The Country Mice

Two thousand cows. Two thousand remarkable, milkable, touchable cows. A pretty sight, if you like the bovine business.

Outside Dresden we had the great fortune to visit a cow co-op, as it were. The cows give their share, the farmers collect theirs. In a large indoor setting cows walk up a ramp, passing a little automatic hoof spray (a cross between a drive-through car wash and the airport’s 10-minute-manicure), and step on to a slowly revolving circular carousel which will eventually return them to the place they entered.

A worker hooks up each cow to a milking machine which collects, weighs, chills and then sends the milk to a giant storage tank. When the udders are empty the milking machine detaches and the cow heads back to the field for lunch. The cows are milked twice a day.

Younger calves, if female,  chow down on hay in one end of a pen. Young males in another.

The calves are inquisitive and calm, and certainly distinguish who’s who in the barnyard. Our little troupe was a cause for curiosity.

At this particular dairy co-op the farmers aim to have the operation self-sustaining by using methane produced by cow manure and rotting silage.

With two thousand cows. there’s a fair supply of both.

Now here’s a happy guy. Loves his job. Never calls in sick. Never complains. Oh yeah. Love my job, man.

And, sigh, we know. Destined to child bearing for the rest of our lives. Milk and babies, babies and milk. A mother’s lot.

In fact the cows are primarily artificially inseminated. For one thing, the farmer can control the genetics of the herd. However, if two separate attempts at insemination are unsuccessful, the bull is called in. Apparently it’s a solution with a high rate of success. El Toro is not employed more often because his rates are too expensive. Also it’s a waste of his millions of talents.

Gotta stop. Trying to keep this family-friendly, after all.

What’s a talent, Mummy?

These little guys and gals, at a couple of weeks, are kept on their own in clean pens in a sunny locale. They jump and skip and twist and are extremely curious.

And keen on salt!