For some people, this seems crazy

I want you to imagine for a moment what it would be like only having to show up for milking once per day…………….

Imagine the benefits of less power bills, milk at a time of day that suits, you will be free to go to the footy, sleep in, stay at the wedding, less traffic up your laneways therefore less maintenance on the laneways, less feet problems, less work load, less maintenance on dairy equipment and the list probably goes on. Just sit with this for a moment and feel how it makes you feel. What is coming up for you? Is there fear of what people would think? Is there anxiety because this is what we’ve always done? Is there a feeling of guilt for being lazy? Is there the thought that my cows will suffer? Is there the feeling of what would I do with my day? Will there be an increase in mastitis?  

Is there also a deep feeling of joy, relief, like you could actually have a life that you want. Where you can attend the children’s sports day, pick the kids up off the bus, not be so wrung out and stressed all the time. Less pain in your body, more vibrancy for life. You know you deserve to live the life you dream of, it does not have to wait until retirement; if you make it to retirement. We have been programmed to work hard, have limited involvement with our families, not to have days off or sleep ins, or even feel guilty about having a nap in the day time. It’s high time we started looking after ourselves and our families and enjoying most moments of everyday, not some moments, some days.     

Is there the fear of less money coming in from less milk! Now for some of you with high producing cows, pedigree/show animals this may seem ludicrous. It also might light you up at the thought of an easier life for yourself, your family, your animals and the land. IF it does light you up, then you need to seriously consider changing things. I have a person in my life that owns his own plane. He also owns a dairy farm and a truck company. He watches people fly his plane over his farm as he rents the plane out and is only 10 hours off being able to fly it himself. I asked him if he could click his fingers and be/do anything in the world, what would it be? Straight up, he said be a commercial pilot. When I asked what was stopping him, he said time and money. Well, he would have all the time in the world and plenty of money if he sold both businesses. It’s crazy that he may never achieve his dream. I think there is more stopping him, like anxiety and depression. I also think that depression comes on when people aren’t following their dreams or true calling and anxiety is putting ourselves into situations we don’t want to be in but continue to put ourselves in because we are also programmed to feel guilty about putting ourselves first. So we continue to go to parties that we don’t really want to be at or social events that don’t resonate with us. If only we could dig deep, think of the things that bring us joy and set our lives up to be joyous.

I propose for you to write a list of things that really make you joyous……… It can be anything like dancing, laughing around a campfire, watching a movie, having a warm bath, riding the motorbike around the cows, walking thru the cows; if this is one, I want you to feel deeper inside yourself for what is it about the cows that brings joy. Maybe it’s their energy and calmness. Then feel into the things about the activities that actually bring you joy and fill your energy tank up. Is it the connection with people, the energy of the fire, the energy of nature, the gorgeousness of the being that is a cow. Cows energy is a very healing and huge energy. I have heard that it takes 7 years of being out of a cows energy to adjust to not having them around! That alone is scary if there is a consideration for getting out of dairying.

There are always ways around everything. You always have a choice. If it was to get out of dairying and you love the energy of the cows, then set up your life so that you have at least one cow around you. After doing the joy list, think of ways to do those things in your everyday life and set it up. You are your own master. If it’s sitting around a campfire, then start having fires in your yard or make Sundays a day to light a fire by a river or what ever it is, just start doing it more and see how your health and clarity changes.

So back to milking once per day. There will be certain times of the year where it will pay to send more milk away, therefore pay staff and the extra costs. But there will be certain times of the year where it will not pay to have staff and send extra milk away. Maybe there could be a consideration and experiment for once per day milking thru Summer (in Australia) when the water prices are huge therefore you won’t have as much pastures or water use. In Australia there is a winter incentive milk price. So people could think about majority Autumn calving and once per day milking towards the Summer months and maybe, just maybe a dry period over Christmas Yay Yay Yay!!

My children are up now and my attention keeps being interrupted so I will sign off for today. Have fun with discovering your joys and finding ways to bring them into your everyday life as a way of living, not something that is saved for weekends, special occasions or retirement.

Thanks for taking the time to read.