Milking Jody

Last night I put Jody's calf in the stall, separating the two.  It was a noisy night around here, with Jody bawling at the top of her lungs.  You can understand her dismay:  She had just learned to love this baby, and now for all she knew, she would never see it again.  
This morning they were reunited in the barn.  As soon as Jody saw her baby, milk started streaming from all four quarters. I shoved the calf around to the cow's left side, put the kicker on Jody on the right side, and milked her two front teats (much bigger and easier to milk than the back ones) with no problems.  Jenny seemed to prefer sucking on the back teats, so she and I are going to get along great.  

three hours after their reunion this morning

Jody is not going to be a heavy milker.  If I had a commercial dairy, this would be bad news, but as things stand, it's wonderful.  I won't be pouring milk down the drain for six weeks, like I've had to do with Bonnie each year (of course I won't be making cheese, either).  I will milk only when we need milk, right from the start.  Jody is a very young heifer, only twenty-one months old, so chances are she will give more milk next year.  But I don't care whether she does or not.  

This would be a great time to put Jody and the calf up for sale.  A just-freshened heifer with a heifer calf would probably sell pretty easily... but I can't bring myself to part with these two.  Not yet, anyway.