How Long Do You Spend Milking?
 

DH and I have talked for years about getting an experienced milk cow - preferably a Jersey. DH is concerned that if we do get one we'll NEVER get off our property - as we rarely do now. I'm concerned that it would be hard for me (w/5 kids and one on the way) to keep up with the milking. How long do you spend milking (daily) - and how do you handle taking care of the milking on brief get aways?

Thanks!
A Newbie to this Forum

From out the door to milk in the ice box takes me thirty (30) minutes each milking. . .twice a day. Just milking one right now, but I'll be doing another in a couple weeks (and a third in a couple months). Using a surge milker, that second cow will only add about 10 minutes.

Brief getaways? I've heard of such a thing. . .read about it once. Otherwise, you better define "brief" as "twelve (12) hours or less". :(

LOL. Uh Oh. I think the hubster is going to rain on my short-lived parade! He has a crazy idea that some day we can both get off of this place at the same time for a whole weekend. :)

I'm actually considering getting a milk cow......just to add to the many excuses I have now for never wanting to leave my property. If I just don't mention the fact that I will have yet another chore that means I can't leave the property until I get him hooked on fresh milk..........

It takes me 30 minutes start to finish. I use a bucket milker and milk one cow. Unless you have someone in your neighborhood who wants to learn to milk for you, you will need to keep your "vacations" to the 2 month dry period before calving. Lots of people work the breeding of their cow so that they can have a particular time of year free.
Trisha~who thinks it is totally worth it to keep a cow ;-)

If I just milked the cow without doing the other chores I'm guessing my time in the barn would be about 30 minutes, maybe a little less. Back in the house, I filter the milk into 1/2 gallon jars and that usually takes another fifteen minutes depending on how much milk she gave. Then a few more minutes for clean up.

Hands on milking 15 minutes, (3 plus gallons)...Topside

30 minutes out the door and into the refrigerator. Cleanup and prep takes the most time. I think milking more than one by hand wouldn't add another 30 minutes. (15 maybe)

Would it be feasible to find a like-minded family to share the cow and milking chores? Or perhaps someone who would love to learn to milk and would enjoy coming to do the chores on an occasional basis in return for the milk? It might be one way to manage getaways.

Thank you!
 

Thanks to all of you for your input and suggestions! I think our best bet is to plan things so that we can get away during the "dry season." We have lots of options for folks who do our chores, but normally I can arrange for them to come only once a day (unless it's in the dead of winter...but we never leave then)...with a milk cow I'd need to impose twice. However, they'd get to keep the milk.

Again...thank you all!

What about sharing the milk with a calf or two?
I have read about that, when you want milk you supposedly seperate them for the night an dthen milk in the morning for yourself then let calves have her the rest of the day. That way if you want to leave, you just leave the calve on her steady while you are gone.

I have no experience with this, just read about it and thought that would be an awesome way to have both fresh milk AND free time :D

If your calf is old enough, you can turn it out with the cow. A baby calf or small calf won't take near all the milk and might get the scours if you left it run with the cow while you are out of town, but a three or four month old calf ought to be able to take all of the milk. That's what we have always done when we were going to be gone for a day or two.

If you intend to hand milk(we always did hand milk our Jerseys and still do), then when you get good at it, it might take you 10-20 minutes per milking. But if you are not accustomed to milking, it will take you a good deal longer until your hands become accustomed to the new excercise.

Keep a calf on her
 

We keep the baby on her. We milk once in the evening and lock them both up in the barn. I let them both out in the morning, the baby get her fill and we get 2-4 gallons each night. Vickie

I have done it this way too and it works VERY well. I exasperated Mom and bayb for 12 hours, milked out the cow then turned them in together for the next 12 hours. No bottle feeding, and only once a day milking chores. The only probalem I had was as the calf got bigger, he started to scrape the teats pretty bad. That's when I had to wean, but I later learned he had a jaw malformation that mad all that happen.
Anyway, I did leave calf with cow a few times when I didn't want to milk on my turn too.
Trisha

Yep, Just leave the calf on when you can't milk, that works well for us. Also we only milk in the morning with and so that is only once a day for our neighbors to help if we choose that route.

Of course, when our neighbors milked (they had only milked goats before) they completely emptied the grain barrell when they milked because they said she wouldn't stop moving when she wasn't eating grain (I'm guessing it must have been 3-4 days worth of grain) And then she got mastitis which she never fully recovered from until she dryed up (we'll see if that quarter returns to full health.) I don't mean it to be a downer but this was our experience with letting someone else milk our cow.

Right now it takes about 30 minutes to milk each morning for one cow. I like the idea of planning all get aways when she is dry.

Good luck with the cow and kiddos (I have 5 also, but no more on the way) ;)
Juli

Sounds about the same as everyone else here, 20-30 minutes from out the kitchen door to in the fridge (including a good scratch for being a good cow).
I cut that down some days by freezing unstrained milk for pig food.
When I started out it took me an hour - 45 minutes to milk out half of what she's giving now. After a month or so, that went down to 20 minutes for the same amount and as she's increased her production, my speed has increased.

