This may seem like a dumb question to some of you but I won't know if I don't ask!!!

Does a cow have to be bred every year in order to give milk? My husband thinks not, that the cow would just go dry a few months and then start giving milk again. I though she had to be bred before the milk would start again.

I HOPE he is right because I would not want to bring a lot of calves into this world because I simply cannot eat me we grow ourselves...I am on the path to almost becoming a complete vegetarian as it is! I would still drink milk and eat eggs but I'm having a problem eating animals...I guess I am too soft-hearted. And yes I know that COUNTRYSIDE is COUNTRYSIDE and SMALL STOCK JOURNAL but this is just my personal feeling....

Anyway, back to my milk question, which is right? We really want a milk cow and husband grew up on a farm with cows...but he isn't sure about this question.

-- Suzy in Bama (slgt@yahoo.com), January 15, 2001

Answers

I think a cow can be milked for awhile but once she dries up she wont get milk again until she gives birth. I look at it this way...I nursed my babies but once I stopped I did not get milk again until the next one was born.Pretty sure most animals work the same way. Try selling the calf at a few days old as a bottle baby.

-- renee oneill{md.} (oneillsr@home.com), January 15, 2001.

Suzy, they don't have to be bred "every year" if you are willing to have a decreased milk production the lactation cycle can be lengthened out somewhat. The breeding every year is to keep them at peak as long as possible. I think you can look at your calves in an alternative light. If they are heifers, they become milk cows for others. If bull calves, why not castrate and start oxen teams?? just a though

-- diane (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), January 15, 2001.

Suzy, if you dry the cow off, she won't give milk again until she has a calf. But some cows or goats, not all, will *milk through*, i.e., you can keep them milking for two or sometimes more years straight without re-breeding. You might have to try more than one animal before you found one that would do it, though. The previous response had a good idea for you, if you have a good family milker, and make sure you breed her to a good bull (AI, for a dairy cow), you should be able to sell heifer calves to someone wanting a family milk cow, and sell the bull calves to someone else who wants to raise meat, or to someone looking for a calf to train for an ox team.

-- Kathleen Sanderson (stonycft@worldpath.net), January 15, 2001.

Check with the Heifer Project to see if your breed would be of value to them. They donate animals to third-world type people to "jump start" self sufficiency and local economics. All recipients get training in the care and feeding of their donated animal, and agree to give the first born female to another family nearby in need, who agree to do the same, etc, so forth. If your breed of cattle is of use, you could donate your "extras" and get a nifty tax write-off at the same time!

-- Soni (thomkilroy@hotmail.com), January 15, 2001.

Hi Suzy, Grandfather was a dairy farmer, his sole way of making a living, had 25 head of holsteins and few Brown Swiss to up the butterfat premium price, and yes, you got to breed her and have a calf, every year, to get any kind of milk. Once in a great while you can get a milker that will keep on milking, but at a greatly reduced rate, not worth the feed you would have to keep giving her for the amount of milk produced.

Goats are more likely to keep on milking, fairly common there, but not in dairy cows, sorry! When I did drink milk (can't now, lactose intolerant, besides I have high blood pressure and strictly avoid animal fats) that fact of having to have an unneeded calf annually to get milk always kept me from keeping a dairy cow, would be too heart breaking sending off the newborn to the sale barn! I, too, am an almost vegetarian due to not wanting to eat food with a face, it's a constant delimma!

-- Annie Miller in SE OH (annie@1st.net), January 15, 2001.

Suzy:

Let me answer in a different manner. Are you sure you even want a milk cow?

Yes, she is going to have to be bred to continue milk production, but how are you going to arrange that. You might have to let her in with a bull for several months to get her to settle and AI is both expensive and difficult for anyone not experienced in recognizing the signs when to do it.

Someone is going to have to be there twice a day for 9-10 months to milk her. If you contemplate a vacation, who will you get to come in and do it?

Can you really use 2, 3 or 4 gallons of milk a day? It is a lot of work to feed it to other critters and not inexpensive either when you figure in the feed bill, vet cost, housing, pasture, etc. What is the value of your time when you could be doing something else? (Let me give an example here. I dabble in the stock market. I have a guy who comes in to work on the farm as necessary - an average of two to three days a week. I could do the work myself, but I normally make enough in the market to outweigh his cost.)

