Self-Sufficiency in Style
Animal farm
Cattle for milk
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Self-Sufficiency in Style Animal farm Cattle for milk |
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All the family get attached to the cow. |
Cattle for milk means keeping a house cow.
Keeping a cow is an awesome responsibility. You are tying yourself to milking twice a day for two thirds of the year. You must be 100 percent reliable. You will need a relief milker for any times that you are indisposed, and few people can milk a cow by hand these days. If you train up a member of the family, they may well want a holiday the same time as you. Think it out carefully before starting. Getting rid of a cow you have raised and handled every day can be a major wrench. |
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rewarding in so many ways. You will have your own milk, cream, butter and cheese. If you put it together with raising a calf each year for veal, see CATTLE (for meat), and you get meat as well. In fact, dairying and veal production go together as naturally as cheese and pickles. |
A Jersey with her crossbred calf. |
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No Horns! |
Obviously, you start by
obtaining a cow. Get a young heifer, rather than an older beast, it will eventually be easier to handle than a mature cow. They are surprisingly cheap. Commercial farmers have their cows produce every year and that provides too many female calves unsuitable for their purposes, but fine for yours. A Jersey or Guernsey is ideal. They are relatively small and produce fine rich milk. You will have to have them dehorned and hand raise them in the way described, as explained in CATTLE (for meat) |
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Cows, unlike some goats, do not give milk unless they have
calved.
They need to visit the bull or, more usually, a visit from the Artificial Insemination man at the right time. When is the right time? Actually it is easy to tell. They will wake you in the morning "bulling" - that is bellowing their heads off. Ignore all "seasons" until you get one about July (N. Hemisphere). The calf will be born in April, marginally early, but if the cow fails to take, you get another chance three weeks later, which will be marginally late. When you go to milk them, they will be in an evil frame of mind and try to mount you. You will probably need the AI man the day after the start of this performance. Whether you choose the bull or the semen from a bull, be careful about the actual breed. You don't not want anything too big, otherwise calving may be difficult. Presumably you will want a beef calf rather than another milk cow, so a beef breed is fine - an Aberdeen Angus suited us well for a Jersey. |
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Very Pregnant! |
If the AI man or the bull are as good as
they should be, an introduction is all that is necessary. They will handle
everything except writing the cheque. About nine months later, if all goes well, you will, one day, find mother and calf happily together in the meadow. Cows generally make good mothers. Cows usually calve easily. Obviously read some specialist books, so that you will know if and when to call a vet. It is usually unnecessary. |
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After a few days, you have two choices: Remove the calf and feed separately, with its mother's milk. Allow the calf to remain with the mother, and share the milk. The calf suckles on one side, you milk the other. The latter, with some skill, works well. It can be a little dangerous, as the calf gets bigger and boisterous. But if things ever get out of hand, you can always separate the pair. |
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You need to milk twice a day, as near to twelve hours apart as possible. You can be a little more relaxed on timing if the calf is with the mother. Summer milking can take place out of doors. |
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Then one day, in the autumn, the time comes for the calf to go. See
CATTLE (for meat) The cow will be upset for a couple of days, but soon gets used to being on her own. You can continue milking until early the following year, the milk will have started to drop naturally, and you will gradually "dry" her up, until her new calf is born - and the cycle starts again. |
Ready to go. |
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A word of warning! This is not an instruction manual on how to raise and look after cattle. Cattle are too attractive an animal to be mistreated. You do need to make sure that you really are conscientious and dedicated to their welfare, you also need to adhere strictly to the many government regulations in respect of health, recording movements and identity. Make sure that you have all the necessary books, an experienced cattle farmer to look the animal over and, when necessary, veterinary advice. |
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You can now move on to an overview of the whole idea of
Minimal
Production - a system of raising animals for food suited to
the self-sufficient, or to these specific articles: Information on |
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...milking each day - as we did at Hangman's Cottage, just to the south of Misery Corner. May, 2006 |
