Where Can I Milk a Cow and Our Family Dairy Cow Tips

You’re doing the homestead thing, growing your own food, and you’re ready to consider the next step of keeping a dairy cow. A common question asked is ” Where can I milk a cow ?” We answer that question, but we’re also here to give you several other aspects to keeping a family cow that you should consider before jumping in.

Where Can I Milk a Cow ?

Many folks like the natural feeling of just walking out into the field with their pail to milk the cow on grass. This works with a well-trained cow until inclement weather hits, then you’ll need at least a roof overhead. How much of a roof depends on your location.

Southern, warm regions don’t need much of a milking space, but you’ll need some way to keep out of the rain and wind during a storm. A three-sided structure will suit you just fine.

Obviously northern places with snow storms will need a more closed-in shelter to protect you from the elements.

You could certainly build a fancy and expensive milk barn, but you don’t have to. Just the basics will get the job done.

The Milking Setup

If you intend to use a milking machine, you’ll need to make sure that you have electricity nearby to run the pump and machine. Of course you could choose to run a generator, but that’s usually a temporary solution.

You definitely need a way to secure your milk cow. Depending on the cow’s training and temperament, you might need a full head lock stanchion or just a place to tie her head. You should have a way to keep her from swinging her back end from side to side as well.

A place to feed your cow if you’re going to feed her while milking is good. We choose to train our cows this way. Cows typically waste a lot of food, making a mess, dropping a lot of grain. We built this feeder to contain the mess, and it turned out to be one of the best money-savers we’ve implemented.

Supplies in the Milking Stanchion

My must-have items to leave in the stanchion:

• iodine teat dip cup
• udder balm or other lubricating moisturizer
• spray bottle with chlorhexadine
• a brush
• a stool
• a kick stop
• Ultra Boss fly spray
• a water hose 

Other items that I bring in at milking time:

• A can with clean clothes, warm water, and a drop of dish soap
• milking machine and pump
• a clean dry cloth or two

Milking the Cow

Get everything in order and set up before allowing the cow in so that when she comes in, you can get to work right away.

1. Let her in to eat, lock her head in place or tie her if needed.
2. Brush her udder, belly, and legs removing any loose debris.
3. Spray her udder with chlorhexadine or other pre wash treatment and wash her with a clean cloth.
4. Repeat spraying and washing with a new cloth each time. Do not allow a dirty cloth back into the can. Keep the can of cloths clean.
5. Continue this spray, wipe, repeat method of cleaning the udder until the cloths remain clean even after wiping her udder.
6. Strip the teats by squeezing each one at least five times.
7. Milk the cow with the machine or by hand into your pale.
8. Dip each teat with a post milking treatment or iodine. 

Hand Milking Process

If you’re hand milking your cow, it takes some practice. Don’t get discouraged. You’ll quickly learn the technique that efficiently gets the milk out and you’ll get faster with practice. 

I like to use Udder Balm or a little coconut oil as a lubricant to help relieve friction while milking. Some milkmaids find an easier time milking with dry hands and cow teats.

Grip the top of the teat with the base of your forefinger and thumb. Firmly squeeze while bringing in your middle finger, then your ring finger in succession to push the milk all the way down the teat. Do this is one fluid motion for a squirt of milk. Now, do it over and over again until that quarter is empty.

I prefer to milk the two quarter that are farthest away from me first to save myself too much back pain. Then I milk those closest to me. To finish, I move back and forth between all quarters to get the last of the milk out.

Can Any Cow Be Milked?

All cows produce milk, and in theory, any cow can be milked. Beef cows tend to produce less milk by volume, but it’s richer with more milk fat. Rarely will a beef cow have enough milk for her calf and for you. You’re better off choosing a dairy breed.

Beef crossed with dairy cows often make perfect homestead cows. Families tend to be less burdened by the amount of milk they bring in from a cross, but still get more than a beef cow would give them.

