So, You Want a Family Milk Cow?
You’re consumed with thoughts of raw milk and all the things you can do with it.
You scroll through pictures of cows, feeling feelings you never felt before.
You’re twitterpated, as the wise old owl once said.
Ah, yes.
And I support you.
A Prologue of Solidarity
The deep desire to own and love a family milk cow comes from I know not where.
I too suffered once. I used to drive over an hour to buy raw milk each week. Late at night I would watch people milk their cows and make ice cream by the dim light of a screen with all the mixed, unhinged emotions of an unrequited lover. I read book after book on the subject. I obsessed.
And now, here we are, milking three cows every morning. We’ve raised quite a few calves and our farm is beginning to take shape. Our process has evolved from fence post and pail to bucket milker and water hose to stanchion, vacuum line and three bay sinks. And we are still reaching for the next thing. We are in. We’re committed. We’re infected. We’re ruined.
And I am absolutely NOT the most educated, experienced or ingenious voice out there on owning a family milk cow.
But I have learned a lot. And I had it on my chest to write down all the things I would have told myself not so long ago, and to share it with you.
In this three part post, I have included every resource that has been a significant part of this journey. I offer a mere road map of thoughts and considerations for the family milk cow buyer, not a manifesto or a manual.
I hope something here serves you well!
-Part I : You & Your Farm-
- A Prologue of Solidarity
- 1.1 Grasses & Forages
- 1.2 Acreage
- 1.3 Fencing
- 1.4 Your Schedule
- 1.5 The Milking Area
- 1.6 The Milk Handling Area
- 1.7 Milk Storage Capacity
- 1.8 Milking Equipment Storage Capacity
- 1.9 Machine Milking or Hand Milking
- 1.10 Your Experience
- 1.11 Your Expectations
- Conclusion
1.1 Grasses and Forages
Anyone who has owned livestock has already learned this lesson either the easy way… or the hard way. The forage your ground provides will make up a substantial part of your animal’s diet. And every nutrient your animal lacks from the field will need to be subsidized in the form of pelleted forage, grain, hay, etc. Not only does the volume of forage matter, but so does the nutritional density and mineral availability of that forage.
So to feel confident about bringing home a cow or two, you’ll first have to feel confident about your fields. If it means taking a year (or more) to amend soil and plant grass seed, so be it. It’s far better to wait until you have the grass for the cow than to get the cow and go bankrupt providing what your field can’t.
I am not qualified to expound upon the topic of grass. But I can tell you that it is, in fact, step numero uno. (Actually I suppose soil would be step one, in order to grow the grass… see it’s a rabbit hole…) But there are people out there who are real frontiersmen in the art and science of grazing, grasses and forages.
These guys are your new best friends :
1.2 Acreage
It probably goes without saying, but I would feel amiss if I didn’t mention it. Where are you going to put your cow/cows? How much acreage will they have? Can the density of the grass on that acreage sustain them?
The expectations for a piece of ground vary widely based on region, climate, rainfall, elevation, pitch, etc. Talk to cattle owners in your area if you aren’t sure what to expect.
Just for reference, here in north Florida we keep our three milk cows on less than five acres of grass paddocks and they are more than comfortable with that arrangement. We do have it partitioned to allow us to rotationally graze them and manage our fragile grasses. Without that, our grasses would suffer and soon give out.
Rotational Grazing
Rotational grazing is another area of art and science which I will not pretend to cover, as there are people out there offering treasure troves of knowledge and decades of research on the subject. If you’re reading this, chances are you know exactly what I’m talking about. If you don’t, welcome to the club! (See the resources linked in the Grass section.)
Dirt Lot
Ironically, a “dirt lot” is invaluable to our basic rotational grazing system, and if you have limited space too, remember, every gate, every water trough and every pathway will result in loss of grass. If you can accept this and prepare for it, you can deliberately choose a portion of ground to “sacrifice” to be as efficient as possible with the remaining ground.
To be honest, our cows love the dirt lot, especially during summer. I think they enjoy the coolness of the shaded sand and dampness from where the trough drips constantly on the ground. In the mornings and evenings, they venture out to the grass and eat ravenously, but much of the time, they can be found loafing about in the dirt lot.
