Having a home dairy animal is considered by many to be the “ultimate” when it comes to modern-day homesteading. However, it can also easily be one of the most time-consuming aspects of having a mini-farm.
I know I’ve heard plenty of “old-timers” talk about how much they disliked being tied down to their farm for months at a time because of the twice-daily milking routine. And to be quite honest, that particular aspect was the one that scared me the most before we purchased our first dairy goats. (Well, that and the fact that were we buying 2 pregnant goats and I was 9 months pregnant myself– and they were due to kid pretty much ON my due date… But we survived. ;))
However, if you are willing to share milk with the baby goat(s) or calf, then you do have options. Once a day milking has made cow ownership possible for us, and I’m a huge fan of the concept. I’ve talked about once a day milking before in my Milking Schedules post, which is part of the Goat 101 series. However, I still get a lot of questions about the whole process, so I’ve decided to go into more detail today.
Once a Day Milking for your Cow or Goat
Reasons for wanting to milk a cow or goat once a day:
- Greater flexibility in your schedule
- The ability to leave for a day or two
- You can raise the kids/calf with their mama, which eliminates bottle feeding (Trust me, bottle feeding is fun for about 2 days, then it gets old…)
- You won’t have to purchase milk replacer, which can be very expensive. (We paid over $90 for ONE bag of calf milk replacer last year.)
Downfalls of milking a cow or goat once a day:
- You’ll get less milk.
- Some cows tend to hold back milk when they know their calf is around the corner. Oakley did this all last year– I would milk until there didn’t seem to be a drop left, but as soon as I turned her calf loose, she’d let down again and the calf would have thick, creamy milk dripping out the sides of his mouth…
- This holding-back of milk usually means you’ll get less cream. While we were share milking I could usually expect to get a 1-2 inch creamline. However, as soon as we weaned the calves, my creamline increased to 4-6 inches per gallon…
- Some diseases (like CAE in goats) can be passed from the mother to the offspring via the milk. Some goat breeders remove the babies immediately because of this. I don’t, but it’s worth taking a bit of time to research if you are concerned.

Once a Day Milking: The Process:
First off, you’ll need to decide if you’d rather milk in the morning or the evening. Morning is the easiest for me, although it will depend on what your daily schedule looks like and what other obligations you have.
What my schedule looks like when I’m milking once a day:
Around 8:00 pm, I will head to the barn and lock the calf or baby goats in a pen separate from their mama. I always leave them where they can see their mother, so it isn’t too traumatic. Once they are a few weeks old, you can put a bit of hay in the pen for them to chew on.
Once everyone figures out the routine, the mama usually doesn’t seem to mind the separation at all.
The next morning around 8:00 am, (always shoot for roughly 12 hours), I head outside with my bucket. The udder is usually quite full by now, and I’ll milk the mama out as much as I can. (There have been times when I’ve had 2 calves on our milk cow, so I will sometimes leave 1 or 2 quarters specifically for the calves during those times.)
I’ve never had to worry about there not being enough milk left over for the babies, since the mamas usually hold some back.
I then leave the happy little family together all day. They get to go out to pasture and hang out in the sunshine.
When 8:00 pm rolls around again, I repeat the process of separating mother and babies.
This usually leaves me with plenty of milk for the house, I don’t have to bottle feed, and everyone is happy to be together.
If you’d rather milk in the evenings, simply reverse this routine. (Lock them up during the day, milk in the evening, let them be together all night.)
Keep in mind that once a day milking is NOT for maximum milk production. But honestly, since we aren’t running a commercial dairy, 2-3 gallons a day is plenty for me…

When I want to leave for a day or two:
If I want to be gone for a day or two, or take a weekend trip, I simply leave the mama and bab(ies) together 24 hours a day. This eliminates the need to find someone else to milk for me during that period.
Exceptions to the Once a Day Milking Plan:
Even thought once-daily milking is my usual routine, there are still times of the year when I milk twice a day. Last year, we weaned the calves and then had a little bit of time before we needed to dry her up to prepare for her next calving. During this time, we milked twice per day.
Thankfully we had our pigs at that time, and they prevented us from literally drowning in milk. It was a lot of work, but I have to say that allll the extra cream I got was a huge bonus! I also used the excess to make a whole bunch of mozzarella cheese to store in the freezer.
So, there you have it. My not-so-conventional approach to keeping a family cow. I’m sure there are some old-timers out there that would say this is the wrong way, but we’ve been doing it like this for three years now with great success (and minimal stress). I say that’s a win-win for everyone involved– including the cow. 😉
Interesting in more home-dairying info? You’re in luck!
- DIY Udder Balm
- How to Milk a Goat Video
- The Entire Goat 101 Series
- How to Use a Goat Milking Stand Video
Ours calved almost a week ago and since we only need maybe 1 gallon to a gallon and a half, and I haven’t separated the calf at all yet. Zoe, who is a Jersey, gives us that easily when she comes out to milk and I am getting a good 4-5 inches of cream. I did twice a day this way as well but the once a day takes so much less time, lol. Going well so far!