Dairy Breeds to Consider

The jersey cow is a favorite by all. They’re gorgeous, have excellent temperaments, calve easily, and their milk contains that high butter fat content that we’re after. Holstein cows on the other hand produce several gallons of milk per day, with far less butterfat. Brown Swiss and Guernsey are somewhere in between.

Choosing a Family Milk Cow

Choosing the right family milk cow for you comes down to your personal goals. What are you looking to accomplish? 

If you’re attempting to replace all dairy products that you purchase from the grocery store, you’ll want a high producing cow with high butterfat. Jersey cows fit the bill, being a popular choice for good reason. They’re easy to train, they calve easily, and they’re beautiful cows that you can easily bond with.

Jerseys have their drawbacks too. They certainly aren’t the hardiest of cows, being prone to mastitis and metabolic problems due to high milk production. You may not want all of the milk that jerseys with give you.

Seeking out other dairy breeds or even dual purpose breeds for milk and meat may be a better option for you. Something lower production that also supplies your homestead with beef when needed is a good choice. Dexters and milking shorthorns are a couple breeds to look into.

Where to Find Your Milk Cow

Obviously the internet is full of places to look for your future milk cow. However, I caution you against any random social media post offering a cow for sale. You’re better off looking for a reputable breeder. That’s not to say that you can’t find a quality cow elsewhere, but there are a few stipulations that you should stand by.

What Does a Milk Cow Cost?

The actual cost of the purchasing the cow will be the lowest cost you’ll ever invest into keeping a family milk cow. 

Depending on whether or not she’s in milk, she’s bred or open, she comes with a calf, or she’s trained will determine her price. Not only that, does she have registration papers, has she been disease tested, and fully vetted? Does she carry the A2/A2 gene that increases marketability? How old is she and what is her health history?

You could purchase a young heifer, less than a year old, with none of the recommended tests or training, and spend as low as $500. Remember that you have to feed her, get her bred, train her, wait through gestation for her to calve, all before you can even think about getting a drop of milk. Then the real training begins. Also, time equals risk.

You could also purchase a trained and trusted cow, with experience in the milk stanchion, with all of the recommended disease tests, registered, and spend a couple of thousand dollars.

Most likely, you could find anything in between these two scenarios too. Market availability in your area may also dictate what the cost will be to purchase your cow.

But Wait, There’s More

Here are some other expenses to keep in mind:

• feed
• hay
• minerals
• milking equipment
• veterinarian bills
• medicines as needed
• a bull, bull rental, or artificial insemination technician
• fences and more fences
• a shelter, answering that question of ” Where can I milk a cow ?”
• possibly a barn
• milk storage 
• milk processing items

I’ve built a milk room in a shed near my milk barn, yet another expense. Is this totally necessary? No. But keeping the extra milk and jars elsewhere sure makes my kitchen life easier. It also houses all of our milking equipment, the milk fridge, and it’s a place to properly sanitize all of it.

What to Look For in Your Future Milk Cow

A good cow will be disease tested annually, have four working quarters, little to no history of mastitis, be halter trained to walk on a rope, and trained to stand for milking. The owner should price her according to whether or not she’s bred, in milk, age, registration, and temperament. He should be able to give you any history requested including calving and medical issues. Furthermore, ask for proof that she’s recently been tested for these tests:

• Bovine Leukemia Virus
• Bovine Viral Diarrhea
• Johne’s Disease
• Tuberculosis
• Any other region-specific disease testing suggested by your local livestock veterinarian

If you’re buying a young heifer, then ask for the disease tests for her dam.

Caring for the Cows

The best part about keeping a family dairy animal is that you’ve decided to opt out of the commercial animal factory operating system. You get to care for your dairy-producer, connecting you to your food. The best part is that you’ll develop a relationship with your milk cow.

Living With the Family Milk Cow

Keeping a family dairy animal is lifestyle in itself. Your life revolves around her schedule, not your own. You can’t skip milking her due to your own illness, poor weather, or scheduling conflicts. Sometimes, milking is terribly inconvenient.

