Little Life Lessons

My husband milking a cow

Have you ever milked a cow before?  I mean the old-fashioned way?  As a midwesterner, born and raised in Wisconsin, you would think that farm life just comes with the territory.  But this really isn’t so.  I took my kids to a local farm today called Mulberry Lane Farm which basically gives people a hands-on experience with farm animals.  There were lots of fun things at the farm including milking a cow. 

Now, I had never milked a cow before so I had no idea what to expect.  I mean, as a former milk producer myself I can sympathize, in part, with the cow.  I can only imagine what it must be like to have hundreds of people try to get milk from her.  So, when the tour guide asked who wanted to give it a try, a little girl was first in line.  My family stood behind her.  She gave the cow a few tugs and milk immediately squirted all over the ground.  As the woman asked for the next person in line, the cow arched her back and let loose a huge shower of urine that nearly landed all over the little girl and the tour guide.  We were all taken aback at the sight.  Unshaken, the woman asked for the next milker.  No one wanted to touch the thing at this point, but my husband was a good sport as he stepped through the new puddle to try his hand at milking. 

Apparently, it was not as easy as the little girl had made it look because he could not get milk for the life of him.  My kids decided right then and there they wanted nothing to do with the whole experience and balked at the chance to milk the cow.  So much for the priceless picture of our little bumpkins on the farm!  But, as a midwestern parent, I grabbed hold of my little girl’s hand, let her over to the cow and grabbed hold of the udder.  The priceless moment was her realization of where milk really came from. 

Before this whole “farm” experience, she could easily tell you that milk came from a cow  Duh, everyone knows that!  But, as she watched her poor father try and express milk from the cow unsuccessfully, she asked me why the milk was coming out of the cow.  I laughed because I just realized she probably thought cows just delivered the milk or that they were somehow making it like lemonade in their barns.  She never realized that milk actually come from underneath the cow!   

I wonder how disconnected we actually are now from what we eat that some people would go their whole life not knowing where milk actually comes from other than the great cows in the sky that cook up milk in their “milk labs!”  I really enjoyed watching the milking process and especially the fact that Pat couldn’t get the milk to come out!  Now you know what I felt like trying to feed our newborns!  But, not to be outdone by the little girl, he promptly got back in line to try the cow again.  There was a great yee haw and a small victory dance when a small, white stream of milk came from “Beauty” the cow that day.  My husband became a milker!