Yep, plan your weekend get away for during her dry season before she calves, share with a calf to give yourself a semi-break. It would be prudent to find/invent a relief milker you can trust IF you can. You never know what's going to happen and it would be nice to have someone that can come in, in an emergency.

We had the same question, only I was more concerned about NOT wanting to go out and milk if it is around zero degrees! We plan on taking some milk and letting a calf have the rest. Hope it works for us as well as for others here!

Its 40 minutes for me to get everything together, get the cow in, milk, and turn her back out.

We have 4 kids and I work 7 hours 3 days a week.

We have no problem.

I have arranged for someone to come milk while I'm out of town (on vacation, yay!). She has been out a few times to milk with me supervising her, and she will be out the morning that we leave.

I've held off weaning the calf until we return, that way, if the cow isn't milked out totally (she sometimes holds up her milk), I'm not worried about mastitis. The calf is almost 3 months old now and can handle most of the milk my cow produces (jersey). I could probably push her to produce more milk, but I don't see the need.

I separate at night and milk in the morning, then put the cow and calf together for the day. It works very well, we have plenty of milk.

If I didn't have anyone to take over milking, I think we'd be fine going out of town and leaving the calf on full time. It wouldn't work if she were younger and couldn't take as much milk.

Breed her to so that she is dry for the coldest two months of the year.

My calf had favorite teats and would drink from them and ignore the others. I went away for a weekend and when I came back the cows udder had hard spots in the front quarters. I'm trying to rememeber, I think the calf was three months old. I milked the cow a couple extra times and everything went back to normal, but I'm sure if I'd been gone longer than the weekend, I would have had trouble. Try to be aware of your calf's nursing habits before you rely on him/her to keep the cow milked out.

Sounds like 6 kids could use lots of milk, but you might consider a beef/Jersey cross to reduce production. Not so much milk, and so a calf can better take it all if you don't want to milk as much. I have a angus/jersey cross and just milk once daily and the calf gets the rest. Sometimes I take more if needed, but calf does fine.

I've actually suggested to my sister who has your concerns to just get a beef cow, which are usually easier to find, and might have fewer problems than a used Jersey. Keep a beef cow milked out early in lactation and you'll keep getting milk. If you get tired of it, just turn her back into a beefer. Better yet, get two beef cows for more production. Get more beef than from pure dairy. Or you could breed to Jersey to get a higher milk producing cow.

And with a beef cow, you can learn the whole routine and milking skills without getting overwhelmed. Many want to start with a 6 gallon a day cow and can get discouraged. I've been down that road. Considering you're not getting any milk now, any cow would be an improvement.

Thanks again!
 

Thank you all for your advice! I'm looking forward to getting my first milk cow!

We also have 5 kids and I am pregnant with twins. Congratulations!

I milk 3 cows twice a day and am back in the house to strain milk in 45 minutes. A few minutes less if they are in a closer paddock where I don't have to walk them as far. At the peak, I was getting 12 gallons/day.

LOL, now me, I would rather have them dry in the summer. In the winter, I don't have much better to do, but in the summer there are so many things I would rather do, and the longer days make it harder to do the 12 hour thing.
I have not done this though, just what I think would work for me. have only milked goats, and it is not likely to get a dairy goat to kid in the fall.

Ozark Jewells
 

has your answer breed the cow and arrange for the two month dry period for when you want to vacation.. Myself i prefer to milk in zero weather and have time off in July-August...hot weather is when it is best to cut back on milk and cornbread as they are heat generators, especially corn bread..;-)

I was actually answering someone else.:cowboy:
We have between 2-4 cows milking at one time. We stagger the breedings so there is *always* at least one cow milking, as we need the milk. My favorite calving season is September through December. Then my next choice would be March.
If I was trying to get a couple months off from milking, I would certainly breed to dry off at the end of December. I HATE WINTER COLD.;)

I do not milk cows but do milk goats. I stop milking at Christmas and start again the first part of March when the kids arrive. This works great for us as I vacation with girlfriends in February. Hubby does his thing during hunting season.............

Getting away is the hardest thing about having livestock - IMO.
BUT - lol - I absolutely, posatively love to milk my goats. I started milking two, leased a third that same summer and four summers later - milked 15!!! We are milking seven this year. Milking is almost a spiritual experience to me - I take a deep breath from my day, and just connect with a simpler, slower existence.....but hey - I also like listening to my ponies eat! I'm weird that way.

A single goat giving approximately a gallon takes maybe five to ten minutes to actually milk - plus 5-10 for prep and filtering. The act of milking doesn't take a whole lot of time - depending on the orifice size, and ease of milking out that particular animal - which is why you want to at least milk a prospective cow/goat before you buy it. AND if you are new to milking it will seem to take forever, and then in a few weeks you will be an old pro - taking you a fraction of the time. So, if you have one, bring along an experienced milker friend to milk your prospective cow.

There is some flexibility - IF you have nearby livestock owners willing to 'trade' vacations, or like others have mentioned, breeding for specific 'dry' times - although we breed for milk year around instead, lol. We milk once a day and leave kids on - til butcher weight, and then leave breeding doelings on five or six months because they are so growthy that way. Anyway, it gives us some more flexibility.

We milk our jersey once a day. We milk by hand right now. From start to clean up and milk in the fridge is about 45 mins.