Chickens
Keeping chickens in and around the dirt lot where the livestock congregate – and poop – is key to insect control and sustaining a cleaner environment for everyone involved. Yes, they’re noisy and they do poop on my porches here and there, but they have been worth it, and I don’t feed them a thing!
1.3 Fencing
We talked about area and now we must talk about perimeter.
On a scale of zero to goats, cows seem to be about a four when it comes to breaking out.
Our cows really haven’t ever tried to escape. We’ve even left gates open on accident and found them standing in the paddock looking at the gaping hole with mild curiosity.
However, my brother-in-law’s beef cows cost him much of the hair of his head by running up and down the road when he leaves for work.
Our fencing is a combination of (electric) six string high tensile, three board fence and temporary paddocks using two string electric wire strung on T-posts and fiberglass step in posts. These have all been effective. We do not keep a bull, nor do our neighbors, so I can’t speak to that. But we have been able to wean calves successfully.
Most importantly, get a strong box before you put them in the fencing. As long as they learn to respect the fence from the get go, you’re less likely to suffer break-outs in the event of a power outage, lightning strike or other electric failure. Our box might be overkill, but that’s better than under-kill… (?)
1.4 Your Schedule
Milking is going to take time. Check your schedule and make sure you’re available every morning (or evening… or both) for the foreseeable future.
Also, cancel all your upcoming emergencies. And don’t get sick. No vacations longer than 12 hours.
I am joking, sort of. (For real though, you may want to take a trip before you begin your milking journey, it’s probably going to be a while before you can leave again!)
Milking really does become a part of your routine, and so long as you do not have a serious lapse of health or mobility or some other external crisis, you can probably find a way to fit it into your day.
The hardest part of the commitment might not be the day to day, though. For us the hardest part is the inability to leave town, even for one night.
Theoretically we could find and train someone to fill in for us, but I don’t think it would be worth it. We know our cows’ temperaments, habits and general behavior. A fill-in could never keep tabs on things like we can, and there are so many things that can go wrong. Power outage, a cow down in the stanchion, a touch of mastitis or scours, a gate left open, a fencing issue, etc. I remember how hard the whole process was for us, I can’t imagine throwing that much responsibility on someone all at once. (And I’m not sure I could afford to pay them what it’s worth if I did!)
In my opinion, once a day milking and a well-planned “dry season” (the months before calving that your cow is not in milk) is the key to having a life whilst having a milk cow.
1.5 The Milking Area
Do you have a stanchion? Can you build one? Do you know how you want it? Is it close to your house and close to a space where you can clean the equipment and handle the milk? Will it shield you during rain or storms?
A stanchion can be super basic. Honestly the biggest factors affecting your stanchion design are your comfort and your cow’s temperament. If she is happy to stand in the field or at a fence post, you don’t need much. If she’s a wiggler or a kicker, you’re going to want some stability to depend on. Also, the higher the stanchion, the less squatting you have to do. Are you willing to work in the elements? To what extent?
Another consideration; will you be feeding her during milking time? If so, you’ll want to think about how a trough will be incorporated.
Think about entry and exit. Most stanchions I’ve seen are built for the cow to walk into/onto, and then back out when they’re done.
We built a “walk through” stanchion with a swing-away feed trough attached. The cows walk in from a holding paddock and exit into a stall, which opens back into the holding paddock. I feel like the design is serving us well. I’ll create a post dedicated to sharing our stanchion design in detail.
1.6 Milk Handling Area
If you’re just milking for your own consumption, then the milk handling is a matter of personal preference, though I assume you know the precautions to take when handling and consuming raw milk.
If you’ll be offering your milk to friends, family or customers (depending on the laws of your state), you’ll want to put some thought into how this can be done safely and cleanly.
Raw milk is full of beneficial bacteria that are good at fending off pathogens, but in the end, any contamination introduced to the milk is literally swimming in a life-giving growth serum. Things can go bad quickly. Even if no one gets sick, improper handling can negatively affect the flavor of your milk. The buckets and equipment are cumbersome, and it does require a bit of forethought and diligence to handle them, and the milk, in a sanitary fashion.
