a cow is a cow.

...or is it?
From the little bit of knowledge I've gathered over the years about cows, there is actually a lot more to know about them than "cow says moo"

Cows give us meat and milk and entertainment (think rodeo bulls)
and Elmers...
<sorry>

But seriously...there is a LOT that goes into cows and taking care of them.

For example...

Dairy cows are especially labor intensive
first, a dairy cow has to be bred and calve before she can fulfill thier life's purpose...
and if you think a beef cow eats a lot...
these ladies are eating machines...
seriously...there are entire computer programs dedicated to calculating the perfect, ideal, optimal milk producing rations for these girls!

Dairy farmers spend practically ALL of their time worrying about cow food and cow boobs.

Which reminds me...
...
...
...of myself.

You see, I decided long before I ever even became pregnant that come hell or high water I would be a mother who breast fed her babies.
And boy am I.
Seriously if I were a cow I'd be a Holstein...or maybe a Guernsey...no...a Jersey...yeah they're better suited for warm weather plus they produce more milk per pound of body weight than other breeds...so they say.

Here is a list of things a dairy cow & I have in common.

1)  A dairy cow drinks 20-50 gallons of water...almost a bathtub full each day...while I drink about 40 Nalgene bottles of water a day plus 1-2 mugs of coffee plus 1-2 glasses of milk.

2) A dairy cow eats an average of 20 pounds of feed and about 35 pounds of silage (kinda like hay) a day...thats a total of about 55 pounds of food...I think if you took me to a either a good Italian or sushi restaurant I could totally match that...

3)  An average amount of milk produced by a dairy cow is 6 gallons... you totally should have seen our freezer full of bags of frozen booby milk about two months ago- we were running out of space...and its a stand up deep freezer...

4)  The average dairy cow weighs 1400 pounds...I'm sorry to say I'm pretty close to that...(see #2 above)

5)  The most commonly used appliance for a dairy cow is this:

The most commonly used appliance for me is this:

6)  I kinda know how she feels...uncomfortable.

7)  The cow's gestation period is 9 months...ie thats how long baby calf and baby Caleb cook before birth.

...cute lil babies!

aw...

how...

sweet!

yep!

"ewww..."

"pwease no more mommy & daddy!"

"hey!  I can do it aw by mysewf!"

so sleepy

So as I'll just say that this nursing thing is incredibly rewarding 

although I'll also admit it is somewhat awkward...

and well...wierd for me at times...

like when I call my husband Tuesday morning after two stressful, worrysome week of poor milk production...
...and two weeks of taking fenugreek to stimulate my milk
<which come to find out also stimulates sweat glands...faaabulous....>
and force-chugging as many fluids as humanly possible...and many many bathroom breaks
<which is not good when you are on a 10-12 hour roadtrip with MY hubby>

...called him to tell him "They're baaack!"

Honestly I've never been so excited to use the word engorged...

...because that is not a pleasant word.  

It's one of those words that make you say...eeeew.

But I said it with glee as I told my dear hubby that baby boy would not have to be put on formula after all!  

YaY!

In closing...

some cute pictures...

of a cow- dog...

not the herding kind of cow dog

of cow cupcakes...

from thecupcakeblog

       ...because who doesn't love cupcakes?