My lady wants a milk cow

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We've had cows and goats to milk. We started with goats, meat and dairy, because they were easy for our kids to work with. We wanted our kids to have chores that included their supper.

Keeping livestock for milk is not cheaper than buying from the store, or from someone else milking.

When all 6 kids were at home, and my wife was bringing orphaned calves home from the sale barn, we could consume the milk from the 2 Jerseys and the goats. After the kids grew up and married off, and the sale barn burned to the ground, we sold the Jerseys. Later sold out the goats. Now just beef cattle, and life is simple!

I know a lot of people here like to slam goats. I get it; it's a cattle forum. I can recommend a goat(s) for milk. When we had both Nubian goats and Jersey cows, everyone drank the goat milk first. The cow milk was for the cream, and making butter (oh my, the butter!)

The animals were well cared for, fed up on good feed stuff, and kept away from the nasty forage that taints their milk. However, no matter what we did to effect the quality of the milk, the goats milk was consistently bright white and tasted great. The cow milk quality could vary considerably; off-white, watered down, with a stench.

After the kids moved on, I sold the Jerseys and the milking machine. A youngster, maybe 25yo, bought them. Paid me with <1964 silver coins.

Maybe it was our failure with the Jerseys, but if I or my wife or kids wanted an animal to milk, it'd be a goat or three. Besides, they are very personable creatures.
 
Drank it right from the cow in the 40's, after filtering through a cheesecloth. The cream in/on morning cereal was the best. Used what we got while "stripping" after milking. Didn't hurt us. Didn't get breakfast till after the cows were milked, barn shoveled and cows back in the pasture.

Those who say she won't last long are right. Was a lot of work. We used to separate the cream, sell it and use the skim to feed the pigs. Life was very different in the early 40's.
 
I used to go to church with a guy that sold raw milk, he milked about 10 head, jerseys and milking shorthorn. I'd get a gallon every Sunday. I love raw milk, especially when you don't take much cream off of it. I'd skim a little cream off of it from time to time and make salted butter, I'd use my wife's beaters to churn it. He no longer milks, I wish I could find someone who sells raw jersey milk again. It sure makes store bought taste like water. Just like everything else, it's much better straight off the farm.
 
First, she is going to have to train it to a milking station. That's an upfront (time) cost, but it can be a challenge (unless you get it as a calf.) But, The main thing she needs to commit to is the daily milking. Although it's not a certainty, the cow can have problems if you are not milking it every single day. This is the main issue, compared to the beef cows. Feeding up every morning is one thing - "set-up, milk, break-down, clean" every single morning is quite another.

Even if you get an automatic milker (I never did, but my pop had one), it's still the same commitment no matter what people say (you just spend most time cleaning the equipment every day, as opposed to hand milking) for one or two cows.

You can keep her calf on her and drastically reduce (and eventually eliminate) your take home milk. You can manage this to get more or less milk, by separating cow and calf for periods.

Also, I've successfully grafted a bottle calf to my Jersey (in addition to her biological calf) to simply eliminate milking requirements (wanted family vacations last Summer.)

It should be noted all of my experience is with Jerseys. I have heard folks say they don't have as much output as others, but have more cream.
 
I've had the idea from time to time to buy a jersey x beef heifer to milk. Leave the calf on all week, put the calf up Friday night, milk cow Saturday morning then put calf back in until next Friday. I've heard of a few people do it that way with one that don't milk too heavy. One milking a week would be enough for my wife and I.
 
Little Joe said:
I've had the idea from time to time to buy a jersey x beef heifer to milk. Leave the calf on all week, put the calf up Friday night, milk cow Saturday morning then put calf back in until next Friday. I've heard of a few people do it that way with one that don't milk too heavy. One milking a week would be enough for my wife and I.
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As long as she's tame enough to milk once a week…daily habit usually is a better trainer.
 
You can leave the calf on her so that you don't get too much milk. There's no need to keep milking until you have it all either. The calf will get it. If you milk her the same time every day she will walk to the barn at that time. Spray her for flies, wipe her udder for dirt and dust. She will be happy to stand and eat her grain while you milk her. Pick a time that's best for you. There's nothing magical about daybreak. It's rather enjoyable, but as time consuming as having a bottle calf all the time. You have to quit and let her prepare to have her next calf. Great thing is that you can milk out some colostrum for the freezer. It's been ages for me since I had one.
 
The last milk cow I had was a Holsten. She was good most of the time, easy to catch, etc. but every now and then out of the blue she would haul off an kick and the bitch would kick sideways. She empty the bucket of milk on me and he leg put a big skin mark up under my arm/ribs. She went to the market. I bought my milk ever since.

Footnote

If you get her a cow make sure she can be milked easy and not a fool.
 
Lol. My wife wanted a pony back in the day because she grew up with one as a kid she and her sisters rode around. So because our boys were young we got a ping, that turned into getting a second one. They loved to ride them around, but the promise of helping to train, maintain, etc quickly became a me only job. So they went down the road after a couple years of that. Then came the raising pigs, again turned into a me only thing taking care of them, into the freezer they went. Then my wife decided when things started getting crazy in the world that raising our own chickens again was a great idea, at least she was upfront when I asked her if she was going to take care of them, help clean the coop and collect eggs. She said "let's be honest here, you're going to raise them from pullers, build a new western store front looking coop, feed, water, clean and gather the eggs. Since you have to deal with the cattle already your already out there." I don't even eat but maybe a few eggs a month. Yet I collect eggs daily and clean the coop weekly. Now she's wanting to get a horse. I said absolutely not. I'll let you know how that works out for me. I'm sure I already know.
 
