Hey there friends! As many of you know we have been very busy lately researching, shopping for, and bringing home our first family cow! It's been very exciting and challenging in that this is all new territory for us. I,TexasMom, have known about this goal of having a family milk cow for many years now but over the past couple of months the cow chatter seemed to be heightened and I knew it was the right time.
So fast forward to the nitty gritty here. We have a cow!!! She's a four year old beautiful Jersey Milk Cow and the boys and I named her "HoneyBun"...calling her "Honey" for short. She came from a beautiful farm about 2 hours from where we live. She is pregnant and will be, Lord willing, giving us a baby calf in late December.
Honey has been an absolute dream come true in every way so far! She is so amazingly gentle and calm by nature. She is learning how to lead to and from the milking stanchion and her pasture everyday. She even got a bath two days ago and loved every minute of it. She is really just a pleasure to be around and joy to milk.
For the first couple of days we were just tying her to a tree in the corner of the hoophouse/cowshelter. But she seemed to be getting a little antsy with that set up, so TexasDad and the boys built her a milking stanchion which seems to keep her still.
We have decided to feed her ChaffHaye which is a fermented alfalfa product that is excellent for many types of animals, cows included. We are also giving her access to hay, minerals, and salt free choice. She gets a couple handfuls of oats when shes being milked.
We are still in the beginning stages of owning a family cow and even started reading the book called, "Keeping a Family Cow". It's an excellent read for anyone considering someday owning a cow. It sheds a lot of light on the importance of a cow's role on a farm/homestead.
I was honestly torn between so many milking breeds and even miniature dairy cows vs. standard size. UGGG!!! However, after watching WAY too many youtube videos and a few conversations with some local breeders, I was reassured in our decision to just buy a standard size Jersey Milk Cow. It was a little challenging also to find a Jersey that has good size teats that will be comfortable for hand milking. Today most modern dairy cows have been bred to have smaller teats which are more ideal for machine milking rather than hand milking. So we were extremely thankful to find a family cow with nice large hand milking teats. I found it helpful to watch a few videos on good cow confirmation as well. This helped when we were looking at cows to understand better what are desirable traits.
So, like I said, we are only a few days in on our "Family Cow Journey" but so far it has been AMAZING! I can honestly say that our years of experience in owning dairy goats has helped us transition into this endeavor with much more animal know-how and appreciation. Also my younger years spent riding and training horses has really come into play over the past couple days as well. I forgot how much I really enjoy working with large animals and Miss Honey has already stolen my heart!
I hope y'all stay tuned as we find homes for our goaties and continue to make this transition into a more sustainable lifestyle. Hope Y'all have a blessed day! ~TexasMom
