I also have the itch (and a similar question)

[mad_misky]

I want to have a dairy animal, but the idea of milking twice a day year 'round is rather intimidating. Also, cows produce waaay too much milk for me, so what if I milked a jersey cow, but only for a few months and freeze it.

Now, I know I need to feed that cow, but I have 100 acres of pasture with only three sheep and one llama on there right now... so I was hoping to just let the cow out to pasture.

On that note, I've never been able to figure this out, but if you have a lot of pasture, do you still have to feed them in the winter? Do they need grains even if they have pasture? Just for lactating?

Another thing... can dairy cows be eaten? Like, if I have a bull calf, can I raise it to a steer and eat it?

[farminghandyman]

what you feed an animal can have a major taste on the milk produced,
and grains help in the flavor department, and they also help when milking the animal, as the animal is eating and not thinking about standing being milked or in a stanchion,
beef animals are not normally feed grains if there is good grass for them when used as breading stock,
winter feeding depends on how much they can obtain from the pasture, if you have plenty of winter pasture there is no need to feed hay, (all hay is grass that has been cut and preserved), (normally the protein may be higher in the hay if cut properly than in dead grass, as the prime time to cut a Hay product is just before it starts to make seeds, as soon as it makes seed the protein in the stock is transferred to the seed, (the difference of feeding hay and straw), in winter grass the stock has made seed and many times dropped it seed leaving a less nutritious feed, but if they have plenty I don't winter feed my beef cattle unless there is snow on the ground and they can't get to it or there is not any left to graze off, I do set out some protein tubs for them tho.

[HiddenHills]

I pm'd you