If you follow us on our Instagram account (@silvergoosefamilyfarm), then you know that this isn't actually new news, but I've fallen behind on all things that don't have to do with the fact that we GOT A COW!
The decision to get a cow started with a little idea and snowballed into an avalanche of animal acquisition that I'm still sort of trying to catch up to. So if you have a little time, and care about the story, feel free to grab a favorite beverage and settle in, because I'm a rambler:
For about two years, we have been very blessed to be able to get milk from one of our dear neighbors. With the second freshening of this neighbor's dairy cow, she was presented with the conundrum that all dairy cow owners face eventually: what to do with the calves?
My husband and I were not ready for a cow when Cookie was put up for sale. But we were dreaming of having a source of fresh milk and cream from whence all those yummy goodies we love come from: yogurt, cheese, ice cream, even soap and whey for giving to other animal, plus--- you know, just swimming in milk. We thought, this would be something we would love to work up towards, in a couple of years.
[Sidebar: the decision to go the cow route instead of goat was for the following reasons--
1) We're more used to cow milk than goat milk (my children love both, but the inevitable "goat-y" taste/smell that comes with older milk is a bit hard for me to eat)
2) Both can be A2/A2 milk, but the cow milk tends to be less homogenized than goat so it separates into the lovely, fatty, distinct cream line for easy collection (you can separate goat milk, it's just a bit harder) -- I won't go in to A2 vs. A1 milk. There's a wealth of knowledge available online, and I'm hardly the best person to explain it.
3) Goats are harder to fence--they require heavy duty fencing because they'll test all their boundaries, whereas a cow can be trained to a simple electric string which is far cheaper infrastructure.
4) While goats produce far less than a cow, which is probably more manageable for a family--and what was making me lean heavily towards goats, first--I read a great deal about milk-sharing, or calf-sharing, and the possibility of once-a-day milking, which would make the schedule and milk production far more doable.
5) Although cows need more acreage of forage than goats--recommended at least 5 acres of good quality forage per cow--you can put more animals on smaller acreage or just maximize your land production by rotational grazing in small paddocks vs. letting the animal loose. Again, many resources online about this subject if you'd like to know more.
6) Manure. Manure for days. Manure for better soil, for better crops, for better forage, for better sustainability.]
[[Second sidebar: what is milk-sharing (calf-sharing)?
It is what it says, when you share milk with the calf. The most daunting part of owning any sort of dairy animal is the milking schedule. I was regularly told to not get a diary animal if I ever wanted a life, because I would be tied to them morning and evening. For anyone familiar with any sort of nursing/breastfeeding whether in cows, goats, humans, and just mammals in general... milk is provided on a supply-demand basis. Milk is taken out, more milk is produced. Less milking, means less milk. But until the supply is adjusted, a backup of milk is uncomfortable, painful, and can be dangerous if it is allowed to develop into an infection known as mastitis. Now being a mother of four and having nursed (currently still nursing) all of them, just the thought of not being able to be relieved of the growing milk supply and the pain that accompanies it, is not something I would wish on anyone, even a dairy cow. We had held off on a dairy animal so as not to let anyone suffer from our erratic schedule keeping.
But then I learned about milk-sharing. With milk-sharing, instead of separating the calf from its mother and weaning them, you keep them together so the calf nurses freely either all day, or all night. Before your desired milking time (either morning or evening), you separate the calf from its mother for 6-8 hours (I think we would do this at night when they're sleeping anyway. This would mean we milk in the morning and be free in the evening), and then milk accordingly. This means, of course, that you only get a portion of the milk your cow makes, but since a Guernsey cow (which was the breed we were getting) can produce up to 6 gallons a day---I would happily settle for 2 gallons because even that adds up so fast!
Because the calf nurses far longer than conventional twice milking dairies, they also get bigger and bulk up better than calves that are bottle/pasture fed. This is helpful for keeping calves from the dairy cow for eating. Dairy cows are bred to maximize milk production, so are more bony than beef cow counterparts bred to get nice and fat--getting a head start on fattening up means better eating (I will write on eating animals we raise in another post, soon) and a healthier calf in the long run. You can keep a calf on milk for as long as mom will allow, several months, even a year in. I even read of a bull that would still attempt to nurse at 20 months as a full grown cow bigger than its mother! Amazing!
