Man doesn't consume beef cattle milk, true or false?

[Rafter S]

my grand dad always had Jerseys long ago when more attention was paid to percentage of fat. He like the jerseys better than a holstein and said holstiens gave water not milk. We always had a stainless steel pitcher of raw milk in the refrigerator and the top would all be cream. I used to get in trouble if I'd get up early and skim it off the top before my grandmother came down to the kitchen

There's a dairy near me that still runs all Jerseys. As far as I know it's the last dairy in Grimes county, and it used to have so many it was know as "The Land of Milk and Honey" (it's also home to some of the more prominent beekeeping operations in the country). It seems like just about every family that had 100 acres switched from farming cotton or corn to dairy back in the '50s and '60's. Now it's either beef cattle, or the land was broken up into smaller tracts.

 

[TexasBred]

Most of the dairy farms I test will run a herd average of 65-85lbs.... so 8-10 gallons per day per cow .... AVERAGE. Most of the jersey cows will average in the 55-65 lb range per day..... I have 2 farms that are averaging 90 lbs per day overall herd average... but that is exceptional.

Keep in mind those are not the typical "ol' bossy" in the back yard and living on grass. Those cows eat a huge amount of grain and roughage everyday usually in excess of 50 lbs of dry matter per day.

 

[TominTX]

Any type of cattle can produce milk for human consumption. We have often milked a dairy/beef cross for household milk. Water and river buffalo produce milk in India for their consumption and use in cooking. Yaks produce milk , as do camels and other mammals. The trick is for the animal to be quiet and tame enough to be able to milk it.
You will get alot more milk from a true dairy animal than you will from a true beef animal... but you can drink milk from an angus or a brahma just as well as from a holstein or jersey.

Reminds me of this... Hah!

 

[Ebenezer]

Keep in mind those are not the typical "ol' bossy" in the back yard and living on grass. Those cows eat a huge amount of grain and roughage everyday usually in excess of 50 lbs of dry matter per day.

And average cow life is likely 3+/- years.

 

[TexasBred]

And average cow life is likely 3+/- years.

Very true. The life of a dairy cow is very stressful.

 

[greybeard]

Reminds me of this... Hah!

 

[farmerjan]

Most of the dairies that I test are also conscious of cow life span..... on the bigger herds yes their life expectancy is shorter than on the smaller farms. Most bigger farms are also confinement type operations and concrete is hard on cattle. My smaller farms overall seem to have more cattle with more lactations.... and when you get into the registered herds they put a big value on longevity. But 3 lactations is more average which would make the cows in the 5 year old range.

Joke used to be here that farms would keep a few holsteins around to milk last so it would rinse out the milk lines. I have a couple of farms that the holsteins average 4-4.5 butterfat... with milk production average in the 70 lb range. There has been a shift back to having better butterfat from holsteins especially.

 

[farmerjan]

One of the biggest Jersey dairies here in Va has gone from over 200 milking to less than 40 as they sellout. Sad to see so many go out of business. I expect they will be completely out in the next month or 2. There was a seasonal grazing herd of mostly jerseys that just sold out also.

 

[Ferd]

Dad nearly always had a milk cow. One of the things that I remember from 60 years ago was the white water instead of milk in kindergarten. Usually a little Jersey, one Hereford Gurnsey cross. She gave more milk than the jerseys.
Tasty stuff!

 

[Rafter S]

Dad nearly always had a milk cow. One of the things that I remember from 60 years ago was the white water instead of milk in kindergarten. Usually a little Jersey, one Hereford Gurnsey cross. She gave more milk than the jerseys.
Tasty stuff!

We always had Jerseys. There weren't many Guernseys in my part of the country, and in any case a vet told me once "A Guernsey cow spends her whole life walking around looking for a place to lay down and die."

 

[Nesikep]

Very true. The life of a dairy cow is very stressful.

Depending on the place.. Most dairies that aren't stuck in the stone age seem to be pretty comfy places for cows... This guy shows you his facilities and what he does for cow comfort all the time.. He makes no bones about it, they're meant to be food and they stay as long as they're productive, he's got one that's 12 years old, he runs Hosteins

TikTok - Make Your Day

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TDF Honest farming in Tillamook OR has a herd of Jerseys, he's just in the process of building a new barn, I wouldn't mind being a cow there either.

