Want to get a milk cow but scared of the commitment? Come learn about calf sharing and how it makes having a family milk cow easy and stress free! Milk twice a day every day? Not if you don’t want to!
PIN IT TO YOUR FAVORITE HOMESTEADING BOARD: pin.it/4q438xt
FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM:
/ thislovelylittlefarmhouse
FIND ME ON FACEBOOK:
/ this-lovely-little-far...
SEE MY LATEST PINS:
/ thislovelylittlefarmhouse
One of the homesteading goals for many people is to have some type of dairy animal whether it be a cow, goat, or even a sheep, to provide fresh, raw milk for their family. It kind of seems like the pinnacle of homesteading, doesn’t it?
But the truth is, many people miss out on the benefits and rewards of their own home dairy because they’re scared and intimidated by the thought of being chained to their homestead to milk their cow twice a day, every day, 365 days a year.
What about vacation? Bad weather? Drowning in milk or just don’t feel like milking?
Let me be the shining beacon of hope for you…there’s an easier way!!! It’s called calf sharing and it makes having a family milk cow so easy and flexible!
WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF CALF SHARING?
1. First and foremost, having calves to nurse your milk cow gives you so much freedom and flexibility that you just don’t have any other way! If you want to milk twice a day you can do that but if you only want to milk a few mornings {or evenings} a week you have the option to do that too!
2. Not being tied to the homestead. If you need to be gone for the weekend or have been wanting to take a vacation, you can turn the calves out with the milk cow and not have to worry about trying to find someone with knowledge and experience to come twice a day to milk your cow. Sometimes that’s a difficult thing to find!
3. Relieves stress about having to milk every last drop out of the udder and practically eliminates the risk of mastitis. You do have to be careful with dairy animals and make sure you drain their udders when milking or you run the risk of them developing mastitis which can ruin an udder if not promptly treated. Those calves will drain her out completely!
4. Raise freezer calves or expand your herd. We keep our freezer filled with fresh beef just by raising extra calves on our milk cow. It’s a super win-win! You could also be strategic when buying an extra calf if you wanted to raise some to keep and expand your herd. Or you can always raise a calf to sell if you want to recoup some of your costs but aren’t ready to send your calves to butcher.
5. Healthier calves. Just like formula vs breastfeeding for a baby, the mothers milk is what the baby calf was made to drink and he’ll be the healthiest he can be by drinking her milk. Milk replacer can raise a healthy calf and we’ve raised a few bottle calves through the years, but cow milk is definitely optimal for a calf.
6. Save tons of money vs bottle feeding the calf plus it’s so much easier than bottle feeding! Calf milk replacer gets really expensive, really fast! Not only that but a lot of times the excitement of bottle feeding a calf can wear off after the first few days and then it can easily become more of hassle if it’s not something you really enjoy. I always thought raising a bottle calf was fun but there will definitely be days where it’s not so fun!
7. Get as little or as much milk as you want. Whether you need three gallons of milk a week or 2 gallons a day, you can easily get just the right amount but still have the freedom to skip days milking if you need to. Also just not having to stress about milking all of the milk out every. single. time. There are days that our cow decides to be difficult where that would be nearly impossible!