Re: How to become a first time cow owner?

[Guest guest]

--- I've indicated before someone must take responsibility of caring

for the cow like 7/24. This includes milking, feeding and watering

among other things. Secondly a family cow must be very tame for

everyone in the family, esp those participating in milking. Dennis

In RawDairy , " Therese Vista " <VistaBorders@a...>

wrote:

> Hi all

Can anyone give me a

> basic idea of how it works to having one's own personal cow?

> Thanks, Therese

> Middleburg, VA

[Guest guest]

What a wonderful idea !

Janet

I have been contemplating writing a book, "Setting up a CowShare Dairy" which would cover all of the basic questions you might have. If you don't find what you are looking for in the books you have ordered, please feel free to email me directly with a list of questions, as they will help me in the design and layout of the book.

[Guest guest]

I'm interested in your knowledge of the moo cows Belinda!

bilherbs@... wrote:

Cows are grass eaters like your horses but you'll need to rotate

grazing if you don't

want to end up worming with

chemicals. Prevention is the key to organic/natural

raising of milk.

You'll have to decide how you want to raise the calf, bottle or on

momma. Most of our cows have been good about letting us milk the calf

and her keeping the calf with her. We have one girl who will not come

in to be milked if we leave her calf with her so we end up bottle

raising her babies, feeding them back her milk.

There's a lot of things to think about before becoming a happy cow

owner. If I had it to do all over I'd stick with goats. Easier for me,

as a woman, to handle. Cows are large animals and can be a handful. A

simple rock in the hoof required the vet to help where a goat I can sit

on if I have to.

Lots more I could write about in regards to the moo cows but perhaps

not everyone here is interested?

Belinda

[Guest guest]

It wasn't that long ago it seems that we were where you were at. We

started with 3 cows though I think.

First and most importantly, how do you plan on milking? By hand? By

small milking machine? Small milking machines cost at least $800 not

including replacement parts, cleaning materials, buckets, containers,

blah, blah, blah. My husband is the one doing the milking so I

should really let him reply to this one, but I think he would concur -

YOU DO NOT WANT TO HAND MILK! Unless you are buying a cow that is

used to being hand milked (rare nowadays) and you have the patience

and temperament to deal with this twice a day (how can you know

this. . .) this is NOT for you. This is where the expression " crying

over spilled milk " came from. If we had to hand milk our cows we

would have a three ringed circus and well, actually, I don't think we

would be milking cows anymore.

What kind of cow are you looking to milk? Jersey (900lbs and 4 or

more gallons a day), Holstein (2,000lbs and 10 or more gallons a day)?

How are you going to store your milk and what do you plan to do with

excess?

Have you ever milked a cow or watched someone else milk a cow? You

must learn or observe prior to getting a cow. You can hurt yourself

or the cow by doing so improperly.

Once you get a milking cow or goat your life will change dramatically.

You must be at home for 9-10 months out of the year. One cow might

take you 30 minutes to an hour (including cleanup etc) to milk twice

a day, rain or shine, sick or well. Good luck trying to find someone

to milk for you if you want to get away (even for just one milking)!

As you have probably surmised it is a huge responsibility - like

being a new parent - and can be overwhelming.

This may sound pessimistic but you must be prepared for the

responsibility.

This can be an absolutely wonderful experience though and I don't

want to discourage you at all. Just do like you've said and read,

read, read, and find someone to learn firsthand from.

Feel free to ask any questions you might have.

the dairymaid

> Thanks, Therese

> Middleburg, VA

[Guest guest]

I would have to disagree w/ the posting on DO NOT MILK BY HAND.

I generally have 3-5 Jerseys in milk at one time. I have always milked by hand, and at some point will consider a machine, but not now.

One cow milking by hand is no less effecient than machine milking one due to clean up etc. You also must have proper set up, stall wise as well as electric wise for machine milking. In addition, I feel when you are first starting is is imperative that you get accustomed to the feel of the udder, the milk, and be knowledgeable about the whole process. There are risks associated w/ machine milking that a newbie may not be adequately cognisant of. I have trained a number of cows to milk, and am currently training one. For a first time milker you definitely want a trained cow. In addition, I have found for first time milkers getting a cow that is a "low producer" tends to work well. You have less of a problem w/ mastitis considerations, and, despite what pops up a lot, you CAN milk only once a day. During the short days of winter I only milk once a day. I like to leave my calves on the cow during the day, milk in the morning after seprating at night. In addition, after 4-5 months, it is possible to seperate them full time and still get the cows down to once a day. Personally, I find milking 2 cows once a day much more effecient and pleasant thn I would one cow 2x a day.