I have a few beef cows I can milk, and sometimes do, after calving they can give LOTS of milk, and that's just eating grass and hay, I'm sure if I fed them a dairy ration they could do much more, and hold that production longer
She was easy to milk, just toss her a flake of hay, put the bucket under her and she'd behave really well, her momma, grandma, and entire family have been really good... There's 2 gallons right there!


Her calf never had a hungry day in his life, too lazy to even nurse



I saw this old school Simm cow at the sale barn, I'm sure she had quite the feed bill, but I bet she made a TON of milk!

 

[Little Joe]

For a good farm homestead type cow I've heard dexter is the way to go. Dual purpose, good for milking and beef, small and easy to handle and won't give alot of milk. I have a neighbor that has some, they look terrible, they don't take good care of them and I'm pretty sure they're inbred. I have a friend that has some and runs either a miniature hereford or lowline red angus bull on them, his cows and bulls look like regular beef cattle with sawed off legs. I'd guess his bulls in the 1200lb range and cows around 800.

 

[Nesikep]

For a good farm homestead type cow I've heard dexter is the way to go. Dual purpose, good for milking and beef, small and easy to handle and won't give alot of milk. I have a neighbor that has some, they look terrible, they don't take good care of them and I'm pretty sure they're inbred. I have a friend that has some and runs either a miniature hereford or lowline red angus bull on them, his cows and bulls look like regular beef cattle with sawed off legs. I'd guess his bulls in the 1200lb range and cows around 800.

I found I'd much rather have docile, large cows for ease of handling that schizo small ones! I've really never seen much for Dexters I cared for.. and how crouched over do you want to be when you milk? I've got big hands, so small teats are impossible for me to hold on to.

 

[Little Joe]

I found I'd much rather have docile, large cows for ease of handling that schizo small ones! I've really never seen much for Dexters I cared for.. and how crouched over do you want to be when you milk? I've got big hands, so small teats are impossible for me to hold on to.

You'd have to have a milking stand.

 

[dave_shelby]

One of the biggest Jersey dairies here in Va has gone from over 200 milking to less than 40 as they sellout. Sad to see so many go out of business. I expect they will be completely out in the next month or 2. There was a seasonal grazing herd of mostly jerseys that just sold out also.

Isnt there a grass based raw milk seasonal herd out your way?

Shenandoah county lost another one this January. I have two middle school aged kids and both were milking there and so they are super disappointed.

 

[TexasBred]

Depending on the place.. Most dairies that aren't stuck in the stone age seem to be pretty comfy places for cows... This guy shows you his facilities and what he does for cow comfort all the time.. He makes no bones about it, they're meant to be food and they stay as long as they're productive, he's got one that's 12 years old, he runs Hosteins

TikTok - Make Your Day

www.tiktok.com

TDF Honest farming in Tillamook OR has a herd of Jerseys, he's just in the process of building a new barn, I wouldn't mind being a cow there either.

I have a few beef cows I can milk, and sometimes do, after calving they can give LOTS of milk, and that's just eating grass and hay, I'm sure if I fed them a dairy ration they could do much more, and hold that production longer
She was easy to milk, just toss her a flake of hay, put the bucket under her and she'd behave really well, her momma, grandma, and entire family have been really good... There's 2 gallons right there!
View attachment 12596

Her calf never had a hungry day in his life, too lazy to even nurse



I saw this old school Simm cow at the sale barn, I'm sure she had quite the feed bill, but I bet she made a TON of milk!View attachment 12597

Excellent operations never the less dairy cattle are pushed to the limit everyday

 

[Warren Allison]

Yep! This is what the Simmentals that first got here in the early 70's looked like. Like I said, I knew people that bred them to Angus and Herefords, that would buy a bottle calf when they calved and let the cows raise two. I never had a problem with these cows, or the Charolais that came here about the same time. It was the bulls that made everyone get rid of Simm and Chars in GA, after a couple of years of losing half their Angus and Hereford cows when they used one of those bulls. I would like to half some Simm cows just like her, to breed to Angus, Brangus or Ultrablack bulls. I wonder if there are any old-scholo Simms like these anymore in the US or Canada?


