Thursday, July 30, 2015

Milking cows in Amando Lopez

A quick shout out to friend and fellow teacher, Alex, who lives and works in the community of Amando Lopez in the Bajo Lempa.   Long before school starts every morning, he and his dad are up to milk their herd of ten cows.  They make it look easy, but this a time consuming and involved process.  

Step 1:  Tie up mama cow's back legs so that she doesn't wander off or kick you.  Tie her calf to the fence off to the side so that it doesn't get in the way.

Step 2:  Have a seat and milk her for a couple minutes.



Step 3:  Untie the calf and let her over to drink for a couple minutes.


Step 4:  Repeat 3-4 times.  You milk, let the calf drink, you milk, let the calf drink... Um, did I mention that they have TEN cows?!



Aside from a lot of time and patience, you also need technique!  Of the approximately ten squirts that I personally handled, maybe two made it into the bucket.  The others went anywhere but the bucket, including onto Alex's shoes.  



By the way, YUM!  


Step 5:  Take the milk down the street to the lecheria and sell it.  


Done!   Thanks for letting us hang out with you, Alex! 

L.A.


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