A Family Cow
(Page 4 of 5)
1970-03-01
By the Mother Earth News editors
If the seller hasn't kept accurate milking records, and only about one in ten dairymen do, then be present at two - or better three - successive milkings. Or ask for a written guarantee of the cow's milk production.
RELATED CONTENT
Raw milk and your health. ...
Diagrams and specifications of several milking cattle....
In April 2008, Pennsylvania farmer Mark Nolt was hauled away in handcuffs for selling raw milk, yog...
With increased interest in organic and hormone-free milk comes a need for help in identifying the c...
Dutch Belted cows are an ideal dual-purpose homestead addition, providing just the right amount of ...
Buy from a reliable man. Remember, in spite of all the to-do about judging cattle at the shows by external appearance nobody can honestly tell how good a milker a cow is by looking at her. If that were possible there wouldn't be the thousands of dollars spent on record-keeping by the big milk producers.
A young cow is worth more than an old cow. Although, if you get an especially good buy in an old cow with an outstanding milk record, you might consider buying her and replacing her as soon as possible with her heifer. Naturally, this is something of a gamble. She may have a couple of bull calves before a female - and when she does have a heifer, it'll be almost 2 1/2 years before the heifer will be milking. A cow reaches its prime at about 7 years of age; if healthy and well-cared for she will produce well to 10 or more years.
How Much Time Does a Cow Take?
For 10 months of the year the family cow must be milked twice a day. Milking should be regular, but can be done at any two periods 12 hours apart. There is absolutely no reason to milk a cow at such an ungodly hour as 5 or 6 A. M. - that is, not a family cow. A cow will do as well milked at noon and again at midnight. Or a cow can be milked on a 10-14 hour schedule - say 8 in the morning and 6 in the evening. But milk her regularly - at least within 1/2 an hour of her scheduled time.
Feeding will take about 10 minutes and needs to be done morning and night.
Pasturing shouldn't take but a minute or two if you have wired runs from barn down to pastures. (See "Layout for a Productive Homestead.")
Caring for milk - straining, cooling, washing utensils 5 to 10 minutes.
Separating, every other day, about 10-15 minutes to run through 25 quarts or so: about 8-10 minutes to clean separator.
Butter making from cream takes about 30 minutes.
A small cheese takes about 3 hours to make, spread over about 6 weeks time.
In addition, a certain amount of time will be needed to make a couple of tons of hay a year and produce the sugar beets or other ensilage.
This sounds like quite an undertaking when you add it all up. But compare keeping a cow with a family garden. The dairy products consumed will exceed in retail value the total possible saving from the operation of a well-run vegetable garden including canned and stored vegetables.
Milking will take about 20 minutes - morning and night. Cleaning barn and removal of manure about 15 minutes. Grooming cow - about 5 minutes.
Page:
<< Previous 1 |
2 |
3 | 4 |
5 |
Next >>
