Had a good day yesterday, after the fiasco of milking Bambi. She was rather difficult, wouldn't repeat the wonderful experience of Monday. She went up into the milking parlour, pooped, and left. In the lower barn she slipped in her poop, fell on her udder and cut it on her hoof, so she was dripping blood everywhere. Then we did some running past the barn door from the one side of the enclosure to the other, about 500 feet. Bill the Barber arrived, and came into the enclosure, which added to the consternation. The 2 new calves were milling around, the sheep were everywhere, Mabel was minding her own business and mama Bambi was hurting and grumpy. Eventually got her in to milk, checked her cut and sprayed it with wound care, dipped her and let her go, then spent forever cleaning up all the poop, washing, rinsing, sterilizing. While the milking claw was in the sterilization bucket, one of the rubber hoses came loose, and it sucked water up into the vacuum pump. I heard a funny noise, looked up to see white smoke / steam coming out of the machine and dashed over to switch it off. Going to have to take it apart and clean it and dry it before I can milk again. Must remember to tell DH.
Betsy came over for her milk, we went out and picked apples for cider (that's what the Americans call fresh apple juice). Went out on the buggy with the long apple pickers, and found that we couldn't reach all the really good looking ones, so DH went and got the big tractor with the bucket, I climbed in and he lifted me up to pick apples. When he lowered me to put the apples into the back of the buggy, Anni wanted to join me so I pulled her up. The 2 of us were up in the sky. She was funny because she wanted to sit on top of me, and I had to push her away to stand and then she was catching the apples in her mouth as I put them into the bucket.
Cleaned off the cider press I bought on CL last year, and the little electric garden shredder that the guy used to chop his apple with, and away we went. Processed about half of the apples and had about 4 1/2 gallons of juice. Gave half to Betsy and haven't yet decided what to do with ours. Want to put more up for apple cider vinegar, DH would like to make some hard cider (the alcoholic kind) and I want to put up some juice and make some pie and can some for the Winter. Just remembered I still have a whole oven full of cooked beetroot that needs canning.
In the evening we walked out to see the cows. That stupid Boytjie has a plastic insulater piece stuck on his eyelid ! He obviously rubbed his head on a post, broke off the insulater and somehow got it attached to his eyelid like a clip-on earring. He won't let me near to pull it off, and it must be really bothersome in his eye. Well, that makes the choice easier on which one to butcher, Doofus gets to stay and be herd-sire, Boytjie gets frozen.
It was rather chilly, so DH made a fire in our outside fire-pit (he fixed it after I rode into it on the zero-turn mower) and we sat and chatted, then grilled marshmellows.
Bill came around again this morning, also helped get Bambi into the milking parlour, and DH had spoken to him about the deer I wanted. He'll shoot it, gut it, cut it up for us. I want the tenderloin whole to make biltong, and the rest ground up for dogfood for the Winter.