Welcome back to the blog!
Great news! I finally convinced Mr. L. that we’re going to need a dairy cow! It was a hard sell. He had a lot of farming experience growing up, and dairy cows are the one creature that his dad gave up on - they are allegedly “way too much work.”
But I make my own yogurt, and I want to experiment with making cheeses and various other things. I’ve been told repeatedly by a number of different people that I need to sell my yogurt. This most recent batch that I made, I used farm fresh unpasteurized milk from a dairy up the road, and the flavor is different. That was what finally made the sale. Well, that, and probably also talking about how much milk I drank growing up (a lot) figuring out how much it will eventually cost to feed the children we hope to have.
And so, you all know me - I’m a compulsive researcher of things - so even though we’re 2+ years away from being able to even consider adding a cow to the mix, I’ve already started looking at breeds and best practices for keeping a dairy cow.
At least for now, I think I’ve settled on the Milking Shorthorn. They’re a smaller cow, they give a little less milk, but the milk is higher protein and lower fat, perfect for making yogurt. They also claim to be way less prone to birthing issues, mastitis, etc than Holsteins or Jerseys.
Or we may end up with mutts. I tend to research breeds, because it’s something to do, but it seems like most small farms end up crossing their breeds with other things until the result is essentially a mutt. I’m sure people have good luck with them. I know in rabbits, meat crosses like New Zealand x Rex, Californian x Silver Fox, and so on - the crossed breeds put on weight faster than either breed on its own. In dogs, mixed breeds or mutts tend to have fewer overall health problems than their purebred compatriots.
… I guess I have more research to do … :)
There’s a lot to learn on the front of keeping cows, too. We’re hoping to purchase our home or our plot on which to build our home this year, in 2019. We are trying to determine how much land we need to build our dreams, and things like pasture quality are starting to come into play. Of course, cost is a factor as well. We intend to rotationally graze, probably keeping all the pasture critters together - the cow (or two or three), the sheep, possibly an alpaca. Potentially a couple of beef cows as well. The pigs we hope to get will live separately I think, as will the chickens and the rabbits.
If anyone has thoughts, comments, or advice, feel free to leave that below. I’m also collecting recipes that can be made from fresh milk!
Thank you for reading along with us. See you next time!