More like spring

It was more like spring today- at least the snow was soft and melting a bit- look you can see bare ground aroung the summer kitchen where the milker ladies live. Polo discovered that the equipment storage shed gets nice and warm with the sun shining inside on the metal sides, he decided it was a great place to nap this morning. There was some soft mud in front of the barn and on the driveway where Garry was driving the tractor to load up the manure to take to the field (they are piling it there for spreading when spring really arrives- and it dries out.) I think he was trying to show Maxim that the job could be done faster- of course everything goes faster when Garry is driving! Victor was along for the ride, but was going to speak to a visitor that had walked up the lane.




Meanwhile Maxim was busy welding the supports (onto the stalls)for the lines for the vaccuum system for milking the cows with machines- the day will come sometime this spring. We need to get machines and a milk tank ordered and bought. Garry wants to see the one the company in Dnepro wants to sell him before ordering- it looks really short and flat in the flyer they emailed, so he wants to see one in person. I took a photo of the pipes all welded together when I went out this afternoon. It looks a little short- but maybe they were thinking of short people milking the cows- I remember how far I had to reach up on my toes while milking with the pipeline in the old tie stall barn!
The pictures of the vaccuum line are at the bottom of this post, along with one of the four heifer calves that were born in our January heifer calf streak. The big December heifer calf is closer to the door, along with Zera's bull calf from October.

Yana decided to move the calves she bought from us over to her parents place (she bought so much milk for them besides buying the two calves that she got a very small paycheck this month)- Victor drove her and the calves there this afternoon- they put plastic in the back of the Lada and tied their feet so they couldn't jump around - I didn't check how it looked when they got back- at least one calf was trying to flood the back of the car before they left. Max had gone to get traveling papers for them earlier in the week at the mayor's office because the original plan was to move them all the way to her parents new place about a 2 1/2 hour drive instead of ten kilometers! Did you know if the police stop you in Ukraine you have to prove the stuff in your car is yours, so if you don't have papers proving ownership or a receipt you could be in big trouble.