The good part is that your family farm will revolve around her too. She provides so much milk and manure that will benefit so many other parts of your homestead. We are frequently reminded that the dairy cows are the center of our farm.

How Much Time Will My Family Milk Cow Take?

You’re going to need to spend time with her in training if she’s not trained. You’re going to build a relationship, earning her trust, and teaching her that you’re not only the boss, but her friend.

Cleaning up the milking space, or any pens she uses takes time. Driving to the feed mill does too, as well as getting her bred to come back into milk again. 

Actual milking chores only take about an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening. That’s milking one cow, including set up and clean up.

But you also have milk processing time to consider. I spend about an hour per week making butter plus a couple of hours each week making cheeses, ice cream, sour cream, etc. Washing storage jars and kitchen equipment used to process milk is an added daily chore too.

I wish that I could give you a straight answer on this, but there are variables involved too. At this point, I’m milking multiple cows, twice a day, for several other families, so I’m spending roughly 5-6 hours per day keeping dairy cows.

How Much Milk Does a Family Cow Produce?

Production will vary widely based on genetics, breed, and diet. A milk cow can produce anywhere from a gallon per day to 12 gallons per day. 

Dairy farmers are looking for volume first, and they’ll choose breeds with strong milking genetics to give them as much as possible. However, homesteaders are generally looking for less volume but more butterfat.

A mini cow will produce less milk. A cow on grass only, fed no grain, will produce less milk. A beef cross will produce less milk. These are all good choices for a family looking to bring in less milk to process than a dairy farmer.

When to Start Milking After Calving

We milk the same day as calving, usually in the early evening. If a cow calves at night, then we milk in the morning. We save the colostrum in gallon sized freezer bags for possible future emergencies.

If a mother cow, sheep, or goat is lost during birthing, then we will still have colostrum to bottle feed her young.

Calf-share Method

Calf-sharing is the method of keeping calf and cow together and taking what milk you can. This also involves separating them for 8-12 hours at a time (usually at night), milking the cow, then reuniting them for the rest of the day. The calf still gets plenty of nutrition, and the homesteader gets enough milk for the house.

Calf-sharing is our preferred method of keeping a family cow, but it has it’s pros and cons.

The pros:

• If you don’t milk her out completely, the calf will clean up behind you, minimizing the risk of mastitis.
• When the calf is old enough to take all of the milk, you can take a short break from milking. A day off is nice.
• This gets us down to once a day milking, keeping our evenings free for the other things we enjoy.
• You don’t have to bottle feed a calf multiple times per day for the next six months.

The cons:

• The cow will always hold back milk if she knows she has a calf to feed.
• You can’t control how much milk the calf is getting.
• You’re going to need to bottle raise the calf, feeding her two to three times per day for the next six months.
• A dam-raised calf is generally more difficult to train than a bottle-raised calf.
• Calves do not nurse all quarters equally, increasing the risk of mastitis to their dams.
• Some diseases can be transferred between dam and calf.

This video on calf sharing should give you a better idea of how we implement calf sharing on our small farm.

What to Do With Your Fresh Milk

There’s so much that you can do with your fresh, raw milk everyday from simply drinking a glass of milk to making aged, hard cheeses. You’ll start slowly and build skills in your home dairy a little at a time. You’ll be a pro in no time.

Home Dairy Products

You can make just about anything at home with your fresh milk that you’d normally purchase. Our most frequently homemade items are:

•  fresh butter
• sour cream
• ice cream
• cream cheese
• mozzarella
• monterey jack cheese (and other flavors like pepper jack, steak house jack…)
• whole milk ricotta
• greek style yogurt
• cottage cheese

These are the dairy foods that we make on a regular basis, those that we’ve fine tuned to our liking and can easily make during the week. We occasionally attempt a more difficult cheese.

Leftovers

Although we use a lot of milk to meet our family’s dairy needs, our small farm produces far more than we can use. When we have extra milk, here are some things that we do with it.

