1 #4
Louane immediately tugs on her lead rope and delivers a sharp blow with a wooden stick to her left thigh, signaling her to follow.
Sarah, struggling but determined, moves forward on her front hooves and knees, following Louane out of the room and turning right.
She discovers a well-lit corridor lined with several doors; on either side are the entrances to the five stalls Gwendal has already fitted out.
Opposite the changing room, a door leads to the milking parlor.
At the far end of the corridor, a temporary door blocks the way, marking the limit of this initial phase of construction.
Gwendal plans to extend the corridor and build additional stalls later as the herd grows.
Everything has been carefully crafted from local pine.
The stall doors are solid wood up to a height of 1.20 meters, topped by wooden bars reaching 1.60 meters, leaving open space above that extends to the ceiling.
Similarly, the partitions between the stalls are made of solid wood but stop at a height of 1.40 meters.
The door to the first stall on the right—located next to the changing room—stands open.
Louane guides Sarah into it with light taps of the stick against her thighs and flanks to show her the way.
Sarah’s stall measures six square meters: two meters wide by three meters deep.
At the back of the stall lies her bedding: a duck-feather mattress wrapped in a large piece of burlap.
This is covered by a removable, washable cream-colored linen cover.
Once Sarah is inside her stall, Louane removes her halter and hangs it on the hook provided on the left partition; she then leaves the stall and secures the door behind her with two latches.
Through the bars, she casts a final glance at her young cow, who is surveying her new quarters—all while continuing to shout in English, that barbaric language, demanding to be set free and let out.
She will use her time here to learn French—or at least to recognize her breeder’s words when she is spoken to.
Louane returns to the farmhouse and finds Gwendal, who has been watching the scene on the laptop screen.
Louane: "Everything is going well so far. I’m going to prepare a meal for Sarah; I’ll bottle-feed her, just like we do with some young calves. This blend of whole milk, wheat, corn, and rye—with a touch of honey for flavor—should really appeal to her."
Gwendal: "That Jersey has a lovely shape—a fine rump and a nice udder."
Louane: "The shape of her rump is slightly accentuated by the diaper she’s wearing, but I’ll grant you that—she does have a fine rump. As for the udder, it should be even more generous once she’s in production. I just hope her suit is stretchy enough to accommodate a somewhat larger udder."
Louane checks the kitchen clock. It is almost noon; time to take Sarah her bottle of cereal and a bottle of water downstairs.
When Louane is in the cellar, she does not need to open the door to Sarah’s stall.
Gwendal, ever the engineer, has installed hard, transparent plastic tubes that pass through the door, angled downwards at 45 degrees.
They are sized just right to slide a bottle in.
The bottle protrudes ten centimeters on the other side of the door; the body of the bottle is stopped at the end of the pipe, leaving only the teat exposed.
On the outside, the bottle sticks out of the tube, making it easy to grab and remove.
Louane slides the one-liter cereal bottle into the right-hand tube and the same type of bottle, filled with water, into the left-hand one.
Having heard the noise behind the door and glimpsed Louane’s face through the bars, Sarah resumes her pleading and threats—all to no avail.
Louane leaves the corridor and then the cellar to join Gwendal and observe the Jersey cow’s behavior with him.
The cow has been pacing in circles in her stall for a while now.
She goes to inspect the two teats protruding from the stall door—positioned exactly at the right height for her mouth while on all fours.
She doesn’t touch them for the moment, continuing to call out for help in English every now and then.
Fifteen minutes later, Louane goes back down to retrieve the cereal bottle Sarah hasn’t touched, leaving the water bottle behind.
She places the bottle in the milking parlor refrigerator and heads back upstairs.
Gwendal and Louane have lunch while keeping an eye on the computer screen to monitor Sarah’s every move.
She sat back against the stall partition and tried to bite her jumpsuit at the wrists to tear it, but she couldn't get a grip because the suit fit so snugly against her skin—meaning she ended up biting her own flesh in the process.
Louane decided to climb back down, however, and put the halter and bit back in Sarah’s mouth to prevent her from damaging her beautiful, brand-new jumpsuit.