I would heartily reccommend trying to find a situtation where you can participate in milking before you get a cow. I would say that maybe 1 out of 10 people that thought they wanted to milk followed through after going through the routine. I have been a particpant in a cow share program or run a cow share program since 1989. I have seen many people enthusiastic, only to have their enthusiasm wane after a little bit.

I would also encourage anyone who is interested in milking to get a copy of Joanne Grohman's Keeping a Family Cow. Can;t be beat! And tell her I said Hi!

www.MajestyFarm.comNorth Garden, Virginia

[Guest guest]

>

> I would also encourage anyone who is interested in milking to get a

copy of Joanne Grohman's Keeping a Family Cow. Can;t be beat! And

tell her I said Hi!

>

>

>

>

> www.MajestyFarm.com

> North Garden, Virginia

Hi . I have the book on order and have visited her site

frequently. Where in Virginia is North Garden?

Thanks, Therese

Middleburg, VA

P.S. I checked out your web site as well.

[Guest guest]

Here is a list of some of my personal questions for a cow share dairy farmer.

Here maybe a list of dairy practices that would be of interest to a person trying to make a rational judgment about the supplier of fresh unprocessed milk. I personally would include the following:

· Measures to insure the health of the herd.

· Feed given to the herd

· If pastured, what is the practice of rotating the herd over the pasture

· If pastured what is the practice of sustaining the grass/soil in the pasture

· Supplements given to the herd or individual cows, when and what

· Past history of individual cows

· Condition of the milking parlor

· Milking processes

· Techniques for cleaning the premises and the equipment

· Rate at which milk is chilled following milking

· Storage conditions of milk

· If and when milk is pooled (milk from more than one cow is combined)

· Monitoring of milk for quality, including things tested for and frequency of testing

· Procedures for handling unhealthy cows

· Training of all who have access to the milk prior to transfer to the consumer

· Length of time milk is retained since milking

· Disposition of unused milk

· If milk is packaged before transfer to the consumer, techniques used to package, storage conditions once packaged and length of time in package.

· Mechanism for learning of suspected food borne illness in consumers, follow-up including notification of other consumers

.How is monitoring documented, and is it readily available to the consumers

· Notification of consumers when there are changes in procedures.

· Availability of the farmers by phone/e-mail

Some of these can be provided as written material, but for many a personal visit to the farm and discussion with the farmer and direct observation, visual inspection is necessary to get the best answers. Not that most farmers supplying fresh unprocessed milk directly to families would try to hid anything. It is simply that one person's standards are often different from another. And when making a decision it is yours that count.

Ted

Re: How to become a first time cow owner?

I have been contemplating writing a book, "Setting up a CowShare Dairy" which would cover all of the basic questions you might have. If you don't find what you are looking for in the books you have ordered, please feel free to email me directly with a list of questions, as they will help me in the design and layout of the book. PLEASE BE KIND AND TRIM YOUR POSTS WHEN REPLYING!Check out these links!Midvalleyvu Farms http://www.midvalleyvu.comThe Weston A. Price Foundation: http://www.westonaprice.orgThe Untold Story of Milk http://www.drrons.com/untoldstoryofmilk.htmlPlease visit our Raw Dairy files for a wealth of information:FILES: http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/RawDairy/files/Database: http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/RawDairy/databaseRecipes: http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/RawDairy/database?method=reportRows & tbl=1Contact List: http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/RawDairy/database?method=reportRows & tbl=2Photos: http://photos.groups.yahoo.com/group/RawDairy/lst

[Guest guest]

Thanks for the encouragement. Well, the state has contacted the Attorney General to get an opinion on our cow share program and it appears they will attack us on the processing issue on our milk, according to inside sources.

[Guest guest]

Thanks for the questions, they will be vary helpful to me. I will answer them in a cou;le of days via email.