Milking cows

[bigfoot2you]

Question...........can you milk a regular milk cow only once a day? Or does it always have to be twice a day?

tks

[springvalley]

If she is a high production cow, no, but if she doesn`t give much milk and is only on pasture, no grain, you should be able to milk once a day. But do that on a regular basis, don`t milk twice one day and once the next then back to twice the next day. >Thanks Marc

[mountainlaurel]

Yes, you can, I milk three Jerseys regularly once a day, I feed them grain while milking and they each give about 2 gallons a day. I've done this for several years now with minimal problems.
Sometimes you can leave a calf on them and still milk them once a day but I haven't always been successful. It depends on the cow.

[gone-a-milkin]

I think that if you do it consistently from the moment they freshen, you shouldn't have a problem. Also, if they are later in their lactation when the amount of milk drops off some, going to once a day is a fine idea.

My question is why? If you are going to feed her, why not just milk her twice a day?

[bigfoot2you]

I am retiring soon and have wanted a milk cow for "eva" Hubby says no because you have to be there twice a day, every day to milk her............You folks have confirmed NO you don't..........a lot to think about.

Thanks everyone!
Kathie

[triple divide]

Originally Posted by bigfoot2you

I am retiring soon and have wanted a milk cow for "eva" Hubby says no because you have to be there twice a day, every day to milk her............You folks have confirmed NO you don't..........a lot to think about.

Thanks everyone!
Kathie

I'm not being accusitory here, so please, don't take this the wrong way when I ask you, "Why would you get a dairy cow only to milk her once/day?"

The modern dairy cow is the result of hundreds of years of careful selection and breeding specifically for the purpose of producing an abundance of milk. In simpler words, "she is designed to be milked twice/day"

I see here weekly in the cattle forum of HT example after example of sick animals (mostly mastitis). As a cross-section of our country homesteaders make up a relatively microscopic portion (I imagine) of actual dairy cow food production in the USA, beit for home use or surplus sale. And yet, there seem to be an overabundance of health issues (mostly in the mammary system) being discussed in this forum.

I can't help but wonder how many of these dairy animals, bred and designed for one function, are being stressed into disease from an attempt to reverse bred traits for (what appears to be) convienience sake.

There are beef and also dual purpose breeds available that seem to me a far superior choice given your question. I'd encourage you to start investigating some of these breeds for doing the once/day thing. Everything will most likely be just fine for her health-wise. I, however,cannot agree with others (for reasons stated earlier) that milking a dairy cow once/day can be done with no problems or illnesses to the animal.

My family has been milking cows since 1920. Never once can I recall my grandfather/mother, granduncles, father, etc. ever indicate anything but a minimum of 2x/day milking as a healthy routine for a dairy cow. Pick up a copy of the book "Traditional American Farming Techniques" Read fully chs. 52-55. These chapters were written circa 1916 and the majority of the information is directly applicable to HT types for small farm hand milked operations. Even then, it is stressed the differences between dairy and beef animals and the absolute necessity of the milking routine remaining uninterrupted as possible everyday during lactation a minimum of twice/day. This is also written during a time when these authors had a dedicated interrest in co-operative extension results being accurate and maximized.

Whatever you decide I sincerily wish you success.

[linn]

Many people milk a cow once a day because of time crunch and because they don't need too much milk. If you buy a cow with a calf on her, then you can keep the calf in when you want the milk and when you don't need the milk, you can turn the cow in and let the calf have all of the milk. Or you can leave the calf with the cow all night and pen the calf in the morning so you will have milk at night.

[mountainlaurel]

Originally Posted by triple divide

I'm not being accusitory here, so please, don't take this the wrong way when I ask you, "Why would you get a dairy cow only to milk her once/day?"

The modern dairy cow is the result of hundreds of years of careful selection and breeding specifically for the purpose of producing an abundance of milk. In simpler words, "she is designed to be milked twice/day"

I see here weekly in the cattle forum of HT example after example of sick animals (mostly mastitis). As a cross-section of our country homesteaders make up a relatively microscopic portion (I imagine) of actual dairy cow food production in the USA, beit for home use or surplus sale. And yet, there seem to be an overabundance of health issues (mostly in the mammary system) being discussed in this forum.

I can't help but wonder how many of these dairy animals, bred and designed for one function, are being stressed into disease from an attempt to reverse bred traits for (what appears to be) convienience sake.

There are beef and also dual purpose breeds available that seem to me a far superior choice given your question. I'd encourage you to start investigating some of these breeds for doing the once/day thing. Everything will most likely be just fine for her health-wise. I, however,cannot agree with others (for reasons stated earlier) that milking a dairy cow once/day can be done with no problems or illnesses to the animal.

My family has been milking cows since 1920. Never once can I recall my grandfather/mother, granduncles, father, etc. ever indicate anything but a minimum of 2x/day milking as a healthy routine for a dairy cow. Pick up a copy of the book "Traditional American Farming Techniques" Read fully chs. 52-55. These chapters were written circa 1916 and the majority of the information is directly applicable to HT types for small farm hand milked operations. Even then, it is stressed the differences between dairy and beef animals and the absolute necessity of the milking routine remaining uninterrupted as possible everyday during lactation a minimum of twice/day. This is also written during a time when these authors had a dedicated interrest in co-operative extension results being accurate and maximized.

Whatever you decide I sincerily wish you success.

Sorry that you don't agree with us but it does work. The cow is still routinely milked, it's just once a day instead of twice a day. She doesn't give as much milk but it works better for us since we have to go to work in the morning. The calf gets the milk usually at the other milking.

[triple divide]

Originally Posted by mountainlaurel

Sorry that you don't agree with us but it does work. The cow is still routinely milked, it's just once a day instead of twice a day. She doesn't give as much milk but it works better for us since we have to go to work in the morning. The calf gets the milk usually at the other milking.

I'm glad your system works.

Reason for edit: Misread above post. My apologies.

[DJ in WA]

I have to agree with Triple Divide.

Others can correct me if I'm wrong, but seems the less often you milk, the greater risk of mastitis. If you have a young healthy cow, the risk is lower. But with age and any teat injury, etc, the probability of problems increase.

As Linn stated, you can include the calf nursing as one milking. The problem is that a calf can't handle all the milk a good dairy cow can produce in a milking.

Better to get a cow that is part beef or dual purpose with lower production for once per day milking.

I plan to get a couple beef cows and steal a few quarts a day. If my needs increase, I might breed one to Jersey to get a beef/dairy cross cow.

It does seem that some don't mind dealing with mastitis, but I'd like to avoid it if at all possible.

[haypoint]

Milk at the same time every day and then put the calf with her for the next 12 hours, repeat

[mountainlaurel]

The calves do great on it. We sell them or raise them depending on the calf. We also raise pigs on extra milk. Haypoint got it right.

[francismilker]

I share milk all the time with success for both the cow and the calf.