Keep a Milking Cow

If you have the determination and the space to keep a cow, they make a great addition to any farm. Your cow will provide you with milk, cheese and butter if you take good care of her. Cows are hardy animals that can help you to make a quick buck by selling their dairy products.

Steps

  1. Choose your cow: There are many suitable breeds of cows that can be used for milking.
    • Holstein Fresian: These cows are most commonly found in commercial dairy farms since they tend to produce the highest quantity of milk.
    • Jerseys: This breed is the second-most common dairy breed in North America, and is recognized for its high quantity of butterfat in the milk these cows produce. Jerseys are beautiful, gentle creatures (except for the bulls) and are relatively easier to manage and care for than Holsteins, though some Jerseys can be kickers when it comes to milking time.
    • Other common breeds to consider for personal dairying are Brown Swiss, Milking Devons, Milking Shorthorns, Dexters, Identify Red Poll Cattle, Guernseys and Ayrshires.
  2. Care taking: Like all animals, your cow needs food, water, shelter and space enough to move around at her free will.
    • Depending on where you live, you will need adequate shelter for her to spend the night in and to go to during adverse weather conditions. A shed or barn is favorable for this. If you experience winters where its very cold and you get plenty of snow, you will need a barn to keep her sheltered during days where it's too cold for her to go out.
    • Water is a must, and must where she can easily access it 24/7/365.
    • Mineral licks or loose mineral is also very important for your cow, as the feed she eats is often deficient in different nutrients she needs to function properly.
    • You need a fence of some sort to keep her in at all times. It must be a fence that is strong and sturdy enough to keep her inside and keep her from escaping on you. If you have a sturdy fence that is well built and in top shape you will only need to check it once a week, not every day. If you have her grazing in an area where you have a temporary electric fence and need to keep her there for a few days, then you will have to check it once a day.
  3. Health: Your cow can and will get sick, it's only a matter of when. Proper handling, vaccinations that are recommended by your large animal vet, and attention to detail when feeding her and having her graze pasture is important.
    • Several anti-quality factors may come up when she's on pasture, depending on the forage, the time of year she's grazing, and her reproductive period:
      • Grass that is rich and growing (with clover mixed in) may cause bloat; if the soil is magnesium deficient, she could get sick with Grass Tetany. When there are times of drought and a sudden frost, the forage that freezes or dies quickly from lack of moisture can increase in nitrate levels; when she eats these plants, there is risk of nitrate toxicity.
    • Other diseases and illness to watch out for range from digestive to reproductive, so talk to your vet if you have any questions or concerns about any potential illness and risks your cow may have.
      • You will know she is sick if she doesn't act or eat normally, decreases in milk production or has a temperature.
  4. Feeding: Grass, with loose mineral freely accessible to her, is sufficient enough to feed her over the spring and summer without any needed supplementation. Come winter, however, proper feed and supplementation is necessary. Straw is also necessary for bedding during cold nights. A cow's peak nutrition demands occur 3 months after giving birth.
    • Pasture is necessary during those times when the grass is growing and you don't need to feed her hay. Depending on your area, the general rule of thumb as far as stocking rate is concerned is 1 Animal Unit (1 x 1000 lb cow with or without a calf) per acre per month. See your local county extension office for more information on pasture stocking rates.
    • Winter feeding is the most costly and most important part of feeding your cow. Make sure she has adequate forage that will act as both maintenance for her body and enable her to keep producing milk for you. Have your hay tested (hay is a better forage to feed to dairy cows than straw) for nutrient levels, and if necessary, feed formulated for lactating dairy cows is also necessary.
      • Hay should be a primary diet for your cow. She should have good quality hay accessible to her at all times during times when she is not able to graze on pasture. A dairy ration (containing cereal grains and added nutrients) should only be kept at 2 to 5 lbs per day, since it is quite rich and can make her get fat more if you feed her too much. She may develop bloat, indigestion or even acidosis if you give her too much grain.
  5. Milking: It's important to milk her at least once a day. Most people prefer to do the OAD (once a day) milking instead of the usual twice a day, since it gives them more time during the day to do things. You need to have a stanchion and/or stall with an area where she can be tied so she can't decide to move out on you all of a sudden. You also need to keep to a schedule, keep milking her the same time every day.
    • Milking by hand can be a bit tedious at first, but once you get a pattern going and know how to milk her it will become something to look forward to. If you don't know how to do it, get a local dairy farmer or dairy workhand to show you. You can also see the article here on WikiHow on How to Milk a Cow for tips.
    • It's best to have the milking done inside a barn because both you and the cow are out of the elements and it creates an environment that's a bit more enjoyable and relaxing for the both of you.
    • Feed should be put in front of the cow while milking her all the time since it keeps her distracted and her mind off of you milking her.
    • Keep her udder clean before you milk her. There's always going to be some bit of dirt sticking to her, and you don't want that in your milk!
  6. Breeding: In order to keep her producing milk, she must be bred to produce a calf.
    • If she has calved before, it's recommended to wait to breed her until 45 to 80 days have passed after she's given birth. This gives the uterus enough time to shrink back to normal and to allow her to go back into normal estrous cycling.
    • Before she gets pregnant, she needs to be bred. Artificial Insemination is one method of breeding her, though this requires attention to her heat cycles and when the best time is to have her AI'd.
      • Cows cycle once every 17 to 24 days, and the heat period lasts for 24 hours. She needs to be AI'd 12 hours after you see signs of heat from her.
    • Natural breeding is another way to get her pregnant. You will need a bull for this. When you only have one cow or two cows to care for, it is best to send them to a farm where another cattle farmer has a bull that is good enough to breed your cows. However, there is always risk that the bull may not be a calving-ease bull (or, a bull that has genetics for producing large calves, depending on the breed), or that the bull has reproductive disease like Trichomoniasis that could affect your cows. Jerseys, for instance, need to be bred to smaller calving-ease bulls like another Jersey bull or an Angus bull, because of their small size and inability to birth a large calf.
      • If you do choose to have your cows bred naturally, you will need to either rent a bull for a couple months to stay on your place, or to give them up for a couple months to send them to a farm to get them bred.
        • It is highly recommended you choose AI, since you do want to keep your milk cow at home and keep the milk supply she's been giving you for the past while.
  7. Pregnancy and Calving: Cows stay pregnant for a little over 9 months or ~285 days. In that time, care must be taken that the cow has adequate feed to feed both herself and the calf.
    • As mentioned above, you need to dry her off 2 months prior to her calving date to give her a break and focus more of her energy into the growth of the fetus.
    • She will have an increasingly higher demand for more nutrition and feed by the time she is 3 to 4 months away from calving. Increase her feed ration gradually over that time, but be sure to decrease her calcium intake 10 days prior to calving to prevent her from getting milk fever after calving.
    • Keep an eye on her when her due date is very near and when she is showing signs of calving. She may need help calving out, but only help her when she is not progressing any further. Keep your veterinarian's phone number handy in case anything goes wrong.
    • When she has given birth, make sure the calf is alive, then leave them alone for a while, ensuring the cow still has feed and water available.
      • The calf needs colostrum, and it will be in the cow's system for the next 36 to 48 hours after birth.
  8. Weaning her calf: Calves depend on their mother's milk for the first 3 months of their lives. However, calves that are raised in dairies are usually taken away from their dams a day or two after birth. With your cow, however, you don't need to do this, but start, little by little, decreasing the calf's reliance on his/her dam's milk by the time he/she reaches a month old.
    • You can start creep-feeding the calf at this time by encouraging it to starting to eat Calf Starter feed, feeding the calf when you are milking the cow and only letting the calf to suckle after you've gotten what you needed from the cow. The calf should be fully weaned from his/her dam by the time [s]he's 3 to 4 months of age.
      • Some people may choose to wean the calf cold-turkey by the time it reaches 3 to 4 months or even 6 months of age. Separating it from his mother, or using a Eezy-Wean spiked nose ring are two common methods you can use to wean the calf.
        • The calf can be kept as another dairy cow if it's a heifer, or castrated and fed for the freezer if it's a bull calf.

