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10:22 am
May 14, 2005
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I've been fantasizing about a milk cow for milk and cream and butter and cheese! (And I hope this is the year!) I always hear a Jersey is the best milk cow. Any tips out there from anyone who has a milk cow or has looked into getting one?
11:01 am
February 8, 2009
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My maternal grandfather was a dairy farmer. Holsteins. He was heavily involved with the inspection process for dairies as it first evolved in WV. Holsteins are HUGE animals LOL. There were several dairies in this area back then – and a bit if a 'war' over what breed had the best/richest (cream/butterfat) milk. Jersey was one argument, Guernsey was 'supposedly' better. I used to go to the state 4H dairy show with my cousins and help them get their heifers ready to show – what fun bathing and grooming a huge Holstein 
The breed I fell in love with then was the Brown Swiss – oh they are beautiful!
Anyway, my only advice as a non-farmer with some hands-on (literally) experience long ago with cows is buy a cow that is or will be a size you are comfortable with.
And was a bottle fed baby so that she's used to and likes humans 
dede
11:55 am
February 10, 2009
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Well, here’s a very good article. By far the cheapest way to get a cow is to go to an auction or livestock sale. It’s also a little risky, but they give some good advice here, http://www.backwoodshome.com/a…..eau36.html and if you have a livestock auction close enough, you can go to it and learn the ropes, talk to people, find out how things are done and who the reputable dealers are ahead of time. Take someone who can help you and knows what they're doing… DON't raise your ticket on your first visit!
I can’t imagine that you want a Holstein, I agree that Jersey Cows are ‘usually’ sweet tempered, and another thing you should look at is how easy a breed drops calves. Again, Jerseys are usually good there too. Some other breeds to consider are Guernsey, Brown Swiss, Ayrshire, or even Milking Shorthorns.
Consider, you are going to have to get them bred every year in order to get milk. Best bet is to find someone who can AI them for you. Few people keep bulls and covering a cow with a live bull involves hauling the cow and that’s a lot more trouble than putting Clover in the back seat. (yes I know that’s an exaggeration, exaggerations can be fun though!).
So anyway, this isn’t so much for you Suzanne, you KNOW people, but if anyone out there is going to get a milk cow, consider all this. AI (artificial insemination) is easily done for cows, and it’s usually easy to find someone. A vet of course can do it, but many dairy farmers do it themselves, or know someone who does it for a nominal cost. If my SIL were still living in WV Suzanne, SHE could do it for you, she is certified for it because she AI’d her family’s dairy herd, and for a few other local farms too. Also, what are you going to do with the calf?
People I know with a family milk cow breed their dairy cows to a beef bull and then raise the calf for the freezer, if you do that, be aware of calf size involved with the bull, all that is listed in 'sire catalogs'. If you aren’t up for that, consider what you are going to do about any calf. I know, not easy for everyone… just saying.
There’s lots to consider, but cows are definitely easier to keep in a pasture than a goat is! 
3:34 pm
November 6, 2009
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Very well thought out post Debby.I think you covered all the saliant points.
Dont even think of having your own bull!!!
4:21 pm
November 18, 2008
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Here's a cow for ya——very easy to take care of !!
7:14 pm
November 15, 2008
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LOL! Just ring your cow bell and if it comes it's the one for you!!!!
8:36 pm
February 8, 2009
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For the longest time I was dreaming about a Dexter, they are the perfect (smal farm or) acreage cows.
Small, don't eat a lot, good meat and plenty of milk.
Actually I was so close to buying one this week, until I spoke with my cousin.
He said that I did NOT want a Dexter, yes they are cute, but that was it, he said i needed a Jersey.
So now he is looking for one, he has cattle his whole life, which makes it much safer that he looks for one, than I do..I buy by the sweet look in animals eyes….
I hope he finds one before we go out and visit him, April is what we where thinking to visit them, they live about 7 hours away from us, so we don't go there every week.
When I had him one the phone we traded animals too, they want a rag doll kitten, my kitty is due Febr.11th and I want a breeding couple of BLACK turkeys.
