People have been asking me what a typical day at Bobolink is like. The short answer is there is no typical day. I could have to work a farmer’s market or an event — serving up tastings. I might have to take care of some field work, such as mowing, weeding, or setting up electric fences. Mostly, though, I’ve been milking the cows and making cheese. What will follows over the next few posts, then, is a “typical” day of milk and cheese duty. Today, fetching the cows.

7:45 am - Everyone on milking meets at the house for breakfast and coffee. Usually, breakfast is toast or a cheese croissant, with the occasional farm-fresh egg for some variety. We talk over the plan for the cows — which field they’re in now; where we need to take them next — and then head out to get them in.

8:15 am - By this time, we’re usually heading out to fetch the cows. Depending on how many people are on cow duty (usually three) someone will stay in the creamery to set up the milking system and get everything ready for cheesemaking. Other times, we’ll hook it up and then all head out together.

The milking system is basically a pipeline that runs from the barn into the creamery. On the creamery end, the milk flows into a large Pyrex jar. When that fills, it empties into another pipe and flows through a filter and into the cheese vat. Setting up the system is really just a case of inserting a new paper filter, connecting the pipe from the jar to the vat and visually checking to make sure everything is in place.

Fetching the cows is a walk out into whatever field they’re currently feeding on and rounding them up. Some days, this is easy. They’ll all be in a big group and patiently waiting for us to lead them to milking. This seems to happen most often when we’re a little later than usual fetching them or if there isn’t a lot of good grass for them to eat. On other days, though, rounding them up can take some doing. If they’re in a big pasture, they could be scattered in all different areas, making for quite a bit of walking to get them all moving together where you want them. Sometimes, they’re just lazy.

Driving a cow isn’t really that difficult; it’s really just a case of getting behind them and moving them along, shouting a little, waving your arms, sometimes hitting their behinds with a stick. As could be expected, some cows are more cooperative than others. Nudge, for instance, has a reputation for bopping people with her head (hence the name). For this reason, she has a bell around her neck so you can hear if she’s sneaking up behind you. She hasn’t really gone after me at all, but I have seen her go for others.

Once the cows are all moving in the right direction, they pretty much head straight to the barn. We just need to make sure that all the gates (really strings of electric fencing) are open where they need to be open and closed where they need to be closed. We make sure the way is open to the barn and get behind the herd and follow along, giving a little encouragement to those who need it.

When we get to the barnyard, the Kerry cows will often be the first into the barn and stand right in the doorway. This presents some problems, because the rest of the herd are intimidated by them; they won’t pass. It’s up to us, then, to get them out of the way. Once they’re cleared, most of the milking cows will enter the barn on their own accord and walk straight into their stanchions. We just have to lock them in. Others, of course, aren’t so easy. One old cow in particular, Coco, usually takes quite a bit of pushing and pulling to get her into the stanchion.

Right now, we’re milking 18 cows. The drys cows, bulls, and steers will either roam around the barn or the barnyard. Once all the milkers are locked in their stanchions it’s usually around 9:00 or so, depending on how cooperative the cows have been and how far we had to drive them. Once in, we get the milkers from the creamery and start the milking. More on this tomorrow.