The Raw Milk Institute is an amazing resource for information about raw milk as a product, how to produce it safely, farmer education, research, data, webinars and testing equipment. Seriously, an excellent resource.
1.7 Your Milk Storage Capability
If you are a large family of milk drinkers, or buy a cow with very modest production, you’ll be just fine. But if you’re just a normal family with just a normal refrigerator, you may feel overwhelmed by the incessant volume of milk a generous cow can give you. It’s not that it’s so much per day, but it doesn’t stop, day after day! And soon your fridge is full.
You may want to consider a second refrigerator, or at least have a plan for the unwanted milk in the event you can’t keep up with her production. It’s very stressful to feel like you’re wasting the stuff you’ve working so hard to get, but there are things you can do (besides butter, yogurt, cheese and ice cream, etc.) …
Feed it to Other Animals
If you have hogs, great. Problem solved. You could also potentially purchase a bottle calf if you’re up for it. You can certainly sell or gift milk if you’re comfortable with that. Or you can skim the cream, make butter, freeze it for later (butter and ice cream are a wonderful way to preserve milk products long term) and use the skimmed milk for fertilizer on your grass. Diluted, raw, skimmed milk makes a perfect miracle grow!
Cream & Skim
We are proud new owners of a cream separator, and to be honest, there’s no going back. Now I will say, for one to two cows, skimming cream by hand when it rises to the top is probably the most efficient method. But at the point of 8 gallons + per day, the cream separator opens a whole new world of possibilities.
Admittedly, it was a bit of a learning curb and I thought maybe we’d been ripped off when we got the machine; a name brand I didn’t recognize, a missing part, a bad noise and our crippling ignorance. But, joke’s on me. The brand is actually very well-known and reputable, Slavic Beauty. Their Instagram content is amazing and the customer service was great (a phone call from the owner).
I also bought her new book, The Art of Clabber, and we’re learning so much!
1.8 Your Equipment Storage Capability
If you’re hand milking, first of all, bless your heart! But on the up side, you won’t have an overwhelming amount of handling equipment to deal with. It’s give and take.
But if you’re getting a machine, think about where you’ll be able to store your equipment that is safe from bugs, mice, dust, etc. There is no way we could leave our equipment outside, not even for one night. Florida is incredibly buggy, hot and humid. It would be a disaster. Our house is small and does not offer an ideal indoor storage space, so we put our claw, hoses and buckets inside of our cooler along with the milk jars. It is such a blessing to have a big, industrial sized cooler! (You may be able to find one on marketplace or a restaurant salvage store. If so, I believe it is absolutely worth it.)
1.9 Machine Milking or Hand Milking?
When we brought home our first milk cow, I was gung-ho for hand milking. I read that it was better for teat health, better for milk quality, and besides, it looked therapeutic and charming. Also, I was intimidated by the bulk and offensive noise of the machine and the stress of keeping everything sanitary. All those hoses and the weird octopus thing… no way!
Fast forward five months into hand milking and I had crippling tendonitis in my right hand. My son, our best hind teat milker, had a broken wrist in a cast from a trail ride gone wrong and my husband was gimping along with the trigger finger he started with. We had about twelve functioning fingers between the three of us. And it was then that my husband thought it would be a great time to buy a second cow, in milk! I told him I support his choices so long as the milk machine comes in before she does. It arrived mere *hours* before we brought the new cow home.
The machine was a positive upgrade, but it wasn’t great.
It was very loud, always in the way, required an extension cord for added chaos and the milking components were awkward and hard to clean. But this was because we got out a little ahead of ourselves. We opted for the bigger machine, but had none of the other infrastructure components to support it.
There are smaller milking machines than what we bought, and for just one cow, those might make more sense.
The sales rep at Hamby Dairy Supply really helped us in deciding which model to go with based on our situation. And yes, this company is more expensive than some of the foreign options out there, but for the sake of customer service, quality and replacement parts, we thought it to be worth it.