After lunch, even though he found it hard to tear himself away from the sight of the farm’s first Jersey cow, Gwendal had to head back to work; he had wheat to harvest that afternoon.
Louane kept the computer screen in front of her and continued her own work.
She had set up a company to collect breast milk and sell it officially to the Rennes University Hospital, which had shown great interest after she contacted them.
Through her company’s website, Louane had registered breastfeeding women who wanted to sell their surplus milk—a welcome source of extra income given the expenses involved in having a baby.
She would make collection rounds using the refrigerated van they had just purchased and drive to Rennes three times a week to deliver the milk.
In just the two weeks since the website launched, Louane had already recruited three young women interested in selling their milk.
She had met them and provided the necessary equipment: breast pumps and compliant storage bottles.
They were required to keep the milk refrigerated until Louane came to pick it up.
She was set to make her first collection round the following morning; she only accepted candidates living near the farm or along the route to Rennes to optimize travel time and fuel costs.
Her background as a midwife had been a great asset in establishing contact with the hospital.
Agnès, the manager in charge of the maternity unit, told her she was keen to purchase as much milk as possible—both for her own facility and to supply other maternity units at French university hospitals, allowing her to ship the milk from Rennes wherever it was needed.
Louane is delighted with these first recruits, who will provide an ideal outlet for her livestock operation while also boosting her revenue.
Gwendal and Louane agreed to test their entire organization with their first cow before increasing the size of the herd in order to correct any elements that might have escaped them.
It is 4:00 p.m. when Louane goes down to the cellar again.
She goes to find Sarah's bottle of cereal in the refrigerator and places it back in its slot through the door of her stall then goes back up.
This time, once in front of the screen in her living room, she can see that the young cow begins to suck the bottle carefully and then with a little more energy.
She then moves to the bottle of water next to it and then sits down again.
Louane smiles, her young cow has understood that if she does not take the bottle it will be taken away quickly.
She will quickly prove reasonable and docile, she is convinced of it.
Louane knows precisely how to induce lactation even in a woman who is not pregnant.
This requires regular stimulation of the breasts in order to increase the production of prolactin as well as the release of oxytocin which will promote the flow of milk.
She will apply this technique on her new cow tomorrow by stimulating her udders using the milking machine that Gwendal installed in the newly fitted milking parlor.
He bought, at a good price, almost new equipment from a goat breeder, having chosen a professional reorientation, which will be perfectly adapted to the morphology of the new herd.
Louane prepares the evening meal for Gwendal and her.
At 7:00 p.m., she goes down to the cellar again.
She approaches Sarah's stall and notices that her cow is lying on her bed at the back of the stall.
She opens the two latches of the door and approaches Sarah.
The young cow asks Louane again in English what she is doing there and what will happen to her, visibly worried.
Louane simply attaches a leather collar around his neck and passes the carabiner of his lanyard through the steel buckle of the collar.
She takes her long stick in her right hand and extends it in her left and signals Sarah to get on all fours and come out of her stall.
She guides her young cow with her little sticks, towards the changing room, the door of which is already open.
The table remains at ground level and Louane makes Sarah climb onto it and motions for her to turn around and lie down on her back.
She attaches its front legs to the chains pre-positioned at the legs of the table before electrically raising the latter.
It is in fact a medical bed that Gwendal has perfectly customized for changing needs.
This done, Louane tilts Sarah on her side to have access to the zipper behind her back.
She takes it from the lower back and raises it to mid-back.
She makes Sarah lie on her back and this allows her to take the legs off the suit.
Cautiously, Louane positions herself laterally to avoid any unwanted paws from the Jersey girl.
She seems reluctant to give Louane a paw because she undoubtedly realizes that she risks a few blows in return if that happens.
Both legs of the suit removed, Louane places them on Sarah's torso.
She now has access to her plastic pants with snaps which hold in place the two anatomical layers which constitute the young cow's diaper.
Louane removes the snaps and spreads the front of the panties as well as the two anatomical layers.
The first is slightly wet, the second obviously intact.