Milk sales

In yesterday’s photos you may have noticed our current milk cooling system. Garry has not yet located a milk tank (like at home with automatic refrigeration) so we are cooling milk the old-fashioned way- like most of Ukraine. Garry bought the water tank – and milk cans from the lady farmer who sold us the herd of cows. We are currently doing wage negotiation with the milker ladies, trying to find a way to pay them that everyone can agree on- they want to be paid 7 ½% of the milk sales each- Garry and Victor had understood that they were getting that much between them.
This morning the lady with the van was in to buy milk while it was still dark- last week she picked it up Friday evening, and then did not return until Monday at noon. She used it to make cottage cheese, which she sells in the market along with the milk. Garry found out that she has been selling at the market for 14 years, since she was eighteen.
There was a lot of milk as the other buyer does not come on the weekend either.  So Victor (and his mother-in-law) found people in the city that wanted milk, including his neighbour. So Victor will come out to pick up the milk from Saturday morning and afternoon to sell (and Friday night if it’s here).  He is coming later today as his sister, brother-in-law and mother came to celebrate his birthday.  
Before breakfast Garry got his cards up over the cows so they can go back in the same stalls. You can see them in the photos inside the barn- that big pile in the background of one photo is the pile of hay he's been bringing home. He got the ladies to write the names and their birthdates on them– turns out that a couple cows are ten years old and one is twelve. The cards also show how much milk they are giving and when they will be calving, which will help them get the right amount of grain. Five of the cows are due to calve near the end of December, and about a dozen in January so we will have a lot of dry cows soon. If you don't know- cows get a little vacation from milking for about 6-8 weeks before calving. However Zera the heifer is going to calve in about 2 weeks, and Garry is still looking to buy more cows.
Garry and his father were busy finishing up the steel on the front of the milkhouse. It was a bit tricky as not all the angles are quite straight and they were cutting with tin snips. Garry and Dad got the steel tacked on then drove to Zaporosia before lunch to get more screws- they had borrowed enough to get it up from the sides of the milkhouse (they are colormatched) They ended up with white instead of off-white, but got it all screwed down securely in case the wind blows hard.
Victor came about 6 o'clock with a cake that looks like a hedgehog and his daughter Dasha(she's ten). She had fun checking out the new baby kitten - it's a month old now. They had pizza with us and cake after we sang happy birthday. However Dasha got the present- Papa let her choose one of the boys baby hamster to take home. the little guy is all set up to go home in a 2 liter Pepsi bottle with the top cut off, complete with shavings, some food and a bottle cap of water, as soon as evening milking is finished as Victor needs to get 200 liters of milk for his orders, now they are on their way at 9:30- Dasha remembered her hamster but set down her bag with her cell phone in- guess we'll have to bring it tommorrow- wait-- in comes Dasha- she must have noticed before they got out to the highway!
By the way sorry about how dark some of the photos have been lately- I seem to have a flash problem with the camera- that's why you are seeing alot of outdoor shots- and no photos of the birthday cake!