Here is another exerpt from The Self-Sufficient Life and How to Live It by John Seymour.
"The big question here is: cow or no cow? The pros and cons are many and various. In favor of having a cow is the fact that nothing keeps the health of a family, and a farm, at a high level better than a cow. If you and your children have ample good, fresh, unpasturized, unadulderated milk, butter, buttermilk, soft cheese, hard cheese, yogurt, sour milk, and whey, you will simply be a healthy family, and that is the end of it. A cow will give you the complete basis of good health. If your pigs and poultry get their share of the milk by-products, they also will be healthy and will thrive. If your garden gets plenty of cow manure, that too will be healthy and thrive. This cow will be the wellspring of all your health and well-being.
"On the other hand, the food that you buy in for this cow will cost you hundreds of dollars each year. Against this you can set whatever money you would pay for dairy products in that year for yourself and your family (and if you work that out, you will find it to be quite substantial), plus the increased value of the eggs, poulty meat, and pig meat that you will get (you can probably say that, in value, a quarter of you pig meat will be creditable to the cow), plus the ever-growing fertility of your land. But a serious counter-consideration is that you will have to take on the responsibility of milking the cow. Twice a day for at least 10 months of the year, rain or shine, you will have to milk the cow. It doesn't take very long to milk a cow (perhaps eight minutes), and it is very pleasant if you know how to do it and if she is a quiet nice cow, but you will have to do it. So the buying of a cow is a very important step, and you shouldn't do it unless you do not intend to go away very much, or you can make arrangements for somebody else to relieve you with milking. (Of course, even if you only have a hamster, somebody has to feed it.)"
Well, that settles it for me. If we didn't live in the city, I would have a cow!
I'm with you. If we lived in the country I would definitely want a cow, or at least a couple of dairy goats. A lot of our grocery budget goes toward dairy and I am sure we'd save a lot, but the biggest thing is knowing that it is all fresh and natural, not over-processed. I checked our library web site and they actually have that book. I need to go and check it out. Thanks for mentioning it:)
"But a serious counter-consideration is that you will have to take on the responsibility of milking the cow. Twice a day for at least 10 months of the year, rain or shine, you will have to milk the cow."
That's just plain incorrect. You don't "have" to put up with milking twice a day and never getting to go anywhere. You can institute a very simple practice called sharemilking. You will never hear about it from dairymen, but family milk cow owners like me swear by it. It basically consists of leaving the calf with the mother after it's born. All dairies seperate the calf 12 hours after birth and feed it milk replacer or some of mom's milk with a bottle or bucket. This makes sense because they're trying to make a profit so they want all of the milk for themselves.
But if you leave the calf on the cow, here's the benefits...Once the calf is about 1 month old, they will drink enough milk everyday to keep the cow drained and prevent mastitis (udder infection). We pen up our calf every night at about 6 p.m. and then milk at 6 a.m. so momma has enough time to build up some milk in her udder. At morning milkings we get anywhere from 1 to 1.5 gallons from her. Then we turn the calf out with the mother for the rest of the day. He nurses intermittently all day and grazes and so gets plenty of food to help him grow. In a year or two (depending on how big you want to grow it) we will take him to the butcher and have a freezer full of grass-fed, organic beef, at little to no cost to us to raise. This means we only have to milk once a day because there is not enough milk in the cow's udder to justify trying to milk her in the evening. Not only that, but we can leave for however long we want without having to have someone to come milk for us or worry about her getting mastitis. Left with her 24/7, the calf will take all of the milk she has to offer (this is with a Jersey cow. A Holstein produces far too much for one calf to drink). As long as you have hay or grass available, vacations are not a hassle.
The amount of milk we get everyday is MORE than enough. That's anywhere from 7 to 10.5 gallons per week. We (a family of 6) could never drink that much so my wife usually has to make a gallon of yogurt and a 2 lb cheese every week to keep the rest from going bad. The whey from the cheesemaking and the milk that does go bad goes to the pigs. We probably miss out on another 1.5 gallons a day by letting the calf nurse, but we can barely use all the milk we get now, so what would we do with twice as much?
Again, this is unheard of in dairy farming circles. My father-in-law grew up on a dairy farm and was floored when we told him our plan. "It'll never work! You don't leave calves with the cow." It has worked, and beautifully, I might add.
If you are interested in getting a cow one day I HIGHLY recommend purchasing the book "Keeping A Family Cow" by Joann Grohman. Not only will it tell you everything you need to know, but there's so much good info in there about the benefits to eating fresher farm-raised foods. She also operates a "Family Cow Forum" that has been invaluable to us as new cow owners. The people on there can dispense advice on every aspect of owning an family milk cow. Go to www.real-food.com and check it out.
Welcome to our farmette-ette-ette-ette (9000 sq foot city lot). Come on in! I may not stop what I'm doing while you're visiting, but feel free to join in. Mi casa es su casa!
