Milking
When I first moved to Ireland, I was living in the country for a few months. Behind the house was a large field, which would sometimes have cows grazing. I would see them when I hung my clothes on the line to dry, and watch them in the evenings as they went off to be milked. Obviously cows aren't milked by hand anymore, as it's too slow, so I was really curious about how they're milked now. Flash forward 2 years and I finally got to get up close and personal!
They definitely seemed to take their time walking back to the shed. Especially once they saw us. They would stop in the road and look at us as if to say "who the heck are you?!"
The thing that amazed me is how they all went through the motions on their own. When we walked into the building, they were already lined up, ready and waiting!
Cathal even let me milk one of them myself. Pure delight on my face.
But the best part was this one below. He told us to watch her, because she'd likely hang back and try to eat the scraps of food on the ground. Sure enough, she slowly edged in and started snacking away.
She is my spirit animal.
So the milk goes through the piping from the pumps to this glass container.
From there, it goes into this massive collection tank.
Once they're done being milked, they meander back towards the gate to head back into the fields.
As an extra bonus, check out this curly-headed bull below! You can't see his ring in this picture. But he was definitely staring us down (while the ladies came up and licked us through the fence)
I'm crazy grateful to have gotten so up close and personal with these lovely ladies that I've always seen in the distance!