I saw this old school Simm cow at the sale barn, I'm sure she had quite the feed bill, but I bet she made a TON of milk!View attachment 12597

 

[gusea305]

Take a look at the Shorthorn for example. It was a tri use animal, Meat, milk and oxen. From the origiinal multi use shorthorn ranchers bred up both the beef shorthorn and the milking shorthorn. Beef shorthorn are in the beef books and milking shorthorns in the milking books. There were only a few ranches that selected for the origional type and they must be from those lineages only and can be registered in both books last I knew.

 

[Lucky_P]

What Jan said... Dad carried a pail of warm water and clean dishrag out to clean and prep the cow's udder prior to milking, but he was hand-milking, in a dirt-floored stall in the little reclaimed wood-framed, tin-sided milking shed. I'm sure the cow swished her tail around, probably moved - or kicked - a foot from time to time, etc., so yes... some straw, dry manure dust, etc. would end up in the milk. If she humped up to pee or poop, you moved the bucket asap. Grandmother strained it out (at least the visible chunks!) through a cheesecloth.
They pulled the calf off in the evening, milked in the morning, and let the calf suck throughout the day.

Mom's family had had a Golden Guernsey dairy... she hated the Holsteins... claimed you could see a penny in the bottom of a 55 gallon barrel full of that old 'blue-john' Holstein milk...
Had a good friend who married into a dairy operation - they had a sizeable show-string of Guernseys, plus Holsteins. While she loved the look of the Guernseys, she admitted - as RafterS indicated, that they didn't have much fight in them, and would just lie down and die at the drop of a hat. But, the husband and FIL were dedicated to keeping some Guernseys going right up until the day they dispersed the herd.

Yes, average daily milk production for a commercial, optimally-fed HO cow is ~ 9 gal, 6 gal for a Jersey (at peak lactation, they'd be quite a bit higher!). But, if you wanted a 'family cow', you wouldn't necessarily go for the same production-level genetics, and without pouring the feed to them, they wouldn't produce at that level. If I were going for 'grass-based' production for a family milk cow, I'd be searching out genetics developed to perform in that setting, or a dual-purpose breed.

 

[Nesikep]

What Jan said... Dad carried a pail of warm water and clean dishrag out to clean and prep the cow's udder prior to milking, but he was hand-milking, in a dirt-floored stall in the little reclaimed wood-framed, tin-sided milking shed. I'm sure the cow swished her tail around, probably moved - or kicked - a foot from time to time, etc., so yes... some straw, dry manure dust, etc. would end up in the milk. If she humped up to pee or poop, you moved the bucket asap. Grandmother strained it out (at least the visible chunks!) through a cheesecloth.
They pulled the calf off in the evening, milked in the morning, and let the calf suck throughout the day.

Mom's family had had a Golden Guernsey dairy... she hated the Holsteins... claimed you could see a penny in the bottom of a 55 gallon barrel full of that old 'blue-john' Holstein milk...
Had a good friend who married into a dairy operation - they had a sizeable show-string of Guernseys, plus Holsteins. While she loved the look of the Guernseys, she admitted - as RafterS indicated, that they didn't have much fight in them, and would just lie down and die at the drop of a hat. But, the husband and FIL were dedicated to keeping some Guernseys going right up until the day they dispersed the herd.

Yes, average daily milk production for a commercial, optimally-fed HO cow is ~ 9 gal, 6 gal for a Jersey (at peak lactation, they'd be quite a bit higher!). But, if you wanted a 'family cow', you wouldn't necessarily go for the same production-level genetics, and without pouring the feed to them, they wouldn't produce at that level. If I were going for 'grass-based' production for a family milk cow, I'd be searching out genetics developed to perform in that setting, or a dual-purpose breed.

Simms were also a 3 purpose breed, and there were studies that shows that they really didn't produce a whole lot less milk if they were worked..
here's one that produced 200,000 lbs of milk at 3.8% fat over 13 years, and these were mostly grazed animals

This one is around 20,000 lbs/year at 4.24% fat... Born nearly 80 years ago to the day!