Any East Tennessee Chicken lovers here?

[RedRidge]

Or very many of us crazy enough to milk wet animals when it's only 35 degrees. Glad I'm only milking one right now. ;-)

Which one are you milking? I Know exactly what you mean.

Elle is being milked right now until March, then the 4 ewes from match thru July, then the end of July I dry off the ewes and milk Atti and Macree.
I'm also getting an extra gallon and a half once a week from a friend right now so i am making cheese with Elle's milk and drinking the extra. I only have to make cheese twice a week that way. I won't make butter again until spring since I have enough frozen.

 

[mymilliefleur]

Elle is being milked right now until March, then the 4 ewes from match thru July, then the end of July I dry off the ewes and milk Atti and Macree.
I'm also getting an extra gallon and a half once a week from a friend right now so i am making cheese with Elle's milk and drinking the extra. I only have to make cheese twice a week that way. I won't make butter again until spring since I have enough frozen.

Little Elle being milked.....that's hard to imagine, she was only a little calf when I saw her.

 

[RedRidge]

Elle is being milked right now until March, then the 4 ewes from match thru July, then the end of July I dry off the ewes and milk Atti and Macree.

I'm also getting an extra gallon and a half once a week from a friend right now so i am making cheese with Elle's milk and drinking the extra. I only have to make cheese twice a week that way. I won't make butter again until spring since I have enough frozen.

Little Elle being milked.....that's hard to imagine, she was only a little calf when I saw her.

She's a big girl now. Well... small compared to yours. Lol. This is her second calf. She's easy to milk and has a nice udder bit once she levels out i only take about a gallon from her.
How many are Ya'll milking now? You've gotten quite a few heifers over the last few years haven't you?

 

[mymilliefleur]

She's a big girl now. Well... small compared to yours. Lol. This is her second calf. She's easy to milk and has a nice udder bit once she levels out i only take about a gallon from her.
How many are Ya'll milking now? You've gotten quite a few heifers over the last few years haven't you?

We're milking the same three. all late lactation. yup we've had a streak of heifers lately. are you hand or machine milking? hand milking is easier in the cold since your hands stay warm.

 

[RedRidge]

Elle just freshened about a month ago so i haven't enough bothered hooking up the vacuum pump yet since I'm only milking her. Not worth cleaning. ;-)
I'll probably hook it up again when I'm milking 4 ewes... seems a fine line between the time of equipment cleaning and just using hands (assuming my hands aren't having any issues).
Since I separate calf at night and milk at 6am the first gallon is pretty quick flowing. Vac pump is more for backup if I get to where my hands are uncomfortable.
I'm making Mozz at least once a week right now because it's so easy to send that plus another gallon to college each weekend. ;-) I think she comes home every weekend just to get food. Lol

 

[The Colonel]

Crossville here. Located in between Knoxville and Nashville.

 

[RedRidge]

Crossville here. Located in between Knoxville and Nashville.

Welcome. One of my girls is down the road at TTU.

 

[JW12]

Hi gang! I'm in loudon too lol. I have talked to red ridge in here some in another thread.... Everyone else nice to meet you!

ETA: greenback to be more exact rather then just loudon

 

[JW12]

Also does anyone have any fertile eggs? My DD and I are wanting to do the New Year's Day hatch along and can't seem to find any other then my duck eggs which are being hid at the moment so they are even hard to find lol

 

[RedRidge]

More than 70 eggs in the bator right now for my F2s and BC1s... hope to shut the bator down for a month before I fire it up again after Christmas for normal hatching season in Jan and Feb. I dont usually hatch in the fall but was anxious to get these next generations on the ground.