A DIY Solution
We needed to move the motor out of our immediate milking vicinity so we weren’t yelling over the noise and tripping over the cords. We needed a real sink where we could have the claw pull adequate amounts of HOT water and detergent through the system … which would require a vacuum line. That sounds intimidating, but really, it’s pretty simple.
We thrifted a three bay stainless steel sink and rigged a PVC vacuum line from the machine (which we relocated to the exterior of the wall) to the stanchion and also to the sink, each with power and vacuum on/off switches. After we made it through the chaos of construction, it became a very convenient and efficient set up.
I’ll work to post a full video tour of our DIY vacuum line.
Justin with his favorite cow
He’s not crazy. I promise.
1.10 Your Experience
If you have spent a lot of time with horses, goats or sheep and are comfortable managing large animals, or at least perceptive to prey animal instinct and body language, you will have a head start handling a dairy cow.
They are not the same, though. They have their own unique way of understanding things and expressing themselves, but time spent with them will teach you all of this.
For the most part, the dairy cow is a very docile and willing animal. But if she is stressed, don’t hold her actions against her. Learn what stresses your animal. Learn what calms her. Typical stressors for a cow are things like new/strange people or animals in their environment, a change to their schedule/routine, excitement/possessiveness over food, possessiveness over their calves, etc.
It really is incredible to look back and remember how intimidating this all felt at the beginning compared to the second nature routine that it has become today.
Don’t get me wrong, I know there are innumerable situations I have yet to face, and many humble days ahead, no doubt, but the journey is so much a part of your daily life that the learning happens fast.
My point is, if you feel like you lack the experience, just be perceptive. Be curious. Read a lot, ask questions. You will gain the experience and confidence quickly as you go, day by day.
I could reference this book in literally every section of this post, but especially here. Keeping a Family Milk Cow by Joann S. Grohman was incredibly educational, in all respects, but especially for helping someone to gain a nature for something they haven’t yet done. Really, you have to read it!
Judge the morning we picked up Cinnamon from a hillside in TN
1.11 Your Expectations
This one makes me laugh now, and it almost made me cry then, that’s why I wanted you to know…
I expected to bring home a loving, darling mama cow who would adore us and eat apples from our hands and stand sleepy-eyed while we brushed her back. I imagined milking her into a pail out in the field or tied to a post, as the seller assured she would do. I expected a relationship. I expected a freaking Instagram experience, okay?!
What I got was an angry, heavy bred cow who would just as soon drag us through the dirt than to be touched. Literally. She drug Justin across the pasture. She kicked at us during milking. She pooped and peed when we stooped under her. She snorted and pawed. She hated our guts.
The disappointment was heavy after waiting so long to bring home the perfect cow. I accepted that this was simply going to be a business transaction. We get milk, she gets feed. The end. I wondered why the seller would have mislead us about her temperament though- she didn’t seem like that kind of person. She wasn’t pushing the sale of this cow.
What we learned in the end was that this cow had never been separated from her herd, and she did not take the transition well. We assumed that having horses her calf would be sufficient. We even added a bottle calf to the mix… that made it worse!
The day we brought home a second cow calf pair, everything changed.
They became a herd.
She went from hating the poor bottle calf, to accepting it. She stood in the stanchion. She never pooped on us again. She ate apples from our hands and loved scratches. She became the cow the seller described. In fact, she’s Justin’s favorite cow, now.
Moral of the Story
Hold your expectations loosely. It may take a while to really understand your animal. Be open minded and perceptive to her needs and try to make her at home. Be patient with trouble and don’t let it get you down. See what you can adjust. Take it one day at a time.
On the other hand, the third cow we purchased, Rose Mary, was completely unbothered by any of these changes and has been a dream since day one. If we had bought her first, we’d be the most optimistic dairy cow owners of all time, and this post might be misleadingly bright and lackadaisical.
Conclusion
Having your own family milk cow is such a fun adventure; not easy, not cheap and not without challenges, but fun.
And rewarding.
And I wish you the best!
See you in Part II
-Courtney
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