2 #5
In six minutes, she is completely dry, all that remains for Louane to do is give her a new diaper and put her in a clean suit before taking her off for good and bringing her back to her stall.
The same operation is repeated with Alma, a point less docile as at each stage of her breeding since the beginning but who cannot escape the shower which she must still appreciate if she likes being clean at all.
Louane no longer has, for this evening, placed the bottles of the two cows for their evening meal and goes to prepare hers and Gwendal's.
The final plans for the barn include two changing rooms, two washrooms, a milking parlor, and fifty stalls.
The layout is symmetrical, except for the single milking parlor.
The washroom Gwendal built is located in the center of the cellar; the second one will be positioned opposite it to simplify plumbing and drainage connections.
The second changing room will be at the far end of the corridor, just before the exit leading through the shed.
At dinner that evening, Gwendal mentions that he plans to continue construction with the next five stalls before building the second changing room.
Louane: "Yes, that works well; besides, we can always use the washroom to change a cow if the need arises."
Louane tells her partner that the two cows' first outing to the pasture went smoothly and that she is eager to welcome her new cows.
Towards the end of dinner, she receives a call from Lo?c.
He informs her that he has an opportunity to secure the two German cows that very night and asks if she is ready to receive them.
Louane confirms she is, and Gwendal offers her a coffee, anticipating a long night ahead waiting for Lo?c’s arrival.
Louane wants to manage her herd independently, but she doesn't mind Gwendal helping out when the new cows arrive—specifically to help bring them down to the barn—even though Lo?c will be there too.
Louane reflects on her conversation with Gwendal during dinner.
She hadn't realized just how right she was when she mentioned that the washroom could also serve as a changing room.
With the two Holsteins arriving tonight, she plans to put one in the changing room and the second in the washroom.
The couple settles in to watch a movie while they wait, after Louane checks her computer to ensure everything is quiet down in the barn.
The jumpsuits for the two Holsteins arrived yesterday; there will be no need to use Sarah and Alma’s—which is fortunate, as theirs are currently dirty and won't be washed until tomorrow.
Louane makes a mental note to plan for three jumpsuits from the start once the money starts coming in a bit more.
It isn’t a total surprise for Louane, as she has already seen the two Holsteins in candid photos taken by Lo?c.
The two cousins look quite different: one is a brunette with short hair, the other a blonde with long hair—and both are very pretty.
Louane knows Lo?c won’t be in touch before he arrives and will almost certainly leave his mobile phone at home.
There is no risk of his Volkswagen bus being tracked; it is an older model without GPS or other electronic tracking devices.
Speaking of trackers, Louane is still waiting for the cowbells and GPS trackers she ordered for the cows' collars.
They will provide an extra layer of security for locating her cows, especially when they are out in the pasture.
The supplier promised delivery for tomorrow.
She ordered ten bells and ten trackers to get a good price and have some spares on hand.
It is nearly two in the morning when Lo?c’s bus pulls into the farmyard.
When he opens the back, he reveals the two Holsteins to Louane and Gwendal; they are asleep, securely bound, and lying in the rear of the vehicle.
The brunette is named Hilda, the blonde Anneliese.
Louane lets the boys take Hilda and carry her down to the changing room to place her on the changing table.
Louane follows to undo her bindings and handcuff her front legs to the table.
Once that is done, she opens the bathroom door so Lo?c and Gwendal can place Anneliese on the table.
Louane gives Lo?c a peck on the cheek before he leaves and tells Gwendal he can go to bed; she has the situation under control.
Just as she did with Hilda, Louane unfastens the deeply asleep Anneliese and then handcuffs her front paws to the table.
The light in the hallway and the coming and going woke Sarah and Alma; they began talking to each other and rose up on the tips of their hooves, trying to see what was happening in the corridor.
Since the walls of the changing room—like those of the washroom—extended all the way to the ceiling, they could neither see nor hear what was going on inside.
Louane decided to start with Hilda, as her changing gear was kept in the room of the same name, and the two Holsteins' suits had been prepared in the changing room’s wardrobe.
The changing room was brightly lit, and the beautiful German cow was still fast asleep.