Yes– we are in the same boat right now. Our cow just calved, but there is no way the little calf can drink alll that milk, so I’m leaving her on 24/7 and still getting plenty of extra!
Oh good I was wondering if we had a different type of cow! When do you split off–around 6 weeks?
Do you start milking from day one? How many days do you wait before you separate them at night, 2 weeks?
Are you still having to milk her twice a day also?
Jill milks once a day.
I’m sure there are some VERY old timers out there that would tell you it’s the only intelligent way! Especially if you want the calves/kids to live long enough to eat/breed! This is what we will be doing as well, as mama’s milk is as important for animal babies as it is for human babies. I don’t relish the up to 50% death rate on replacer, nor do I relish bottle feeding. Raising yourself while bottle feeding is no way to be a baby! This is definitely a win-win for us.
I agree! Seems like bottle-fed babies are sick a lot more as well. There’s nothin’ like mama’s milk. 😉
A few years ago we moed to the country but weren’t quite able to get a go on homesteading before we had to move back to the city for financial reasons. Anyway, I really wanted a cow and asked dairy farmers about milking once a day. Having breastfed several babies I figured it would just be a supply and demand issue like nursing. I was told it was totally doable so I enjoyed reading this today. If we ever get to pursue our homesteading dream again, I now KNOW that I can totally milk once a day. Thanks.
Yes– I’m a breastfeeding mama as well, so I often draw on my own experiences when deciding what to do with our cow. 😉
I love milking once a day! I have had cows for 15 years and my old cow will be 16 this summer. She produced a beautiful little heifer as her last calf and now she will retire. I hope to keep her in milk for many more months. Now that her calf is older (7 months) I only let the calf nurse long enough to clean out the rest of the milk and then I separate them until after milking the next morning. This really helps to keep the calf friendly and dependent on me for companionship. Thanks for encouraging once a day milking!
We are going to do once a day milking with our dairy goats when they kid this spring. I am due mid-May and so are they. It will be much easier for me to handle once a day milking. The farmer we bought our 2 Saanen’s from also did once a day milking. He was lucky and had a milking machine though. I think with 4 dairy goats we will get PLENTY of milk.
Oh yes– you definitely won’t have a milk shortage at your house for a while. 😉
Hi. Can you tell me when you start milking once a day? Meaning a week after calving or two weeks? Thank you
Thanks so much for this! Something that has concerned me for a while. If I am 100% anti formula for human babies them why should I feed it to calves or kids?
I right there with ya Megan! I’m very pro-breastfeeding, so it never made sense to feed “formula” to our calves.
This is so awesome! Thanks for the great information today! I’ll be pondering it for awhile and showing it to my husband to chat about ideas again! We have our first human baby on the way this summer, so we might not undertake anything big for a few months, but gives us time to refine the ideas anyway!
I had a few questions maybe you can answer, or others reading this….
We wouldn’t have a need for 1-2 gallons a DAY. Maybe like a gallon every week.
-Do you think it would work to just take milk on an “as needed’ basis? (besides the fact that it might be a little tougher since it’s wouldn’t be a strong routine for the animals).
-Do you think Moma would be able to produce enough milk for us to do that randomly, even though her supply might adjust to demands of just her baby? (I wouldn’t want to stress her system, or set her up for mastitis or anything like that)
-Looks like you milk by hand, about how long does that take you in the morning?
(Jill- I sent you an email with a little more info, and basically the same questions…just FYI 🙂
Hi TJ!
I saw your email, but I’ll answer your questions here so others can benefit. 😉
Yes, you *can* choose not to milk every single day, and just do the “as-needed” thing if you wish (just lock up the calf the night before when you are wanting milk the next day– otherwise leave them together). I usually try to avoid it, just so I maintain our routine, but if you are dealing with a new baby (congrats, btw!), that might be your best bet. I don’t think it would stress the cow too much– as least it hasn’t seemed to with ours.
But, you’ll still need to figure out how to use more than a gallon a week– b/c you’ll still be getting a lot of milk!
Yes, I do milk by hand. It’s usually about a 30 minute process from catching the cow, filling her tub with hay, milking, and then turning her loose. Sometimes a bit longer if my hands are out of shape. 😉
Hope that helps!
can you please tell us when exactly you start milking – some say within 12 hours, some say after the colostrum period is over – which may be what you were saying above – but it’s been a LONG time since I’ve milked once a day and since I have just had the birth – I need help quickly – thank you!!!
Thanks for posting this. It gives me hope that sometime I might be able to have a goat or cow to milk, without that tied-to-home feeling.
Thank you! I grew up milking the ‘extra’ that our cows qould give so that they did not get mastitiis (?). My husband has wanted a mik cow and I dreaded the ‘extra’ it would require of my time. I do not have time in the afternoon to give up and do not want to be tied up if my Mom or someone needs me. I LOVE this – and thank you for being the brave one to figure it out. You will be one of my husbands favorite people because now I will talk about a milk cow.
