milking a cow for the house

flutered

Superdaddy wrote: »

I have been considering getting a Dexter cow for this purpose. They are a great dual purpose breed. The trick i believe is getting one that is well handled. I was thinking of getting a cow in calf with a heifer calf at foot. Tame the heifer calf for milking if the cow didn't play ball. Get both in calf in the future and leave one for milking and the other to rear two calves. Calves can be kept for the freezer or sold on. Surplus milk goes to pigs and chickens.

i believe the dexter is now a rare breed, this in turn leads one to think that they would be rather expensive.

Superdaddy

flutered wrote: »

i believe the dexter is now a rare breed, this in turn leads one to think that they would be rather expensive.

Should pick up cow in calf with a heifer calf at foot for around €1000

arctictree

I have a sheep that lost her lambs. Anyone ever try to hand milk a sheep?!

ravima

The biggest problem with the 'house cow' is that if she goes down with TB or Brucellosis, you are drinking 100% of her milk. If you are drinking from a bulk tank and one cow goes down, you only drink a percentage of her milk. If your house cow has brucellosis, you will probably get it too! Be aware of this, be very aware as the disease is terrible for humans.

J.O. Farmer

ravima wrote: »

The biggest problem with the 'house cow' is that if she goes down with TB or Brucellosis, you are drinking 100% of her milk. If you are drinking from a bulk tank and one cow goes down, you only drink a percentage of her milk. If your house cow has brucellosis, you will probably get it too! Be aware of this, be very aware as the disease is terrible for humans.

This country is officially brucellosis free and it's a good lot of years since there was a case in this country. I think you would be pretty unlucky if your house cow picked up brucellosis and then you contacted it from the milk.

farmersfriend

sopretty wrote: »

It's mingin!

I nearly puked once at my aunt's house when she produced it. They used to take some from their dairy herd.

Pasteurised and homogenised, that's how I like my milk!

Unhelpful post lol, but are you sureyou'd like the milk?

Couldn't drink shop milk, tastes like plastic.

Farmer Pudsey

Muckit a little trick I would get a young cow or heifer, when she calves down you let calf with her. However you milk her as well. When the calf gets to 2-3 weeks you take him off the cow either at night or during the day. The cow will rear the calf and provide milk for the house. If going away for a day or two leave the calf with the cow

onyerbikepat wrote: »

It's the Low-Fat milk that really gets to me. You might aswell be pouring water into your tea.

When we milked for the house a lot of the milk was low fat, between cream going for desert and some for butter. most people pushed the cream aside in the jug when pouring it onto tea.

Superdaddy wrote: »

I have been considering getting a Dexter cow for this purpose. They are a great dual purpose breed. The trick i believe is getting one that is well handled. I was thinking of getting a cow in calf with a heifer calf at foot. Tame the heifer calf for milking if the cow didn't play ball. Get both in calf in the future and leave one for milking and the other to rear two calves. Calves can be kept for the freezer or sold on. Surplus milk goes to pigs and chickens.

The Dexter is no more a dual purpose than a Kerry cow. Also they can give a few problems calving. A kerry cow would be ideal for milk for the house and use her to rear an AA calf.

sandydan

why not get an AA, not Canadian though, quite as mouse once you feed them and they are used to surroundings.

Superdaddy

Came across this article. It makes a lot of sense. It is worth a read.

http://www.countrysmallholding.com/features-land-and-livestock-dairy-produce,-and-more--212704

Aghoney

Superdaddy wrote: »

Came across this article. It makes a lot of sense. It is worth a read.

A lot of good information, with some questionable advice mixed in, IMHO. Let's take for example the five Belgian Blue crosses that the article author keeps. BB are very, very large, and even crossed with Fresian, they are going to be too heavy to keep on pasture between early October and early April here in Ireland, unless you have exceptionally good pasture. That means that you will need to keep your cows indoors six months each year, feed them 50+ bales of silage, collect farmyard manure in a tank and have access to equipment to spread slurry. That requires infrastructure and equipment that a smallholder is not likely to have. The shorthorn mentioned in passing in the article may be a better choice for us smallholders. I personally chose dexters for my smallholding because they can be out 12 months each year. We started milking one cow in early April, and while the 6-8 liters of milk we get a day are very little compared to what you can get from a dairy cow, it is more than enough to keep us in milk, cream and butter, and feed the excess to a few pigs as well.

Superdaddy

Aghoney wrote: »

A lot of good information, with some questionable advice mixed in, IMHO. Let's take for example the five Belgian Blue crosses that the article author keeps. BB are very, very large, and even crossed with Fresian, they are going to be too heavy to keep on pasture between early October and early April here in Ireland, unless you have exceptionally good pasture. That means that you will need to keep your cows indoors six months each year, feed them 50+ bales of silage, collect farmyard manure in a tank and have access to equipment to spread slurry. That requires infrastructure and equipment that a smallholder is not likely to have. The shorthorn mentioned in passing in the article may be a better choice for us smallholders. I personally chose dexters for my smallholding because they can be out 12 months each year. We started milking one cow in early April, and while the 6-8 liters of milk we get a day are very little compared to what you can get from a dairy cow, it is more than enough to keep us in milk, cream and butter, and feed the excess to a few pigs as well.

I love the idea of the dexters but I am getting so many mixed messages. 6-8 liters a day is enough for me too I'd imagine. How are you milking your dexter, machine or hand? Is she easy to handle? How many do you have? Is your milking cow still feeding the calf?

sandydan

another breed like shorthorn and very quite are Murray Grays ,some BB can have calving difficulties and need C section , some BB x British Freisan i had were nervous as so i would not recommend them, Simmental and Hereford are reasonably quite and have a good milk supply .
at moment cow prices in marts around are low so plenty of choice under €800,i sold Fr 1st calver 3yr old a few weeks back for less
BTW a milking machines with approx 1.5hp motor are available as pipeline at same price or cheaper than bucket plant. that is worth consideration as you avoid the pulsation problem associated with a cow knocking the bucket accidentally as well as spillage and are as easily installed in small cow-byre.

Farmer Pudsey

Dexters have a history of calving difficulty would not be a cow I would recommend for milk for the house. A Kerry cow or even one of the JEX cows would be much more suitable,