Ohhh I can't wait till spring, more chickens, more turkeys..oops.I should sayturkeys again..the ones from last year are gone….they where good.
A cow..and my goats are due, first week of April and the month after that.
But in answer to your question…Dexters are real cute, but according to my more experienced cousing.
A Jersey.
On the other hand Suzanne..you already have a miniture donkey, small breed goats..a Dexter might be the one for you??
9:05 am
August 15, 2008
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I would think the type of heifer would be determined by the amount of milk you would be able to use. Don't cows have to be milked twice a day? I know you make cheese but how much cheese are you gonna make? Can you freeze the milk? do you need another freezer? I would think a smaller cow would be a good beginner cow?
Idea= turn old farm house into small grocery store. sell eggs, cheese , bread and canned goods. Go to Sams and buy bulk toilet paper. then you could be a one stop. Then there will be the pigs and later beef(you have to do something with the male calves), ooohhhh and chicken. (Good luck culling your chickens, I still can't do mine). There is a Mennonite community around here and they have a large following for their bread. People are crazy about good food…..Bake it 
and they will come…….
9:10 am
October 17, 2008
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What a great idea for the slanted house!!! And it would give Georgia something to do — mind the store! 
9:34 am
November 15, 2008
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"The Slanted Little Country Store"….you know we have to name everything for ya Suzanne!
9:55 am
November 27, 2009
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Milk cows are EXPENSIVE — here anyway! I was looking at a Dexter, but she was $2500!
We are now seriously looking for a Jersey, but weaned heifer calves start at $200. We will probably have to start that way. Coyotes are really bad here, so she would either have to be in the barn all the time or monitored.
The only thing I know about Holsteins is that they are prone to sunburn, so that breed wouldn't work for me.
10:11 am
January 26, 2010
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JMHO, but anyone who's never managed a cow before should start with an experienced cow, already gentle and broken in to hand milking. Not too old, a 4-year-old would be ideal. Look for longer teats because two-finger milking's a misery when you're milking out 2-3 gallons at a time, no history of mastitis, gentleness, current on vaccinations, health guarantee against a vet check — ask about TB, bruccellosis, Johnnes . Look for good udder attachment, and find somebody local to show you on a cow what to look for on that. Touch any cow you plan on buying, a lot, all over. Make sure she's not a kicker. Our first Jersey was a kicker, and if I hadn't had experience with a worse one when I was a kid, I wouldn't have been able to manage her.
I like Jerseys & Guernseys best. Brown Swiss are nice but bigger than I want to manage. I've heard Red Holsteins are terrific, but they're really rare around here and I've not had any personal experience with them. Holsteins are too big for me, and I don't like the milk as well as the higher beta-carotene style the Jerseys & Guernseys produce. I looked for a very long time for a good milking Dexter, but they're hard to find. Most herds have been selected more toward beef production — you can milk the cows if they're gentled to it, but the ones around here don't produce enough milk to bother with, IMHO. There are good milking lines, though, and I found people knowledgeable about the lines and who occasionally have cows to sell — after I got my Jerseys, of course. I can dig out their info if anybody really wants it.
Too bad you're not in the Midwest. I know of some really nice Guernseys, Brown Swiss crosses, and Jersey crosses that are available. Really top quality cows and as gentle as you'll ever find. I'm just waiting to get my taxes done so I'll know if I have enough $ left over to buy one — snort — like I need another cow. Though the current Jersey isn't as productive as I'd like. Sweet girl, love her, but she's just not putting out enough — and thus, I'm shopping. 'Not a kicker' is high on my list this time, too. I'm getting too old to deal with that.
7:44 pm
November 27, 2009
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It just really hurts me that so many farmers are slaughtering their dairy herds. There are (literally!) so many people around here who would love to have a cow. Any older cows that are available start at $1000 — even mixed breeds, since there is such a high demand for them. We saw an ad for a mixed Jersey and her calf for $600 last year and the guy said he had had over 100 calls — and she was 10 years old! She was gone less than an hour after he placed the ad.