Is there someone in the area you can buy raw milk from (as pet food, of course)?

Analyze your motives for considering it. Is it because you are concerned about the health benefits of processed milk? Home-grown has its potential health hazzards also - such as passing on TB. Is it the cost of processed milk? When you figure in all expenses and put some value to your time, it may be even more expensive.

Unless you intend to let the cow die of old age on your place, she will enter the food chain as cheap beef cuts and hamburger. Same for the calf. Your chance of selling a calf to someone to grow out for a milker is probably slim. They will likely be like you will want one already pumping out the milk. Here you would have to raise a heifer to at least a year before you had her bred, then have to maintain her for the nine months, three weeks to calving. Then, likely, you will have to train her to be milked if the buying party isn't experienced.

The calf will, in all likelihood, eventually end up in a feedlot, even if sold as a bottle calf at a week or so old.

What about Amish or Mennonite communities? I suspect they raise their own.

My recommendation is to determine if you really, really want a milk cow. Talk to people who have one to determine how much work and expenses are involved. Also, draw a line down the middle of a page of paper and on one side list the benefits and on the other the drawbacks. Unless the plusses far outweight the minuses, I'd consider another option.

Is a milk goat a better option if you really want milk from your own place? I've heard of people transporting their goat to be bred in the passenger seat of their car. Doubt you can do that with a cow.

Like most things in life, it is not a simple decision.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), January 16, 2001.

Not a dumb question, Suzy. Just asked that same question not so long ago(a friend answered it for me). Amazing it took almost 50 years to begin pondering it. Learn something new everyday...guess that's what it's all about.

-- Joanne Schaefer (JoOhio1@aol.com), January 21, 2001.

My Jersey cow is still giving milk 16 months into this lactation. While she gave three gallons a day when she first freshened, she now gives 1 1/2 gallons. If I increased her feed I could get her back up to two gallons, but I don't need to at this stage. We only milk in the mornings, get what we need for the household, and then let a young heifer calf we got from a dairy have the rest. Our cow is five months bred, and I will let her dry up the last two months before she calves again, by decreasing her feed gradually, and milking her less and less. However, we do dread buying milk for those two months, as my six children, husband and I all agree that it is "gross" compared to the milk right from the cow.

It has been very much worth the money for feed to keep her producing milk for us. It costs $8.50 worth of feed per week for her to give us 10 1/2 gallons of milk. Milk is $3.29 per gallon at the grocery store, so we would pay $34.55 for the milk she gives us in a week, plus the thick cream with which we make butter. I guess the amount of feed to make a gallon of milk will vary widely between breeds of dairy cows, so you have to choose the breed you need for your purpose.

We had goat's milk for a year and a half before we had our first Jersey milk. We were used to goat milk, and were doing okay with it, but couldn't make much butter, since the cream doesn't rise so good so you can skim it off. But I can tell you that once we tasted that Jersey milk, there was no going back to goat milk. I'm sure everyone has their own opinion about the difference in taste!

Our cows work for their living. Whether we milk and put the milk in a bottle, or if we let the calf suck the cow, our cow is always raising a calf, and sometimes two, while she give us our milk. By selling the weaned calves, our cows pay for their own feed, and feed for all of the other animals on our farm.

As for "vacations", we don't take many of those, but if we do, we plan ahead of time, so a calf is already on the cow, and no one has to milk. It takes our cow about 6 weeks to adopt a calf so she will let it run with her and nurse it as her own. So whoever we get to come and feed our chickens, dogs, and rabbits, also feeds the cows with no extra difficulty.

You make things work for your own circumstances. If you WANT a dairy cow, and you have room for one, go for it, and make it fit your into your lifestyle. They are very much creatures of habit, and if you get a cow who has already had three or four calves, she is what she will be. Don't buy the first one you see. A good ole family milk cow has a personality, and either it is compatible with yours or it's not. Some people might think this is crazy, but there is a big difference in dairy cows that are herded in and out, and are called by numbers, and a "personal" cow, with a name, who knows your voice, enjoys your calm caress, and with whom you have a mutual respect.

Yes, vet bills can be costly, and breeding can be a struggle, but I've had no more problems in these areas than I did with my goats. And cows won't strip the bark off of your trees!

-- Lela R. Picking (stllwtrs55@aol.com), January 21, 2001.