so bittersweet

As I have said in a previous blog posting , we are a Century Farm. Actually it would be in April we are an " official " Century Farm. That is such a special feeling and one we are very proud of. And I am glad the cows will still ( probably ) be here on our farm that day . But it is also a sad feeling that one month we have finally made it to Century Farm status and the next month our dairy cows will probably be going out the door. We are a small family dairy farm , all these years it has been my husband and I and also all girls have helped when they can . We have also had help from family and friends when we needed it . But in the middle of the night if there was a problem , it was my husband and I out there at the barn or in the c0w pen. Maybe that was our problem , " they " say you need to get big or get out! We never got big and never wanted to . We have had some of our cows for years . A cow that is due in the next day or two is 9 years old. Nina is her name. We name all our cows . We have lots of cows named by our grandkids. Names like Jones ( from our grandson for Indiana Jones ) , Bluey ( named by gr.daughter for Blues Clues ) , Miley and Hannah ( named by our other gr.daughter for Miley Cyrus ) , Alexis and Kirsten ( named for our 2 gr.daughters ) and more. Our cows are part of our family. When the new people buy our cows are they going to give them a new name ? or just give them a number ? It makes me sad to think Bluey won't have our grandaughter to brush her down anymore. Will the new people treat our cows the same way we do ? The day our cow family leaves will be very hard on us. It brings tears to my eyes now to think about it . It also makes me so mad that because of the poverty level of the milk prices in 2009 we have come to this . The milk prices are improving but still are not where they should be . And all the politicians do is ---- lets study this and hold hearings ( which will take years and years of course !! ) . I know when our neighbor out the lane sold his cows , he also had a hard time. He told my husband he never slept at all the night before. And I am sure that will be the same for us. You don't live this way of life for all the years we have and not have a hard time with the life style change that will be coming .I don't know how hard it will be for us ..... seeing the cows loaded in the trucks and hauled away , but I think it is going to be a sad day for us and I know my husband and I both will have tears in our eyes and running down our face . I plan on keeping a day to day blog on here as it gets closer to the day our cows leave our barn and our life .