Have a lead on a Jersey calf as the lady knows she would have an excellent home and be part of the family.
She's over 100 miles from us and by the time she's weaned, may be a bit too large to haul in my jeep! Bringing the pigs home in it was a big enough fiasco!
9:59 pm
February 8, 2009
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you can always rent a little trailer to pull behind your car ;-)
8:46 am
November 20, 2009
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LauraP has hit on the most important point of all, more important than breed, or looks. For a first cow get one who will allow you to handle her, a cow that has had a couple of calves and knows what it is all about. Getting a heifer can be a problem if you are not used to cows, they are more likely to have problems calving. Some cows do not take well to motherhood and do not want anything to do with the calf which means you will have to milk out the colestrum and bottle feed the calf yourself. We had one angus beef heifer bought at auction (ugh!). She was supposed to be open but turned out to be pregnant tried to kill her calf by stomping it, I had to milk her till we could get to the vets for medcine to make her go dry. She did not want to be milked and had boobs about half the size of your little finger, not fun for me or her.We had a wonderful Jersey but the rest of the milk cows we had over the years were beef/dairy crosses. If you don't need huge amounts of milk you can share with the calf, and even get a break from milking twice a day when the calf gets bigger. Not while it is little though or too much milk will likely give it the scours.
11:03 am
February 10, 2009
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heh, first off, using the word teat in reference to farm animals mammary glands is proper and correct. There’s nothing insulting or unsavory about saying the word teat in that context. Sorry, I just couldn’t resist that correction guys!
Then, you’re going to need that barn to store the alfalfa she’ll need to make good milk Suzanne!
Lots of good points made all around I definitely agree! A few things that have been said, I'll risk repeating.
Ask for records, dairy farmers KEEP GOOD RECORDS! They should be able to tell you a LOT about her calves, their sires, when they calved, how easily she calved and her milk production records. If it's a good farm, they have good records on EVERY COW!! Been there, helped keep the records!
When looking at a cow, don't stand outside a fence nodding and talking to the seller, get in there, touch her head, neck run your hands over her. Some cows look bony which is kinda natural to a degree for a milch cow (old term). You should feel her skin though, there should be good muscle and skin tone under her hide even if she's a bit bony. Run your hand down her legs, (cautiously, a 'cow kick' is out to the side not to the back! Having your hand there means she “pushes” your hand, not “hits” you with a foot.) something of a try ONCE is …not so bad, but once she's accustomed to you, if she's crazy about it um… no! Run your hand down her flank, touch her udder, feel her teats, turn them and look at the openings. Her teats should feel clean, uniform, no heat, swelling, hard sections or lumpiness. She should let all this go on with mostly comfort. Shifting, or a grumpy look, oh well, but if she's really PO’d about it? Reconsider, don’t say no automatically, just reconsider.
You know most of this from milking goats, just take it all up an extra level, cows are big in size, a big investment, and a big commitment.
A family cow will be handled a LOT more than a parlor cow. Modern dairies barely touch their cow’s heads or need to lead them or tie them up, they're run in through a squeeze gate system, milked by vacuum machines and are barely touched by humans, so they aren't used to having hands on them. They can be half wild young cow and still be milked in a parlor, but that can wreck havoc in a small-holding situation.
Cows milk weighs 8 lbs per gallon. A really good producing Jersey (which aren’t commonly available but let’s just say) can easily produce 5+ gallons of milk a day. More likely you’ll get 4 or 4.5. or around 20 to 25 lbs of milk a day. That is EASILY enough to raise a calf on, cows these days are bred to produce more milk than a calf needs so even with a calf on her you’ll have plenty for drinking and cheese making etc. Pigs like milk too. Your cousin is nearby, Georgia gets cream for her coffee, family is a wonderful thing in so many ways!
Guernseys are usually bigger than Jerseys, and eat more too, but they are definitely good cows. More feed in, more milk out! I’m not as knowledgeable about most of the other breeds though, those two and Holsteins are what I know the most about, and that’s not expert at all. I’ve milked em in a parlor, and a little bit by hand, and goats too but I’m not an expert on that. I will claim a fair amount of knowledge about temperament and behavior though.