DCA farm said:
What I'm thinking I told her no way I'd buy one with out a calf in it cause I know what will happen
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Why not get a Jersey x Hereford or Jersey x Angus, either will milk adequately for a family cow, and they will produce a beefier calf.
Get a calf from a local dairy, make sure it's not a twin, get it vaccinated for brucellosis between 5 -12months (thats here in Oregon).
Silver is right about tryin some raw milk. I grew up on raw milk and it took along time to get so I could drink store bought milk. I think
she could pasteurize it herself if she wanted. In the right areas it is a very marketable product. $8-$10 a gallon is what they were selling it
for where I worked.
 
Schmitty said:
Lol. My wife wanted a pony back in the day because she grew up with one as a kid she and her sisters rode around. So because our boys were young we got a ping, that turned into getting a second one. They loved to ride them around, but the promise of helping to train, maintain, etc quickly became a me only job. So they went down the road after a couple years of that. Then came the raising pigs, again turned into a me only thing taking care of them, into the freezer they went. Then my wife decided when things started getting crazy in the world that raising our own chickens again was a great idea, at least she was upfront when I asked her if she was going to take care of them, help clean the coop and collect eggs. She said "let's be honest here, you're going to raise them from pullers, build a new western store front looking coop, feed, water, clean and gather the eggs. Since you have to deal with the cattle already your already out there." I don't even eat but maybe a few eggs a month. Yet I collect eggs daily and clean the coop weekly. Now she's wanting to get a horse. I said absolutely not. I'll let you know how that works out for me. I'm sure I already know.
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If momma ain't happy, ain't nobody happy. 😉
 
Ferd said:
You can leave the calf on her so that you don't get too much milk. There's no need to keep milking until you have it all either. The calf will get it. If you milk her the same time every day she will walk to the barn at that time. Spray her for flies, wipe her udder for dirt and dust. She will be happy to stand and eat her grain while you milk her. Pick a time that's best for you. There's nothing magical about daybreak. It's rather enjoyable, but as time consuming as having a bottle calf all the time. You have to quit and let her prepare to have her next calf. Great thing is that you can milk out some colostrum for the freezer. It's been ages for me since I had one.
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All great points. She must consider she has to get her bred for a calf the next year. That can be rather difficult. A1, probably and hope it takes.
 
When I raised dairy calves, for a while I had nurse cows. Kept around 10-12 at time and usually had 5-7 in lactation at a time.
Had started out with some older cows from a local dairy that had quit milking. Most were Holstein and a few Guernsey. Had a high and fast cull on those, The Guernseys and a couple Holsteins that remained were pretty good to work with,
Later on I brought in some Jerseys and AI bred them to Jerseys for replacement heifers as well as brought in a few more Holsteins from a dairy I got calves from. I Also used some beef cross ( Angus or Hereford X Jersey or Holstein).
I know it's not the same as hand milking, although I did from time to time milk some of them down by hand if didn't have enough calves around.
I still got a feel for disposition and milking ability of the various cows.
They are all individuals and occasionally there is a mold breaker, but did see some trends.
The beef crosses had a wide range of milking ability and disposition. As a rule they were a little harder to work with.
Some Holsteins could be a little flighty,
Jerseys and Guernseys were my favorites to work with, again a couple of those could be pills to deal with too but overall they were the best.
Jersey X Holstein could be cantankerous too.
I agree with @Ouachita If somebody isn't used to milking and working close with cattle, a goat might be a good way to start out.
 
DCA farm said:
I've manage to put it off as long as I can. Cause I know how this is gonna play out I've explained to her about what a milk is gonna do But she keeps telling me I want a milk cow I want a milk cow. I've been watching them sell for weeks and weeks 600-800 will get you one with a baby at the barn. Give me some pros and cons of owning a milk cow. We do drink a lot of milk a gallon every 2 days and they ain't exactly giving it away at the store no more.
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I kept a couple milkers for a number of years. Rather than buying at the sale barn I had better luck getting to know some of the family dairies who also showed at the fairs. I was able to pick up girls they were going to cull solely on not quite making the lbs of milk needed to stay in their program. They would come from great lines good feet, good udders. They may not be putting out. Hey if they are putting out 40 lbs and that dairy man needs 65, well my family isn't drinking 40 lbs a day, and I can sell the over abundance for a pretty penny.
 
puzzled in oregon said:
Why not get a Jersey x Hereford or Jersey x Angus, either will milk adequately for a family cow, and they will produce a beefier calf.
Get a calf from a local dairy, make sure it's not a twin, get it vaccinated for brucellosis between 5 -12months (thats here in Oregon).
Silver is right about tryin some raw milk. I grew up on raw milk and it took along time to get so I could drink store bought milk. I think
she could pasteurize it herself if she wanted. In the right areas it is a very marketable product. $8-$10 a gallon is what they were selling it
for where I worked.
Click to expand...
4$ a quart outside Eugene. More around PDX.
 
sstterry said:
They make systems for homesteaders that maybe milk just one cow. I used to milk one when I was growing up. That didn't last long because we had more important things to be doing when it was easier to could just buy a couple of gallons a week.

I have a great-aunt that churned her own butter until just a few years ago.

Edit: Here is a small milking machine
Click to expand...
I didn't read the directions, but if you hook it up backwards, does it put the milk back in? Inquiring minds want to know.
 

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