blood testing for dairy cows?

[hobbyfarmer]

We recently got our first cow. yay! After some initial problems with getting her dried up and putting some much needed weight on her, she seems to be doing pretty well. She's a jersey cross, really small, and puppy dog friendly. She's comfortable with hand-milking and that's what we plan to do.

Currently, she's dry and not bred and we want to put a little bit more weight on her before we go there but since we are planning to drink the milk, do I need to be testing her for anything first?

Now, please bear with me. Belle is our first cow and we're only experienced with goats as dairy animals. We tested our goats annually for disease and we used the milk for soaps and cheeses but never actually got used to the taste. We're just "cow milk" folks. Not trying to start an argument about milk, that's just what we prefer. Do you test your milk cows like goats?

TIA,
Kristen

[haypoint]

I assume you don't plan to pasteurize the milk.

There is TB and brucelocus and another I can't think of right now. Then there is mastitis to be aware of. Regular bacteria counts should help.

But, instead of asking a group of well intentioned nameless folks here on Homesteadingtoday, perhaps if you told your local Vet what your intentions were, you could get some educated answers.
Good luck.