Do you have a family milk cow?

Some of the reasons it's not practical are that I live alone and I really have no one but me to use the milk, and no one who I can count on for any help. I'm a vegetarian, so raising/slaughtering calves is not an option. I work in a hospital with a mandatory overtime policy, so if I get mandated for a double shift, I don't get to come home. I can't tell my cow "Sorry I couldn't milk you today". I'm hoping to be in a different circumstances in 5 years from now. Thanks for posting all the wonderful pictures and for answering all my questions.

__________________
I cried because I had no shoes, until I saw a man who had no feet.

If you want a milk cow but have ethical or moral reasons for not wanting to slaughter calves, you my want to think very carefully about having a milk cow, or even a milk goat. Cows or nannies can't produce milk without having a calf or kid, and even in a perfect world half of these calves and kids will be male, and the male is going to the butchers block whether you do it, or someone else does. One just can't have milk without the butcher being part of the deal.

It's the same with chickens; half of every hatching clutch will be male, and they are in most cases worthless. Some roosters will be raised for meat but most will be destroyed while yet chicks. As with cows and goats, one cannot have eggs without the butcher being in on the deal.

It's a paradox, but all milk and eggs have blood on them at some point.

__________________
“It is tedious to live, it is tedious to die, it is tedious to c**p in deep snow”
Old Norwegian observation

Some cows can milk for years on end without calving, but they generally need to calve at least once in their lifetime. Or at least abort to produce milk.
You could try having the cow calve out every two or three years and retaining and keeping as a pricey pet whatever they have. It isn't easy on the animal to milk for a long time, but it is done. You will not get much milk and will have to work diligently keeping the animal milked out on a regular basis or they will dry themselves up.

__________________
Roseanna
Morning Mist Herd
Journey's End Jerseys
Jerseys, Jersey/Norwegian Reds, Beef, Boers, Nubians & crossbreeds

I quess what I was getting at was for a female to be in use, a male bovine counterpart somewhere had to be butchered, and for a cow to be in milk she usually has to have had a calf which 50% of the time is a to be butchered male.

__________________
“It is tedious to live, it is tedious to die, it is tedious to c**p in deep snow”
Old Norwegian observation

If you had a lot of extra time, you could try raising the steers as oxen, couldn't you?

Haggis, I understood that, but if she were to only calve the cow out every two or three years (or more) and simply kept any bull calves as expesnive pets she might not have to be forced into giving up dairy from a happy cow.
Tis all I meant.

My uncle has two eight year old Jersey oxen. Niagara is the only remaining animal from my line of cattle.

__________________
Roseanna
Morning Mist Herd
Journey's End Jerseys
Jerseys, Jersey/Norwegian Reds, Beef, Boers, Nubians & crossbreeds