Question about a milk cow on five acres

[Vernitta]

We are buying a home on five acres and would love to get a milk cow in the future. It probably won't be this year, though. We've thought about getting a Dexter, but I'm not sure it will produce enough milk for us. We are a family of 6. My husband only likes skim milk. I'm lactose intolerant, but I can handle raw milk. Our four children (8,6,4, and 21 months) drink about 2 gallons of whole milk a week. We also eat A LOT of cheese, butter, and yogurt.
So, my question is (based on yall's experience and knowledge) would a Dexter produce enough or should we look to a Jersey?
We only have five acres. We also plan on getting about 25 chickens and want to rotational-pasture them. We will have a large garden (possibly an acre), orchard with probably 6 trees, an herb garden, and a berry patch. We would like to rotational graze, if possible.

[FarmboyBill]

Id say a Jersey will provide you with enough milk, yet be small enough of the heavy breeds to supply that milk.
You do not say if your 5 is all open or not.
Id say, put the cow on rotationall acre age, build a barn, and buy in around 150 bales of hay, and build in that barn a grainery to hold ton or more lots of corn. Buying it by the ton bulk is cheaper here than buying it in bags.
What will you do for milk when the cows dry?
You might try a cow and 3 milk breed goats for the dry season. The goats wont eat as much as the cow, and they wont supply quite as much milk also, BUT you will have milk all year long. IF you have any woods they will love eating there while the cow wont. Youll get experience in both and be able to compare them against each other, cow and goats. AND, between them all, you should have 1/2 doz babies or more each year. Course, adding the goats, youll have to have something like 200 min bales of hay, and extra grain.
My dad kept a jersey in a 50ft sq cow lot for around 20yrs, and it never ate anything buy alfalfa hay and corn.

[sandc]

Not sure on how much a dexter produces, but with you being lactose intolerant I would look at goats.

As for the acreage, it really depends on the acreage. 5 acres of good Arkansas pasture versus 5 acres of Colorado plains can make quite a difference on how much you are going to supplement their feed.

[sammyd]

5 Acres would be plenty around here. Enough to provide pasture and get plenty of hay for the winter. However taking some of that away for room for the house couple of sheds gardrand so forth might present a problem. If your land is very productive. and you have really good pasture it may still be OK.
As far as quantity of milk that is highly variable from cow to cow as well as from breed to breed.

[Bubbas Boys]

Farmboy Bill! We too would love to get a jersey. If we kept her in a pen about 40x40 with a good barn to get into, how many bales of good alfalfa would she eat a day without pasture to graze?

[motdaugrnds]

Vernitta, 5 acres is plenty of room if it is totally fenced in. We live on a 6-acre homestead and have a garden/orchard/vineyard about an acre in size. That left 5 acres for our home, sheds and pastures. By fencing in the "parameter" of our 6 acrres instead of separating the acreage into different pastures we can let all animals free-range over almost the entire 5 acres.

We chose large Nubian dairy goats because they give a great amount of milk (a good gallon each every single day for a good 10 month lactation). We've even had some continue to provide milk for a full 2 yrs without even being bred but once for the first year. (You can also add a cow to the mix, though we never saw a need to do so.)

With our garden/orchard/vineyard being in the "middle" of our acreage and totally fenced in, the only 2 parts to our rotational grazing is summer and winter. (We let the goats graze all summer in the back under trees and then in the winter, we keep them in front because that is where the large barn is.)

[Terri]

2 Dexters, perhaps? Cattle are herd creatures!


One lady I spoke to said her Dexter produced a gallon plus a day, but some of that would have to be fed to a calf.

[FarmboyBill]

Dad fed 1/2 bale a day outside, but kept hay in the manger also so that when she was finished with her corn she still had something to eat and think about whikle he was milking her,
DONT FORGET THE GRAIN. Dad fed corn cause we raised it for cows, hogs and chickens. We even ate field corn for sweet corn.
How much grain to feed a cow will be determine d by how much milk she gives.
IF YOU SKIMP OR CUT OUT THE GRAIN, she will make milk with calcium in it from the calcium in her bones, and get what humans call brittle bones disease.

We had 23 jerseys. X wouldn't let me buy corn, as I wasn't farming then here, just hay. The cows both went down and had to be rendered.

[sandc]

Originally Posted by Terri

2 Dexters, perhaps? Cattle are herd creatures!


One lady I spoke to said her Dexter produced a gallon plus a day, but some of that would have to be fed to a calf.

That doesn't seem worth it to me. When we had good alpine goats we were averaging a little over a gallon a day per goat and I figure they were probably cheaper per head to keep fed than even a dexter. Probably easier to milk too.

[WildernesFamily]

A Jersey at her peak should produce enough for your needs, including butter, cheese, etc. We have a Jersey for a family of 7. We live on 5 acres. Our area is quite lush, but we have to buy in hay for the winter. Like SammyD said, the house, garden, orchard, etc. all eat into that 5 acres. Our biggest challenge is getting our cow bred. AI worked beautifully the first time, but after that our cow wouldn't settle with AI, so we had to send her away to a friend's farm for a honeymoon. We had to dry her up before sending her away. The logistics of all that was a pain.

Have you considered goats instead of a cow since you're lactose intolerant? We have both and we've found the goats easier to milk, easier to manage and the milk is good.

[Vernitta]

I'm not severely lactose intolerant. I can have most cheeses and yogurt. I just don't drink straight milk. I had heard that raw milk does not affect those that are lactose intolerant. I tried it and it was true.
We've considered goats, but I'm not sure my family will like the cheese that is made from their milk.

[Zapthycat]

Originally Posted by WildernesFamily

Have you considered goats instead of a cow since you're lactose intolerant? We have both and we've found the goats easier to milk, easier to manage and the milk is good.

This sounds like a much more feasible idea. Cows will consume a ton more resources than goats will, much more room, much more to manage. Same amount of milk.

[rambler]

Typically a house, well, septic, yard, windbreak, and garden take 2.5 acres to all fit in.

That will leave you about 2.5 acres of land for the big livestock. If I understand your situation?

Can be done, but a little tight. I understand why you are looking at the smaller breeds. Cattle are herd animals, so you might want to consider getting 2 as mentioned.

I'm sure some will suggest milking goats, if you are open to that type of milk.

Paul

[Zapthycat]

Originally Posted by Vernitta

I'm not sure my family will like the cheese that is made from their milk.

I doubt they'd even notice. Are you going to be making cheese immediately? That's a bit more complicated than butter!

[Alice In TX/MO]

I make cheddar, mozzarella, brie, etc with goat milk.

[Vernitta]

Originally Posted by Alice In TX/MO

I make cheddar, mozzarella, brie, etc with goat milk.

How does it taste? Does it have a stronger than expected flavor?

[sammyd]

Ours tastes exactly like cow stuff, we never had any issue with "goaty" milk or milk products.

Unless I missed it, you don't say where you're living....5 acres in one place for a cow isn't the same as 5 acres in another...desert/mountain/swampy,plains, etc. different terrains, different grass, etc. helps to know this

[Tabitha]

A dexter will provide more than enough. You can make butter from it.
We like goat milk better, but forget making butter.
I personally love Dexter cows. We also have a sweet Jersey that is to freshen for the first time in June. Dexters are much more docile.
Starting out, and with all the youngens, my advice would be to get a couple of goats. Two will do you. The milk of ours tastes neutral. Nothing goaty or off.
The children will love them.

[FarmboyBill]

One thing I found out the HARD WAY. A cow wont get out if shes fed. A goat will still try to even if shes fed.