Feeding to Animals

Pigs, dogs, and cats thoroughly enjoy our extra raw milk. I’ve been told countless times that milk is not good for them, that it’ll make them sick, but we have never experienced a problem with our animals eating raw milk. 

Our chickens get skim milk clabber after we’ve pulled the cream off the top for ourselves. Sometimes we soak their grains in the milk, and sometimes we soak it in whey, which is the byproduct of cheese and yogurt.

Perhaps the best use for our extra milk is feeding it to calves and lambs. We usually raise an extra calf or two per cow’s lactation since they produce so much milk. We can then sell the calf for profit, or raise it old enough to butcher for beef. 

Yes, I said lambs and goats too. Did you know that lambs and goat kids can drink cow milk too? We recently gave you all the details on bottle feeding your goats with cow milk.

Organic Fertilizer 

You can add whey or extra milk to your compost pile. Additionally, milk can be diluted to feed your garden plants directly for added calcium. Nightshade plants in particular benefit from a good drink of milk.

Is Raw Milk Legal in Florida?

According to the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, raw milk sales in Florida are illegal for human consumption. However, they do allow producers to sell raw milk as pet feed, for animal consumption only. An application, permit fee, and quarterly reporting is required by the State of Florida.

Check your state laws if you’re in another state on selling your extra milk. If you are able, selling extra milk to others is a lucrative way to cover the cost of keeping the cow for yourself.

Safety Precautions to Take With Raw Milk

As with most anything in life, using raw milk comes with risk. I always tell people to do everything you can to minimize the risk. Proper sanitation methods before milking, and safe milk handling are essential to your safety if you choose to consume raw milk.

Begin by making sure you properly clean the udder of the cow as already stated with an antiseptic wash.

Handling and Storing the Milk

Your milk should be strained, bottled, and chilled immediately.

Sterilize all storage containers and processing equipment before using them. Milk machines and hoses, buckets used for milking, funnels and strainers…everything the milk touches must be properly sanitized to reduce the risk of illness-causing bacterial overgrowth.

Does the Milk Need to Be Pasteurized?

Pasteurizing milk kills off most bad bacteria that would cause illness. But it also kills beneficial bacteria and it breaks down essential enzymes that help your body digest the milk. There are more and more studies available now that tout the health benefits of raw milk.

If you’re going to sell your milk to the public, you need to check your specific state laws regarding pasteurization requirements.

Personally, I don’t feel that keeping and milking cows is worth all of the work and expense if you’re going to pasteurize the milk. Clean, raw milk is high quality milk in the first place.

Storing Your Milk

Home-milkers have all kinds of creative ways to store their milk. I like half gallon mason jars. They have a wide mouth, which makes skimming the cream off the top easy. They’re easier to pour out of than a gallon of milk since jars don’t usually have handles. They’re easy to clean and disinfect, and they’re usually easy to find inexpensively.

We keep a separate refrigerator for storing our milk, continuously rotating through it, using the oldest milk first.

A Few Things You Need to Remember

Perhaps you came here looking for an answer to the question ” where can I milk a cow ?” I hope you’re left with the additional information that you needed to consider before building a structure to milk your future cow. As you can see, the decision is not to be taken lightly. Keeping a dairy cow is truly a commitment. But anyone with the determination to do it absolutely can. You can find several other videos about how we milk our cows and what we do with the milk on our You Tube channel.

Happy Milking!

Donna and her family have been homesteading for most of their 20+  years together in some shape or fashion. She currently lives on their 20 acre farm where they grow as much food as possible. What started as a just a few laying hens, has grown into large gardens, pastured poultry, pork, and lamb. They are continuously evolving their small farm to not suit their family’s needs, but also providing to their local community. Donna’s favorite part of the family farm is her self-built micro-dairy, where she gets to love on dairy cows while serving her local community. Milking, cheesemaking, and processing dairy have become the soul of their homestead and the center of their farm.