Sweet, Sweet Success

Let the pics tell you the story. I finally got that machine on her and milked out 3 gallons and she only kicked once! I don't know if she just finally gave in, or if it was a combination of desperate tactics I employed this morning. I remembered this trick from the veterinary hospital I worked at in Idaho. When we would be giving a dog or cat their shots, we would tap them on their head. Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap. This usually distracted them from getting the shot because they were just trying to figure out why we were tapping their head!

So, picture this if you will:

I got Jules locked in the stanchion. I face her head instead of her rear, in order to protect my head, and stand backed into her just like a farrier would with a horse, only facing the wrong direction I guess. But her near hind leg is between both of mine. She really can't get any leverage to kick hard this way because I'm leaning right into her. Then I wash her udder and squirt a few jets of milk out of each quarter. She waves her foot around and kicks once without connecting with anything. Then I hugged my right arm around her barrel and thumped her side steadily while squeezing each inflation with the thunb and forefinger of my left hand and very gently attaching it to each teat. I couldn't believe it.

We got it done.

I was able to go on and take some cute pics of Juliette. She's so shiny and sweet! It's a gorgeous day, and things are looking up!