Egon, we never had a cream separator of our own, but an uncle who had a small dairy herd had rigged up an electric motor and belt to his separator. We had to turn the crank by hand until it got its speed up to normal, then throw the switch for the electric motor to take over. And I've seen, but never used, the crank type churn, but sure had a lot of experience with the up and down plunger or paddle type. [img]/forums/images/icons/laugh.gif[/img] And I especially liked cranking that old ice cream maker. Milking the cow(s) was my job from the time I was 10 years old and it seems that we always had an old black tom cat that hung out around the barn and a gray female that hung out close to the house, but they were both right there with me when I did the milking, waiting to get their share.

So, squirt milk at the cats? Yep. How about when you were way down in the pasture and got thirsty and just go to the cow and squirt it in your own mouth? Our cows were pets, so they didn't mind at all.