With the number of dairy farmers going out of business as has been mentioned before, I’d consider looking for a portable milking machine eventually anyway. Milking by hand is a back-breaking, hand-aching thing, day in, day out, twice a day in all kinds of weather. Of course in the winter, your hands keep nice and warm!
12:44 pm
January 26, 2010
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BuckeyeGirl said:
…I’d consider looking for a portable milking machine eventually anyway. Milking by hand is a back-breaking, hand-aching thing, day in, day out, twice a day in all kinds of weather. Of course in the winter, your hands keep nice and warm!
For only one cow, a milking machine can be more trouble than it's worth, IMHO. It's never taken me more than 10 minutes per session to milk out each of my Jerseys, and it only takes a minute to wash the milking bucket. The milking's hard at first because your hands get tired, but you get used to it. That said, I'm in the market now for a milking machine for use when my hands aren't in good shape. Arthritis, lingering nerve damage from an injury — some days, the hands just aren't up to the task anymore. I'd rather deal with cleaning all the parts than give up my milk cow.
I used a nice portable Surge milking machine several years ago at the goat farm where I did weekend chores while the owners were away at shows – I know where I can get similar machines set up for cows, just hesitant about spending the $ right now. Cleanup with that Surge took about 20 minutes – longer actually until I got the hang of it, but 20 minutes once I was used to the routine at that farm and remembered to get everything out and ready on schedule. 25-30 goats, 2 x day, definitely worth it to use the machine there but I still wasn't tempted to bother with my for my own 2-3 goats at home. For two or more cows now, and that's what I may be milking later this year, I want a machine.
The other thing to consider is maintenance and repairs on a machine. Some of us aren't mechanically inclined — I have neighbors who are, though, so I know I can get help when I inadvertently screw something up on the machine. And I know I will. Machines & I are like that.
12:08 pm
January 31, 2010
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Why dont you try a miniture cow. They are smalll, give pllenty of milk and eat less. Vicki
12:03 pm
February 10, 2009
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chives said:
Why dont you try a miniture cow. They are smalll, give pllenty of milk and eat less. Vicki
That was flatlanders first impulse Vicki, but for several reasons, she's revised her plans. That article I posted has some info, and depending on what part of the country people are in, they aren't easy to find, and if the selection is limited, it can be hard to find a good example of such an isolated breed.
Sometimes some of the old standards are best, health wise, ease of calving, to name a few things, and if you have plenty of uses for the milk, the quantity isn't a problem. With family nearby to share with, knowledge of how to make plenty of dairy products like cheese and butter, chickens and pigs to feed, and plenty of pasture, a Jersey has definate advantages.
1:20 pm
March 4, 2010
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I would agree that you need to watch out at the auctions. I would advise staying away from them, as a lot of the cattle there have a problem be it calving, being old, not bred easily, sickness, etc.
Not all cows take with AI. That is something to remember. Ours does better with a bull.
Brown Swiss have larger teats and because of that, can be easier to milk.
If you can buy directly from the farmer, you can ask all about the history and quirks that the cow has. Our cow was the last in the barn, so she expects to be milked after her chop is done, not while she is eating it. She is much more agreeable this way. She only kicked until we figured this out early on, and hasn't kicked since. We take her munching time to brush her too, as it is supposed to make for a happier and healthier cow that gives more milk.
I would encourage you not to get a cow that has had mastitis, as that can make it prone to getting it again.
Jerseys are hardy. Their udders grow lots of hair, so they can still be outside in winter with just a little shelter for bedding down in or keeping the wind off. Ours is a lean-to off our barn. It is open to one side at all times, just for her. She has been out in -54*C (including windchill).
Use the same grain that they are used to for the chop. Our first cow refused to eat oat chop and would eat only barley chop. Our current cow will eat either, but the cream is more with the barley as it is hot.
To keep the milk up in the winter when it is very cold, a cow needs 1/3 more feed to keep the milk up and to keep warm.
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