WHERE DOES MILK COME FROM

I have had so many people ask me over the years, “why don’t you just hire some help?” My husband once went 9 years without a single milking off because we wanted to avoid the cost of labor. Because you really can’t just hire anybody. Because it takes someone who cares {a lot} to produce a high quality product. Like our milk. Because teaching someone else to know your cows the way he does is tough. 

The list of instructions would be long. Sweet Edith is first in the parlor. Pauline likes to linger and be talked to. That one is moody and has a swift left kick. This one has had 8 calves and is pushing 10 years old. It would be difficult to pass that information along to someone else. 

Because the truth is that your milk doesn't come from cows that just come through the barn and get a milking machine put on them. Your milk comes from cows that are well known. It comes from cows that have a name and personality {for real}. There are cows who have just had their first baby and some who we call “Granny” because they have been here for so long. Your milk comes from cows who have a loving home and from a farmer who knows everything about them. He knows their birthdays as well as he knows his own kids. He knows how many calves they’ve had and where that one got that scar on her front leg. Your milk comes from loved cows. One’s that often have a tear shed over them at the end. They are a part of our family. And that’s why we can’t just hire some body. Because it takes a special person to love our cows the way we do.