Because calf is getting the milk out, schedules can be more flexible. Late date night? Weekend vacay? (These things are alien to me, but in theory, if date night was a thing, I could have one :D) Then the calf gets to stay on with mom and you just won't get milk then. But that's perfectly fine with me.
The downside to milk-sharing is that the cow can withhold cream in the hindmilk for the calf (milk produced in mammals comes in two phases: foremilk and hindmilk; foremilk is sweet and sugary for fast carbohydrates, this is where many of the immunity benefits are found; and hindmilk is fatty and creamy for that long term full feeling. I'll speak of human nursing since I'm most familiar with this, but when nursing, the first let-down reflex is foremilk, and then in about 10-15 minutes when nursing is full on, there's a second let-down of hindmilk. Having both phases is important for maximum milk profile benefits). Instead of a glorious 4-6 inch line of cream in your jar, you could be left with 2, the cow holding the rest back for its babe. Again, not a problem with me because if you're getting 2 gallons a day, then you can save up cream pretty fast.
This is all from what I read. More likely, calving and milking and milk-sharing will be a steep learning curve and have so many bumps and lessons along the way. But one can only hope.]]
Whew! Many sidebars, much rambling--but this is a very abbreviated thought process swirling around in my head in the cow acquiring decision making. Cookie was on sale for awhile. Dairy cows aren't as popular in this area. Most people do goats. The cows we see here are usually beef cows. We knew all the benefits. We were mapping out where to put up paddocks for rotational grazing, and then really figuring out milk-sharing was what sealed the deal to get Cookie. Plus our neighbor was very happy that Cookie was staying close by.
We went to meet her. She is a big, beautiful, tan and white Guernsey heifer. She has two little horns about 6 in. long that curve a little inward. They scared me a little bit because I was thinking of the possibility of getting gored, or a child losing an eye---no matter how gentle your cow is, it is still a VERY large animal and just the sheer size of them can be dangerous if you're not careful. Many people die from mishandling cattle, horns or no. But Cookie was sweet and ate apple slices out of my children's hands and gave everyone big, slimy kisses with her sandpaper-rough tongue. (Did you know that if a cow in milk licks you, the immunity complexes in her milk change to adapt to your biochemistry? Similar to how when a baby nurses, the saliva contact at the breast changes the makeup of the mother's milk to accommodate the needs of baby. SCIENCE!) When my husband came to try and get her in our horse trailer, she was constantly nudging him for nose scratches and cheek rubs and generally loved to be loved on.
Speaking of the horse trailer, she did not fit. About 2 feet too short. And no amount of pushing was going to get her to squeeze in. When a 1000 lb. cow takes a step backwards, you let it take a step backwards. Stock trailers are hard to find for rent and not feasible in our budget to buy. Plus we were without a vehicle to tow it so I turned to social media. Thankfully, we live in the country. Our area has its own local rodeo. A full on cowboy in a Stetson cowboy hat, brass buckled belt, boots with spurs and head-to-toe denim glory showed up. He and my husband coaxed and pulled and yanked Cookie into his giant stock trailer that could hold five more of her, and she was home!
So now we have a cow.
She is currently living in a small holding pen until she learns that this is her new home. We let her out for a little bit before her pasture fencing was finished just to see what she would do. If you've ever seen a cow dance, that was what I would say she did. She took off running, just enjoying the space, but thankfully our dogs are good herding animals and brought her back to the pen. Guess we better finish that fencing.
There is much to be done for Cookie now. A milking stanchion/head chute so that we can safely give her shots, brush her, and have an AI (artificial inseminator) come out to impregnate our cow, and then that place would be where we would milk her... we've already got about 3 feet of manure in our compost, and just keeping her company because cows are herd animals and we'll likely have to get her a companion so she doesn't get too bored or lonely.
This on top of gardening, pigs, chickens, ducks, homeschooling and generally being a family of six---our life is anything but lazy country. But it's a wild ride that I am most happy to be on. Thanks for keeping me company on it!
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