Animal I can milk every 2 days?

Sorry but I gotta disagree with both of you on this one. You seem to be thinking in terms of a ranch where there is adequate land and resources in place for the animals to take care of themselves. The OP said "I have a small homestead", which rules that out. And what happens when the inevitable problem arises with the every other day routine? You get stomach flu, the truck is broke down, your momma died, and all the other things that life throws at us?? If all you can give your critters is a visit every other day, don't get them.

I know Callie, I should calm down a bit, but big differance in being their and someone looking at them from time to time. I`m all for vacations and weddings, even got married myself. But I have done this a lifetime and know how things can go bad fast, even if your right there. Sorry for being so blunt. > Marc

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Our Diversified Stock Portfolio: cows and calves, alpacas, horses, pigs, chickens, goats, sheep, cats ... and a couple of dogs...
http://springvalleyfarm.4mg.com

How did this become a thread on caring for animals??? I go to the gym everyday but I do not do the same thing everyday. One day I work on cardio, the next day I lift weights, and I rotate this. I like the same idea of doing this on my farm. I am not raising food, etc for others, it is only a few animals to supply food for myself. Three rabbits, 6 quail, stocked pond, veg garden, 3 beehives, fruit orchard, mushroom garden, and winter wheat, small tree nursery, and then my deer plots. Instead of doing the same routine everyday I like being on a schedule where I know what I am going to do each day. I am with the animals everyday but I do not water the rabbits everyday when I can give them enough water for 2 days. I do not hoe the garden every day if I don't have to. I know with goats and cows you have to milk daily or the animals will develop problems. I AM JUST ASKING A SIMPLE QUESTIONS, IS THERE AN ANIMAL THAT CAN BE MILKED EVERY TWO DAYS WITHOUT IT AFFECTING IT'S HEALTH. If the answer is no that is fine.. if there is an option than I would like to research it. I can not believe how quick people are to judge people on this forum. You ASSUMED I do not take care of my animals and say that if I don't want to take care of animals I shouldn't have them. I say if you are going to make false assumptions, say rude things to people without knowing more about them, then maybe you shouldn't be posting in the forums.

I milked my tame (yet zany) Holstein once a day or every second day. Nice cow but she forgets she weighs 1400 pounds!

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Do not meddle in the affairs of Dragons, for you are crunchy and good with ketchup........

Get a partner to go "halfsies" with you...or find a reliable person who would like to get paid in milk...they could take on the milking chores every other day...I don't know of any critter that could go every other day like you describe.

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"Those who hammer their guns into plows will plow the fields of those who don't."-Thomas Jefferson

Both my husband and I have had animals all our lives and love them dearly. They are part of our life and we look after them like we did the children we raised. One of us is out to the barn atleast three times a day making sure the goats and horse have everything they need and to check on them.We leave goat kids with the mothers all the time. We get up early and milk them and the kids milk the rest of the time.

We would never consider leaving the farm unattended not even overnight. Animals can get out or get caught in fences or any multitude of things or get stolen.Predators could attack them. If anyone doesn't want to commit to animals everyday they should not have them. I agree with people who say keep a garden and forget about keeping animals.

Animals are a tie down and no one should have them unless they like staying home with them. Also on a farm you get up early and go to the barn and feed and water and milk animals BEFORE you eat breakfast! Animals depend on humans to see to their needs and we owe it to give them our best.

I'm going to opt for a simple answer to this one.

No. I don't think it is a wise thing to do.

This is a great idea if you can make it work. : )

Seems some of us may have ruffled feathers, not my intentions. If you want to share milk a cow that still has a calf, go for it, it may work or not. If I am one of the people you have thought of as rude, well you need to explain the whole story. It sounded like to me you only wanted to work part time as an animal care giver. Go back to your origanal post and read it in a differant perspective, look at it through our eyes. And If any one wants to take a vote for me to go, start voting. > Marc

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Our Diversified Stock Portfolio: cows and calves, alpacas, horses, pigs, chickens, goats, sheep, cats ... and a couple of dogs...
http://springvalleyfarm.4mg.com

Cows are out on range for weeks with a calf. I would find a beef cross cow, Holstein x hereford, gentle second calf heifer, let it calve and run with a calf. After a week or so lock it up the evening before, milk it in the morning and let the calf nurse the rest of the time. Not the most productive but it works....James

It was not my intention to be rude. Apparently I see being responsible for an animal differently than you do. Every animal I have known with an absentee owner, sooner or later suffered for it. Your question came across as, how about I just breeze by every couple of days and take some milk? Not an indicator of good stewardship.

Specific to your question, with a heavy milking animal, you are begging for mastitis with erratic milking. Not a heavy milker, would you get enough to make it worth the effort? I wouldn't want to bear the expense of buying and keeping the animal, the effort to train it for milking and the time every other day to catch it up and milk it - for a quart.

The shared ownership suggestion was a good one. Everybody wins, including the milk donor.

I didn't see where anyone had a rude answer for you volley. They may have had an answer you didn't like, but I didn't see any rudeness behind it.

I didn't assume you do not take care of your animals until you posted you didn't give your animals fresh water daily.