Tips

  • Keep up-to-date in vaccinations and such to keep her healthy.
  • Gestation period is ~285 days
  • Cows go into heat once every 17 to 24 days; heats last 24 hrs.
    • Heat may be difficult to detect if she's all by herself. However, when she's pacing a lot, acting nervous and skittish and even trying to mount you, these are classic signs of a cow that is in heat.
  • Fences should be kept in shape all the time. Check as often as necessary.
  • Cows are herd animals and prefer to have a buddy or two with them all the time. If you are buying a cow from a dairy herd, she will get lonely and may pine for company.
    • Most people may tell you she'll get used to it, but you may be better off with getting another cow to keep her company.
  • When buying a cow, make sure she is healthy. It's okay if you buy a cow that is only productive in 3 quarters (one being affected by Mastitis), but it's not okay to buy a cow that is sick, even if she's not showing signs at first.
    • A dull coat, dull eyes, lethargic, snotty nose, dry muzzle (dehydration), emaciation, abnormal temperature (normal is around 101 F), etc are a few signs that you are ending up with a sick cow.
    • You have a wide choice as to what kind of cow you want. 3-in-1's (cows pregnant with calf at side), bred cows or open cows are three choices to make in purchasing your first milk cow.
  • Only allow lactation to last for 10 months of the year. This is so that you can give her 2 months break prior to calving.
  • Buy feed in advance before wintertime. Test your feed for nutritive quality so you are prepared if/when you need to supply mineral for her.

Warnings

  • Your cow may get a bit overprotective of her calf after birth, so be careful in handling her.
  • Your cow can and will get sick on you, and so can the calf. Your cow and/or calf may even die on you; that's the fact of life of owning livestock.
  • Cows are bigger and stronger than you, plus they can kick pretty hard if you're not paying attention.
  • NEVER EVER BUY A BULL. You will only be asking for trouble if you do. Bulls are harder to maintain, feed and handle than cows are and will only do what they're supposed to do for only a few days to couple months out of a whole year. They're not worth the cost nor the risk to own one, especially if you only have one cow.

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