A faint aroma of Breton galettes told Louane that the two Holsteins had almost certainly been brought in by Lo?c after their evening shift at the crêperie where they worked.
It was a timely reminder for Louane that these two foreigners had taken jobs that belonged to Breton women.
After all, it would never occur to us to go serve beer and sauerkraut in Munich!
Without delay, Louane cut off the young German cow’s clothes, put a diaper on her, and then slipped her into her suit—which featured a black-and-white piebald pattern with the sharply defined spots characteristic of that German breed.
She made sure the cow’s front legs were securely cuffed to the changing table, then gathered the necessary equipment to do the same for Anneliese in the washroom.
Once finished, she went back upstairs to bed.
Despite the short night, Louane had no trouble getting up at 6:30 AM; she was highly motivated at the thought of seeing her two new cows again—after all, her herd had just doubled in size!
She shared her computer screen with Gwendal over breakfast, both of them curious to see how their first two Holsteins were doing.
Both cows were wide awake and bellowing at the top of their lungs.
Hilde thrashes so violently on the changing table that she would have fallen off had her front paws not been securely fastened by her restraints.
Gwendal: "Your German girls seem to have quite a temper, Louane—especially the brunette, clearly."
Louane: "Let me remind you of my criteria: foreign tourists—very pretty, but with a bad temper or an unpleasant personality. So, it’s hardly surprising in the case of these two Germans."
Gwendal smiles, plants a kiss on his girlfriend’s lips, and heads off to work.
Louane prepares the bottles and heads down to the barn.
She starts by changing and milking Sarah and Alma before feeding them.
She then moves on to Anneliese. The latter calls out to her in French the moment she enters the wash area, demanding to know what she is doing there—tied up and dressed like that.
Louane makes no reply; she simply lowers the table and unfastens Anneliese’s front legs.
Anneliese tries to stand up to flee through the open doorway but painfully realizes she cannot stay upright.
Louane gets her onto all fours and guides her to the stall opposite Alma’s, locking her inside despite her protests.
She then moves on to the changing room. Hilda seems just as combative, kicking out her hind legs toward Louane the moment she enters the room.
She loudly berates the young breeder, using every French swear word she seems to know.
Louane circles around her and lowers the changing table, unfastening her so she doesn't accidentally fall off and get hurt.
Once the table is down, she unfastens the young German cow, who—like her cousin—cannot stand.
Even on all fours, she tries to strike out with her right front hoof.
Fortunately, the hooves are made of thick fabric rather than the hard horn found on Gwendal’s cows.
Louane remains calm, delivering precise taps with her stick to settle the young cow down.
After some effort, Louane finally manages to get her out of the changing room and, more importantly, into her stall.
The two Holsteins are in adjacent stalls and begin frantically communicating in German until they hear English being spoken with Sarah and Alma.
The exchange takes place in English—somewhat chaotically at first, then more smoothly, as it is not easy for four of them to converse without seeing one another or constantly interrupting.
Louane slips the two bottles into the stall gates for Hilda and Anneliese before heading back upstairs to grab another coffee.
Fifteen minutes later, she returns to remove the empty cereal bottles belonging to Sarah and Alma, and to put away the untouched bottles meant for Hilda and Anneliese.
Louane goes back up to her living room to review a summary of the interaction between her four cows; unsurprisingly, a question-and-answer session is underway between the two Holsteins on one side and the Danish Red and the Jersey on the other.
With no false modesty, the two veterans are explaining quite bluntly to the newcomers that they are now dairy cows.
To avoid wasting time and to assert authority over two strong-willed animals right from the start, Louane decides that udder stimulation for the two Holsteins will begin this very evening.
In the meantime, the day is going well. At noon, Louane changes the straps on her two Holsteins for the first time.
It still takes significantly longer with Hilda, but Louane knows her cow will soon tire of the stick-whacking.
From day one, she turns her two Holsteins out with the other cows; sitting in her deckchair, she can see four cows—the true beginnings of a herd.
Late in the morning, Louane receives the package she had been waiting for: bells with leather collars featuring GPS trackers concealed within the buckles.
They are magnificent and have a lovely ring.
She fits them onto her four cows before letting them out into the pasture.
Now, only Gwendal’s cows are without bells as they move around the field.