SpringValley is a friend IRL. Marc can get kind of pushy some days , but is one of the kindest and most caring people I know.

Perhaps if you don't want to hear the honest opinions of veteren livestock owners, you shouldn't ask the question

Good luck to you

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It can be done. I have had Jerseys, Guernseys, dairy crossbreds, and so on. With just two of us, I always ran into the problem of too much milk and not being able to leave home. I have found milking a nice beef cow can work just fine. The dairy people might flame you and claim, "You CAN'T milk a beef cow!!" You can. Training a young beef heifer is no different than training a dairy heifer to milk.

I check my cattle daily (or have my sister check if we're gone). They are out on pasture in the summer and fed hay in the winter (they have access to shelter at all times). I have a 300 gallon heated tank, checked daily. They are never without plenty of feed, water, salt and mineral. But, I don't milk daily, usually a couple times a week. Maybe more if I want to make cheese, butter or ice cream.

To address the milk let down issue, I have my stanchion arranged where the calf is tied near the cow's head, it can reach her belly, but not far enough back to get in my way or mess up my milk bucket. After being separated all night, the hungry calf will butt the cow's belly, she lets down. And having her calf right by her, she doesn't get in a panic worrying about a calf she can't see. I take the calf into the barn first, that solves any problems of the cow not wanting to go in.

On the downside, you certainly aren't going to get gallons at a time milking this way. The cow's lactation period will not be as long (having two, calving 6 months apart, works well). She may not let down completely, and so you will not get all the cream.

On the upside, you won't have too much milk to deal with, you can have someone that won't milk tend your cattle if you're gone, you have a beef calf to butcher or sell. I don't worry much at all about mastitis, ketosis, milk fever, and some other problems that the high producing dairy cows can suffer from.

It's a trade-off. As my dh likes to say, "If the feds crack down on the home milk supply, no one will believe you milk that old beefer out in the back pasture."

This is my 14 year old (will be 15 in April) 3/4 Angus 1/4 Hereford cow. She has held up well, nice udder. She is having some problems with arthritis in her hips, but for her age, she's doing alright. Never has had any health problems.


Ok, you all can flame me now, but I have to say, I've been doing this a lot of years and it works for us. It's not "normal", it's not "traditional", it's "outside the box". But isn't that what homesteading is all about? Finding ways to meet your needs and enhance your life with homegrown, natural foods? I can provide that for us and still go camping, go on photo shoots, or just enjoy my cattle without that daily chore.

Milking a beef cow?? What a novel idea, I would never flame anyone for milking something other than a dairy cow. I use to milk a beef cow when we didn`t milk dairy cows. I also milked gaots, guess I may have to live that one down, but oh well. My ole beef cow use to give three gallons of milk per day, when she was about to dry off. I just am a bad boy, I don`t like to share, so no calves going to fight me for milk. > Thanks Marc

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Our Diversified Stock Portfolio: cows and calves, alpacas, horses, pigs, chickens, goats, sheep, cats ... and a couple of dogs...
http://springvalleyfarm.4mg.com

That's what we always did - I don't know about a cow being 'laid back' or not - we had 3 different ones and it didn't seem to bother any of them.

Marc, I milked goats for a long time, too, but my dh just isn't a goat person. So, no more goat milk for me. I do miss those cute kids bouncing around, though.

It's amazing how much milk some beef cows give. Do you have any pics of the one you had?

I'm just a bad girl. I'd rather let my cow have the calf raising duties. That gives me more time for other things around the place, or photography, getting into my mountains.

Chalk Creek, I love your mountains also, but I am also glad you have them. And yes I have a picture of me with my beef cow when I milked her, it is hanging on the frig. I`ll see if the wife will put it up tomarro. That cow has been gone long ago, that will have been some 24 years ago, about half a lifetime ago. > Thanks Marc

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Our Diversified Stock Portfolio: cows and calves, alpacas, horses, pigs, chickens, goats, sheep, cats ... and a couple of dogs...
http://springvalleyfarm.4mg.com

My husband and I just have a little place ourselves, and though we're generally here all the time, we've found the easiest time to get away for a night is when our goats are nursing their kids. We've done it a couple of times, left them plenty of food and water, come home the next day and everyone has been fine.

It was a bit nerve wracking, there is always a chance something can go wrong when you're not there. But then, we're both gone to work all day too, with no one here to watch the animals.

I think you would be fine with a couple of dairy goats.

If they have access to good hay and minerals, I don't see any reason why you would have to feed them every day. Just separate the kids from the moms the night before you want to milk, feed a ration of grain while you're milking the next morning, then turn everyone out together until you need some more milk.

Of course, it will be more complicated than that in real life, but yeah, I think you can have a dairy animal you only need to feed every other day

sounds like you need a partner, either you milk at there place every other day or vice versa. split the work,cost and milk.

if you can keep the food and water clean, really is no big issue "bulk" feeding. I do this with my dogs and chickens, though they get at least a check a day if not 2 or 3.

being the only care giver though, anything I can do that does not put the critters at odds and saves me a few steps and some time is a good thing.