Family Dairy Cow

[JUllom]

I'm interested in adding a Dairy cow for my family's personal use. The main piece of information I haven't read on other posts is whether or not any of the breeds can go for a day or two without being milked? i.e. when we happen to be out of town...Any info on what not milking a milk cow will do etc

Thanks,

[springvalley]

NO, that is why everyone dosn`t milk cows, they need to be milked every day, seven days a week, 305 days a year. Some cows will allow being miked once a day, but never every other day or two. If you don`t have the time don`t get the cow. Thanks Marc.

[myersfarm]

Springvalley stated it like it is ...you will ruin the cow turn her in to a slaught cow in no time

[JR05]

Since you don't seem to want to commit to a cow full time, look around your area and see if one of the local cow owners will sell you a share in their milk cow. They do all the work and you buy some of the feed monthly for your share of the milk. A co-op type of thing. Everyone needs help with feed bills now a days.

[Chixarecute]

Yes, cows do need to be milked daily. If you can't be there, someone has to be there that is calm and familiar with the cow and her routine.

However, when drying them off, you CAN milk them every other day, then every 3rd day, for a short time (couple of weeks), to help them acclimate to drying off and relieve pressure if needed.

[luvmyjersey1]

Just leave the calf in with the cow on days you don't want to milk. The little moo will do your work! When I need milk, mama goes in a different field and the cow herd babysits. Only problem is when baby learns to nurse through the fence. If you have more milk than one calf can handle, buy a buddy and let the cow raise two.

[Donna from Mo]

I agree with Luvmyjersey; that's how I handle it. I only milk a couple times a week, tops. The rest of the time, the calf does the milking. It's a wonderful thing.

[Texas_Plainsman]

Lots of Amish don't milk on church day.

[myersfarm]

DO YOU SHARE MILK THE FIRST MONTH and skip a few days then or wait later before you start skipping milkings...when the calf and cow can better adjust to it

[WhistlingWoman]

You risk mastitis and a drop in production. Besides that, cows are happiest when they have a routine. They like to be milked at the same time of day by the same person doing the same things in the same order. I'm not overly sentimental about livestock in general, but a family cow is different. You're not just going out once in a while and throwing some hay at her. When you go out twice a day and lean your head into her flank while you milk, you develop a relationship with her, and her happiness counts. If you are away regularly, and you can find someone to be a relief milker, make sure that they come out often enough for the cow to get to know them, and for them to learn your routine...and make sure that it's someone who really cares about the well-being of your cow. I've never used a calf as my relief milker, so I can't speak to that. It sounds reasonable enough....

[deineria]

I plan to leave the calf on the cow to get around this problem. Other than that, I wouldn't bother having the cow if I couldn't leave the calf on her or milk her daily.

[francismilker]

Leaving cow and calf together all the time is not a bad thing as long as you're able to take most of the milk for the first few days/weeks. Otherwise, she'll form her production to fit what the calf's taking leaving you with none. Or, she'll overproduce and scour the calf.
I've share milked quite a lot with success.

[cjb]

I wish there was someone in my area that would come and milk 2-3 times per week and take the milk they get. That would be awesome It would be great to have that person also be available to milk so I can actually go on vacation.

We have a calf but she is getting up there in age to be drinking milk and our cow doesn't produce much so, most of the time we want it for ourselves. She goes without milk for a long time then gets sick if she gets in with Mama.

[springvalley]

cjb, that would be a new take on cow shares. I like the idea, just gotta make sure everyone milks when they are suppose to. I to would love a vacation, I grew up on a dairy and never had time for long vacations, but my parents would take day trips, so we did get to do things, just had to be home for night milking. My father never would let anyone other than family milk, so we all had our jobs. Now as we have started milking again a year and a half ago, we can not get away, and have had to retrain family as to when we are able to be at family events.A daer friend of mine milked for us in Nov. for a day so we could go to Missouri to look at farms. He did a wonderful job and we really ejoyed our day away. So that is why everyone won`t milk cows , cause they don`t like the hours. Thanks, and everyone have a VERY Merry Christmas !!! Marc