This morning bloomed sharp and cool, with whistling winds and bright, thin sunshine. However, for the past few days it has been blazing hot and soggy humid. We people have handled it pretty well. Lots of water and we're good to go. Been satisfying to get at least a little field work done.
However the cows hate the hot, and suffer the miseries of the damned. Many of them still have a little winter coat left on after the cold, wet, late spring we've had. When it hit ninety they stood with heads hanging, panting like bellows, and drooling. Milk production dropped by over a hundred pounds a day.
Tuesday night Liz clipped some of them, which helped a bit. Blitz was especially miserable though. She is a big old white show cow, a very spoiled baby. She got a prompt hair cut as soon as she came in the barn.
However, after milking she was still suffering, and stood alongside the milk house step, drooping like a hothouse flower. Alan had one of those light bulb moments and grabbed the milk house garden hose. Then he trained cold spray on Blitz's freshly clipped sides and back until sheets of water sluiced to the ground all around her.
She never even flinched. As a long time show cow she has had hundreds of baths and she knows what a hose is for. She stood there with a demeanor of sheer bliss for as long as he trained the spray on her. Later I gave her a rerun when he had to go scrape the alleys.
She didn't move until all the other cows were gone and the call of green grass overcame the call of the water.
Last night there she was at the end of milking, standing in virtually the same four hoof prints looking for another shower. Guess that must be the Blitz-0-Mat.
5 comments:
Lucky Blitz. I could have wished for somebody to spray me down a few times a day for the last few days!
ha.... and some people say cows are stupid... Ive never thought so...
Awwwww!!!
Tonight Bltiz will want a blanket!
June, it has been toasty...and then the deep freeze came back
Tina Marie, sometimes they do the dumbest things, but there seems to be a lot more going on in their heads than they might get credit for
JB, she was even smart enough not to stop last night when it was forty degrees. lol
Dani, she is a pip!
Linda, thanks, she is a very sweet cow
joated, boy, you got that right! We were digging out extra blankets ourselves. lol
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