What milk cow should i get?
 

So here is how things stand, my family has a beef cow operation, mostly angus and angus crosses. I want to get a milk cow for Chris and me. I intend to breed the girl to my dad’s angus bull and put her calves up with the meat cows when they are weaned. I would also like it if the mother was polled and a bit beefy herself, to make her calves a bit bigger. (so maybe some sort of dual-purpose breed? )
What do u all suggest, and why ?

Don't get a Jersey. They are fine boned and not beefy at all.
Finding a cow that will stand to be hand milked will be your first goal. There are Herefords that are quiet and give enough milk for a family. There are Dexters that are wilder than your Angus. Finding a Holstein will be easiest, but that is a lot of milk and a lot of cow.
Whatever you end up with, you'll need to get her used to being in a stanchion so when milking time comes, you will be ready.
IMHO, cows must be milked twice a day without fail. Otherwise you get Mastitis going and may end up chronic and ruin the cow. If you are less committed, get your milk at the store.

shorthorn look for a milking shorthorn if you want more milk and look for a beef shorthorn if you want less milk and more beef.

We have a Brown Swiss that we love. She is a very large cow and gives 6 to 8 gallons of milk a day. Also very docile. We chose to stay away from Jersey and Holstein breeds since we wanted a dual purpose cow. You could also look into Milking Shorthorns. Good luck.

You could AI one of your angus to a Norwegian Red. That would give you more milk but still have the beef frame.

I would get a jersey. A jersey cow bred to a beef bull produces GOOD meat. Jerseys can be so tame, like a big old dog. They are not massive. When we had them they would come when called, and beg for a scratch under the throat, or along the back.

Nothing IMO like a well trained jersey. And then you have the glorious, creamy milk.

The milk breeds are well known to produce awesome meat, it is just that they have a different body structure: Do not let that disuade you. A fine boned jersy cow, bred right, will produce beautiful beefy calves...

If it's just for your own use raise an Angus to milk. They'll give plenty.

i did not know if an angus would stay in milk well or give very much, or if she would even stand for milking. Do any of u have experence with milking an Angus?

that is both more milk and more cow then i can handle :cow:

I had a brown swiss and I still miss her the best all around cow and crossing to the angus bull made great beef she liveda very long and productive life , milking shorthorn would be my next choice jerseys are "OK" but are a little fragile . Housteens are best left on big commercial dairys they are big producers with small teats and short lifespans

I've milked a couple, if they're raised to be milked and tame they'll give 3-4 gallons for a long time

You can use any cow that is tame enough to milk. The question is how much do you want and what butterfat content. Beef breeds do not have the same high butterfat as dairy breeds.

I have an angus cross I milk. She is almost a year fresh. She gives a gallon at a time. I do not push her to give a lot of milk. She gives more cream then my jersey. Find a tamer angus and milk her.

Jersey cows are the best. Jersey/angus will give you a beef that is the best. I have bred 5 jersey cows to a red angus bull for years and can't fill orders for freezer beef. All by word of mouth. I milk the cows for about 3 months after calving, using milk and freezing. The calves come off at about 8 months and go straight processor, usually around 800 lbs, I feed the cows some non gmo grain. You can cut the rib-eyes with a fork.

thatnks for all the help guys this is a lot of good info

You could always try to get a beef x dairy heifer.

This way you could get something with good beef genes on the top half and hopefully a nice bag from momma. A lot of small time dairy guys will breed their cows to a beef bull and you could probably pick up a Jersey x Angus cross pretty easy.

We used to breed our Jersey to a polled hereford and made some nice looking heifers. We ate them all, but I'm sure an animal like that would serve your purposes.

Also, 99% of cows can be broken to stand for milking. Its just a matter of time and starting fussing with them when they're young.

I've done a jersey cow and had way too much milk for family with 3 kids, and they can have more problems, like milk fever.

The beef/jersey crosses have been my favorite, though my last heifer that was Hereford/jersey made too much milk for my wife and I.

Now I'm planning to milk some beef heifers (British White) after they calve. Only need a quart or two a day. Was thinking if want milk steady all year round, could have a spring and fall calver. But not sure how badly I want to milk in the winter any more.

Only thing is last pure beef cow I milked didn't have enough cream to make butter, so if you want that, might want a Jersey cross. I plan to just use it for drinking, and some cream on cereal.

at this point i am thinking ether a true Angus trained to milk or a Angus milker cross

When we had a cow we milked once a day, friend does the same thing. The calf is with the cow for 12 hours and then locked up so that in 12 hours we can milk. Works like a dream.

Does it matter what 12 hour time frame? I'm not sure I can add another thing to my morning, so I've been wondering about seperating in the morning and milk when I get home from work?

..........three GOOD Nubian goats! Sorry, could NOT resist!

nope hubby said it has to be a cow =P He wants something that will make beef for freezer camp

No it doesn't matter. Just lock the calf up 12ish hours before you want to milk

beef\dairy cross or full beef bred that is hand raised on a bottle and trained to milk would be my choice. If you're wanting to put the calf up with the other beefers and ship it to the sale or the freezer it'll do better with as little dairy blood in it as possible. Also would be a good idea to get something that will less likely throw any spots when bred to a beef bull so it will sell better.

If you take a beef cow and feed her like she's a dairy cow and put her on a milking schedule right from the start her production should surpass her herd mates that are in the pasture raising their own calves on grass.

It's supply and demand for the most part. If her body thinks she needs to make two gallons of milk a day to take care of a calf, she'll more than likely do it. (Not saying you're gonna get an angus or other beefer to make 75lbs of milk per day, but you can definately get enough out of "most" of them to supply a family with milk.)

The key to it is training from an early age and preferably on a bottle. Beef cattle, especially angus, are known to be a little waspy in the stanchion and she'd need to be good and gentle. I seriously doubt you'd ever have a pasture raised cow that would get gentle enough that would stand peacefully and let you milk her unless some early training took place.