Can I use a
milking machine for just one cow?
Do cows bite? (really)
How do I know the cow I
buy hasn't got some disease?
How much hay does a cow eat?
How much should I pay?
How much space do I need?
Must a cow have a calf every year?
What breed of cow is best?
What do you
say to people who think we aren't meant to drink milk?
What is the useful life of a cow?
Why can't a cow give
milk without first producing a calf?
and from your editor: Does cow tipping
really exist?
What breed of
cow is best?
Each breed has its strong points but it's hard to beat the Jersey as a family cow. Her
small size, attractive appearance, steady production and the superior nutrient value of
her milk earn her my vote. The Jersey will also cost less than uncommon breeds, none of
which can outdo the Jersey in anything except novelty. [Top
of List]
How much should I
pay?
Depending on your choice of breed, her age and local demand you can expect to pay anywhere
from $400 to $1000. Eight hundred dollars is fairly average for a Jersey. [Top of List]
How much space do
I need?
Not much if you are willing to muck out every day. Half of a two car garage will suffice.
More space means less work for you. My cow has about 10 acres. [Top of List]
How
do I know the cow I buy hasn't got some disease?
Very few cows have any disease condition despite the impression spread by the media. Two
diseases of the past, brucellosis and tuberculosis, have been virtually absent from
American cattle for years. Groups opposed to dairying have recently asserted that Johnne's
disease (mycobacterium paratuberculosis) is widespread in cows. I asked my vet and he said
although over the years he had occasionally been asked to test for it, he had never found
it and never heard of a case in Maine. BSE (Mad Cow Disease) is not found in American
cattle to date. Salmonella and other gut organisms are not specific to cows. If found in
milk, they are due to subsequent contamination with fecal material. Nonetheless, I am not
an apologist for the safety of any commercially distributed food. Maintaining your
personal supply of Nature's most perfect food is the best reason to keep a
cow. [Top of List]
What is
the useful life of a cow?
Large dairies may only keep a cow for five years or less. Many Jerseys continue to produce
a calf and be good milkers for 15 years. [Top of List]
How much hay
does a cow eat?
A cow will eat 30 or 40 lbs. a day if there is no grazing. I plan to have a bale a day on
hand for the months without grass.
[Top of List]
Must a cow
have a calf every year?
A few cows are able to " run through" and keep milking a second year with
scrupulous management but production does tail off. [Top
of List]
Can
I use a milking machine for just one cow?
Yes, the milking machine doesn't care how many units are connected to it. But the
time you save from hand milking will be lost in cleaning the milking
machine. [Top of List]
Why can't a
cow give milk without first producing a calf?
Believe it or not, this is a frequent question. Nobody expects a mother to give milk
without having a baby, but think it's a cow's job to give milk automatically just because
she is a cow. (Hey, maybe a cow wants a career! -sexist comment from ed.) Trust me,
she has to have a calf first, and to give worthwhile amounts she has to have a calf every
year with a nice rest period between lactations. [Top
of List]
Do cows bite?
Like all ruminants, cows are unable to bite because they lack upper incisors (they have
upper molars in the back for chewing, but they clamp grass between their soft upper lip
and lower incisors). Cartoonists often depict them with upper incisors like a horse
so I guess folks should be excused for wondering. [Top
of List]
What
do you say to people who think we aren't meant to drink milk?
I say "If God had meant us to fly he would have given us wings." It's one of
those statements made by people who are looking to bolster a position they have already
taken. A variant of it asserts that because many people don't (as adults) produce lactase,
this proves we aren't evolved to drink milk. The fact is we aren't evolved (or as others
say, designed by God) to eat any specific food, but all have their place. Humans have been
eating wheat products for no more than 10,000 years but are known to have been herding
animals and using their milk for at least 30,000 years. Those who state that people have
only been using dairy products for 10,000 years because that marks the dawn of agriculture
have not done their homework and don't understand the distinction between arable farming
and herding. Then they sit downtown quoting each other. [Top
of List]
Does
cow tipping really exist?
While in college, I heard about cow tipping so often I'm forced to believe cow tipping is
either a frequent pastime of the rich, famous and terminally bored college student, or an
incredibly tenacious urban myth (no, Bill Gates will not send you $1,000 if you forward
his email. Please. He will send you an "I Was the 1,000th Idiot"
certificate). All the perspective I can offer is that while a cow is widely
portrayed as slow, dumb, and overweight, she is in fact alert and aware. And you're
so svelte. She's smarter than you think, can run faster than you, and is often
aggressive when approached by a stranger, especially at night. People think a cow is dumb,
and a horse is smart, because you cannot train a cow to tap dance. A cow just has a
very different agenda than you, and she thinks tap shoes are uncomfortable.
You think she is stupid and uncooperative, but she thinks, "Can't we just do it the
way we've always done it? And what are these frat boys doing in my
field?"