A Day in the Life of our Family Cows (Part 3)

[dionysusstar]

I didn't realise the baby cows were almost 2 years old. How old do they need to be to be adults and to start giving milk? Thanks for posting.

[pocketsofthefuture]

I think breeding times varies with each breed of cow. The guy who ran the dairy where our cows came from said it was best to breed the heifers when they were two. He said if you wait too long there can be problems in terms of milking and breeding. Clover is almost 2 1/2. We waited because she is still small.

[dionysusstar]

That's really interesting. She still looks so much smaller comapred to her mom. That's quite an investment in time to have a milking cow, but I imagine it is quite worth it. Too bad you don't have more land to keep more of the animals...but it would be alot of work to milk all those cows...I guess everything works out one way or the other. Have you considered selling shares of the cows to sell the raw milk? Or is it too much hassle?

[pocketsofthefuture]

She is really small. She turned 2 in June and was clearly not ready to breed. She gained a lot of weight after we moved and she will continue to grow once they are pregnant. Fiona is almost as big as clover and she is 1 1/2 younger. I think Clover was neglected and didn't get bottle fed long enough.

[pocketsofthefuture]

Cows are easy when you have enough pasture. Beef cow owners with enough pasture just send them out to the pasture for a few years and drop some hay in with the cows in the winter. Then finish them with grain to make the gain weight. They barely interact with them. Clover and Fiona have not been much trouble and they don't eat much at first. Its only after you breed them and milk them they get a lot of attention.

[pocketsofthefuture]

Right now we don't have enough milk or enough land to have much extra. We probable will never sell it unless the laws change. We also don't want to go to machine milking so it is unlikely we will ever milk more the 4 cows at a time. But who knows 3 years ago the homestead was unrealistic for us.

[dionysusstar]

Thank you for all of the feedback. I find all of the details facinating.