an older cow, and what little I could see of her udder it looks pretty good so far.  Of course when she comes fresh, the increase in size will definitely impress ( or scare) you. 
It is so nice when a cow will come in and go where she is supposed to.  My 4 nurse cows come in and go right in their spots and the calves are old enough now that they each go on "their" cow.  
If you are going to be milking her by hand, start with a tennis ball or something now and start getting the wrist and arm muscles working.  You will "die" from the ache  in the arms and wrists when you first start milking a cow.  especially getting the right rhythm to efficiently get her milked.  My arms ache for about a week until I get my stride, when a cow first comes fresh.  And to think I used to milk 4 everyday,  twice a day, and make butter and sell buttermilk and butter and feed calves and pigs.  Now I let the calves do the milking and only milk enough for the house.


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## Pastor Dave (Dec 13, 2017)

@farmerjan, my Dad used to have such grip. As a pre teen and teenage boy, I would offer to play Mercy with him. He wouldn't use his all, but he could drop ya fast making you say mercy pretty fast. I would ask him how he got such good grip. He would say from milking. I reminded him they had milkers. He said the power went out a lot!


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## farmerjan (Dec 13, 2017)

Pastor Dave said:


> @farmerjan, my Dad used to have such grip. As a pre teen and teenage boy, I would offer to play Mercy with him. He wouldn't use his all, but he could drop ya fast making you say mercy pretty fast. I would ask him how he got such good grip. He would say from milking. I reminded him they had milkers. He said the power went out a lot!



HA HA on the power going out alot.  
When I had my bad car wreck in 1989 and had to have a tendon re-attached in the right hand, and a totally smashed bone in the left middle finger, plus a C-2 fracture and a hole in my skull you could drop an egg in, (it took 70 stitches to re-attach my scalp),  I spent alot of time in physical and occupational therapy after all the surgeries.  You did the typical squeezing the ball and such to start getting some strength back.  As soon as all the open wounds were heeled, I  did what they "assigned" me every week, plus pushed it a bit.  Then, as soon as I could, I went out and started milking the cow again.  It took forever at first and god bless my very patient cow.  But after a few weeks they said they couldn't believe how well I was getting along with my exercises.  I finally fessed up and said it had little to do with the exercises and more to do with milking the cow by hand.  It gave me back coordination and strength, dexterity, and I was determined that I wasn't going to be a cripple.  
I was supposed to get back 60% functional use of the hand but when they did the tests at the end of the therapy, they said I had 90% functional use and that is was a small miracle.  They tied the severed pinky tendon to the tendon on the ring finger and they work mostly in tandem but I have actually gotten some separate movement in the pinky I was told was "impossible."  Don't ever tell a stubborn Yankee female something is impossible....
Yep, hand milking is good for the therapy end of it. And the calcium from good raw milk also astounded them as they were going to put a plate in my head and said the skull bone regrew to cover the hole and that aside from an indentation you can feel,  it is solid.   
I do have a pretty good grip in my hands too.  I haven't been milking much, but hope to get back to it more.  To me it is good "therapy" for the soul to quietly sit next to a cow, your head in her flank, and just the rhythm is very relaxing to me.  My son says I am nuts.


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## Pastor Dave (Dec 13, 2017)

@farmerjan, not trying to make light of what was a serious incident, but my pinky fingers pretty much move in tandem with my ring fingers all the time. No dexterity. 

You are a walking miracle by the sound of it, and if there can be therapy dogs that soothe folks that pet 'em, why not a therapy cow?


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## farmerjan (Dec 14, 2017)

@Pastor Dave.  No offense taken.  The thing with the pinky finger.  If you lay your hand flat on a table, then lift up your pinky independent of the rest of your fingers. Mine doesn't hardly move on my right hand but the left works fine. The tendon controls that movement and without the tendon working, the pinky would have always "hung down" so to speak.  The muscles control the making of a fist and such.  So by tying the pinky tendon into the ring finger, it gave me some control to not have the pinky always sticking down and getting caught on stuff.  Most people, like you said, never notice because the pinky and ring finger work pretty much together.  
Funny the things you learn through accidents etc. 

Yep, therapy cows.... bet there are alot of the city people who would get better just thinking they might have to go out and work with a cow.... I can just imaging their faces.... yet to me it was heaven just to get back home and see my animals.


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