How to Raise a Family Milk Cow

Choosing a Heifer

• For raising, you'll choose a heifer -- a female who hasn't given birth. A Holstein, the breed most often found in commercial dairies, will probably produce far more milk than a family could possibly use. The smaller Jersey makes a good family cow and produces milk that's rich in butterfat. Less common breeds deserving consideration include the long-lived, attractive Dutch Belted, renowned for ease of calving. The red Milking Devon is an easy keeper who can thrive in harsh climates and on lower-quality forage. The Dexter, a relatively small breed, often gives birth to twins. The Dexter is a good milk and meat type.

Cows and Calfs

• For a cow to produce milk, she must give birth to a calf every year. Breed her every summer to get a calf in springtime. Artificial insemination is more expensive than natural breeding, but it makes more practical sense than arranging to keep a bull with your cow temporarily. You'll have to decide what becomes of the offspring. You can keep a heifer and let her become another milk cow, or you can sell her to another family interested in home milking. You can castrate a male calf and raise him as a steer, for meat.

Raising a Heifer

• One advantage of raising a heifer to become your milk cow is that you can start training her early on. Long before she has her first calf and you can actually milk her, you can "pretend" to milk her and get her used to the procedure. With any livestock, it's easier to ingrain good habits from the beginning than to correct poor prior training. Even before weaning, teach her to tie, pick up her feet and lead properly. Because you've gained her trust, she should be simpler to deal with when she does calve and you start milking her for real.

Feeding Your Cow

• If you have sufficient good pasture, your cow can subsist for much of the year on forage. In cold weather, or if your pasture is low-quality, she'll need plenty of hay to retain proper weight and maintain milk production. On average, a cow needs 2 to 2.5 pounds of hay a day for each 100 pounds of body weight. That means a 1,000-pound animal should receive 20 to 25 pounds of hay daily. She'll also require grain, with amounts based on milk production but averaging 5 to 6 pounds daily. If you produce your own hay, keeping a family cow makes economic sense. If you must purchase hay, the milk will cost you money, although you can make up some of the loss by selling the calves each year.

Sheltering Your Cow

• If you have a barn on your property with stalls, keeping your cow indoors at night means you don't have to catch her in the morning for milking. It does mean you'll have to bed down and clean the stall daily. A cow can also do well in a run-in shed, although that's not the ideal place to milk her. Whether she stays in a stall at night and in cold weather or she shelters in a shed, you need a safe place for milking. Install a stanchion in the barn or a covered area for daily milking. The stanchion is also a good place to secure your cow for vaccinations, hoof trimming and cleaning up any cuts or scrapes.

Milking Once Daily

• Cows are "wet," or producing milk, for nine to 10 months out of the year. They are "dry" for the two or three months prior to calving. Traditionally, cows are milked in the morning and evening, and calves are separated from their mothers soon after birth and bucket-fed so the mother's milk goes toward human consumption. But if you keep a family cow, you can allow the calf to nurse naturally, with the cow still providing enough milk for your purposes. Once-daily milking not only saves you time, but it benefits the calf. It also saves money, as you don't have to purchase milk replacer for the calf. At weaning time, about six months of age, you'll have to go back to the twice-daily milking routine, unless you don't mind a sharp drop in milk production.