Skip to main content

Holstein seen at Montana Dairy

It's a cool, sunny day here on the Knolltop. The winds of Fall are beginning to blow, it was only 44 this morning! I wore shorts under my overalls but I didn't take my sweatshirt off at all, which means it was cool..very cool.

Okay, yesterday Pryorvu told us something that doesn't seem to have the rest of the cow world stirred up as much as our news over the weekend. My sister, the horse breeder, music teacher, homeschool mom, choir director, mother of five.....boys..... wife of a cabinet maker and over all wonder woman is now a milkmaid! Well, that makes her sound like she runs around in a skirt with an apron milking cows, which is highly inaccurate.

I told you about her wonderful little retail business where she milks her cows, puts in in jars and sells it to her food co-op customers for $7.00 a gallon. This business began with her middle son and one 4-H cow, like so many dairies around the country, and has now grown to a small herd of Ayrshires, a real live milk house, two commercial size refrigerators and I don't know something like 200 glass gallon jugs! Not really that many, but there are a lot of jugs!

My parents went out a few weeks ago for a visit and my mother, who loves and appreciates a well designed, clean, efficient milk house, has talked about nothing else since she's been back. (Another slight exaggeration)

But now the real news is....THEY BOUGHT A HOLSTEIN! I'm so glad they've finally seen the light and gotten a real milk cow! (I know, I know, I'm asking for it now!)

The amazing thing is not that they have a Holstein and we have two Jerseys but it's that we both grew up on the same farm where we had Holsteins, Jerseys, Brown Swiss and Ayrshires. My sister, Ginny choose music as her major in college and went off to be a teacher. I went to college to be an animal science and ag com major and was going to be... well, a wife and stay at home mom. And here we are years later both stay at home moms, with husbands that are both self-employed and we are milking cows! Now that's a hoot!

I've got salsa to make...and I'd better get on it!

Comments

Anonymous said…
My dear Liss, Yep, you asked for it so here goes--out of that very colorful herd you were raised withyou were not the one with black and white cattle. Seems to me that you picked a very nice red and white AYRSHIRE and from her you had a very classy herd of cattle who did very well in the show ring and very well in the barn also. We had a great time showing them although we didn't know much about what we were doing at first. Out of all the breeds that we had, they were my favorites and still are. I,m so glad that each of you kids had your own opinions about what breed you wanted for 4-H cause then we got to experience nearly all of them and it was great. A little color in a herd is great! Love ya, mom
Anonymous said…
Mom's are always mothers, proud of their children no matter what. Thanks for sharing. Even Uncle's are pretty good back up Dad's, always there for support.

Popular posts from this blog

Big bucks spent at Butlerview Sale

Good morning from the Knolltop . It's balmy here! When we went across the road at 4:30 this morning it was 45 out and the temp is climbing...yes it smells and feels like spring and I love it....but I know it won't last. Because no one else on the web has decided to report on it, I will give a tidbit of the Butlerview Parade of Perfection Sale that happened last weekend in Elkhorn Wisconsin. The sale averaged $19,845 on 124 lots and the sale gross was....are you ready.....sit down for this one.....$2,460,800.00! Amazing isn't it? There were buyers from 23 states and Canada and the high seller was Lot 8 at $190,000 purchased by Triple Crown Genetics, Kingsmill Farm & Gene Iager . The next highest consignment was Lot 1 at $155,000 purchased by David Ludwig of Illinois and the third highest was Lot 46 at $96,000 and Mike Garrow & Gerald Todd went home with that bargain. Apparently it was a high intensity sale with well over 800 people in attendance. I just w...
JW is at it again with marketing goodies for his Senior Trip. And this is what he left on my stove after his entrepreneurial chocolate fest! Monday he bought the molds and chocolate and made some samples to take to school. Tuesday he took his pretty packages of goodies and handed them out, took the orders and sold $96 worth of chocolates! With the pretty boxes and bags his Nana sent up from Georgia, he melted his chocolate, put them in molds, stuck them in the freezer, tapped them out of the molds and put them in some fancy boxes and bags. This morning he took a laundry basket full of bags and boxes to deliver at school. I'm amazed at how a little packaging can take ordinary chocolate...and I mean ORDINARY...we're not talking Dove or Cadbury ....ORDINARY chocolate and make it into something people will buy. Just amazing!

Table Linens

Good Morning from a cool and kind of cloudy Knolltop! Wasn't that elf thing funny? I had a friend from PA send that to me and I laughed for at least 10 minutes. Then when I collected myself, I made one with my kids and me. You can only have five elves, so I didn't stick Bobby in...I should have! What a hoot! When the kids got home they watched it and we all laughed together! Then while we were milking we were trying to do the dance moves...of course we weren't nearly as good in our barn clothes as we are in our elf outfits! I said I would share a little more of thanksgiving, so I will now. Today's topic is simple. Linen. More specifically, linen tableclothes. My mom and I love linens and she has a boatload of old linens her mom gave to her. She loves to starch and iron them and hang them up to admire. I have to admit, there is nothing better than a freshly starched tablecloth. Then it was time to set the table for Thanksgiving we practially had a tablecloth unveiling. S...