A Good Word

It's time I had a good word about something and Tessie is the pick of the day.  Tess is the most well-behaved girl in the diminished herd, especially now that I bring her to the stand from her stall so she can't go walkabout in the pen (who trains whom around here?).  She seems so aware of her one horn and that amazes me since she's never seen a mirror.  Tess will head butt with the others at times, but always turns away enough not to skewer her mates.  When on the stand, her sense of proprioception allows her to put her head between the stanchions and under the crossbar and never touch either with her unicorn.  While she's been known to tip her cereal bowl on the ground occasionally (I think she was bribed by Percy), she's usually a neat-and-tidy eater, cleaning up every last dropped bit on the stand before leaving the room (while I wait).  Tessie doesn't stamp her feet while I'm milking.  To my recollection, she's only put a foot in the bucket twice in all these years, something I certainly can't say about Sheila.

If there were anything to complain about, it would be the orifices in her teats, and that is not her fault.  I know from the very first squeeze if it is going to be a good day or not.  Some days there is a fairly good stream, on others it is just a pitiful phffft.  Those are the days when I really have to work at my job.  It can add as much as a hundred or more squeezes to the usual three hundred to get the same amount of milk.  In comparison, Sheila takes about a hundred-fifty, maybe two hundred, and the amount is the same.  However long it takes, Tessie stands quietly until I'm finished.  She's not particularly needy or affectionate, doesn't want a butt rub and doesn't need to walk beside or push on me.  She's her own girl.

A little too warm for my liking, otherwise it was a good day.