God Bless You ~ Edie
Well, I’m definitely not the first person to think of this, but I’m sure thankful that someone did! 😉
hi jill! found your blog a couple of months back and am enjoying learning from you. we’ve recently moved from the burbs to a 5-acre place we’re turning into a small farm..i have a lot to learn!
my nubians are about to give birth and i’m still undecided on once or twice daily milkings. i’m leaning towards once a day, but had a question. do you ever wean the babies off their mommas, or do the babies do it gradually? and when they are weaned, do you then need to go to a twice daily milking? i had a doe out here to breed with my buck (who was on a once daily milking at her farm). when she came out here, she dried up pretty quick: from 2 qts/day to 1 qt within the first week. i could never get her to return to milk. i’d like to keep my does in milk, even if the babies wean. any info you could provide is appreciated!!
Yes, I do usually wean– and once I do that– I switch to twice daily until they are ready to dry up to prepare for their next birth. As long as I do it 2x/day after the weaning, their production usually stays up.
First of all, great post! I love this blog and I Pin it all the time 🙂 Second, I have a follow up question to the weaning/2x a day schedule. I purchased milking goats for the first time last summer and they freshened in January. And I am LOVING the once a day milking with the kids on during day. How long can you leave the kids on before weaning? I’d like to push it as far as I can without causing problems. Thanks!
I had a goat that milked three years without rebreeding. I could get her to dry off. She became our wetnurse for kids that needed more or who were orphaned besides milk for us.
Hi Jill, why do you let the doe dry up before their next birth? Or do you mean you wean them before you want them to get pregnant again?
Hi Jill! This is how we milk our goats on our homestead as well. I love milking once a day, and the benefits for the babies are a great bonus!!!!……….I dream of one day milking a beautiful brown jersey this way too! Thanks for sharing the love with the homesteading community, I hope that many others continue to embrace the self-sufficiency of home dairying. Once daily milking is a much more approachable way for most homesteaders!
Blessings~ Wendy
Yes– defintely more approachable. 🙂 The twice-a-day concept is pretty intimidating for sure.
This makes so much sense. I’ve often questioned the wisdom of raising calves on “milk replacement” instead of with their mothers. It doesn’t make sense for humans and it doesn’t make sense for animals either!
totally agree Wendy!
I wondered if you would tell us how you make mozzarella cheese. Also, could you make it with raw milk?
Yes and yes! Look for a full tutorial coming as soon as I get back in the swing of milking. 😉
Do you make buttermilk? That and cottage cheese my family would like to have fresh.
Yes– buttermilk is super easy! Look for some DIY dairy tutorials coming soon (when I start milking more regularly again.) 😉
I LOVED this post! We live right next to a dairy and so enjoy amazing raw milk. 🙂 It’s a blessing nonetheless. At this moment I don’t really want a dairy cow, mainly due to the fact that I have 3 small kids, prego sheep, chickens, cows, and a garden. The main thing is that we live close to a dairy and so I’m not having to. However, if I was not able to get raw milk…I’d be gettin’ me a dairy cow and fast! In the future, I think I’d like to try having a dairy cow and this gave me some extra confidence!
i have just read another blog where she separated her young immediately following birth. one of her reasons was that human raised kids are more docile than dam raised kids. Specifically they noted the difference between milking a dam raised doe or a human raised doe. Have you had any experience with this?
I believe all my girls were/are dam raised, so I guess I can’t compare too much. However, even so, they haven’t been hard to handle. Yes, a bottle baby will be much “friendlier” (aka pushy), but they can also sometimes border on the edge of disrespectful. So I wouldn’t ever pull the babies from their mama just for the reason of making them easier to handle. Hope that helps! 🙂
Human raised babies make great pets. I prefer them to dam raised ones, but if you work and play around the dam raised babies, they will adjust to having you around, and most tend to “sweeten” up.
On a side note… it’s a lot of work raising a baby goat, hehehe, when they get bigger they will get into EVERYTHING, especially if you are near it. They follow you around everywhere.
Oh yes, I definitely agree! We had a bottle baby goat last year– she’s still a pest! 🙂
I have several bottle babies and are freindlier, but are no easier to train to milk!
I’m so glad you are encouraging this. We milk our Jersey once a day in the morning the same way you do and have really had great success. Our calf is friendly and sweet (so I don’t think bottle feeding would have effected his personality). We get plenty of milk, I can’t imagine needing to do it twice a day. I do miss the huge amounts of cream from the end of her last cycle, but I know we will be getting it again when we wean this little guy. I think once a day milking is definitely the way to go for “backyard” type family farms.
I couldn’t agree more! Although the huge amounts of cream are kinda nice, too. 🙂
When do you all start milking??? I see different ideas, but when do you start milking – the first day – after the colostrum is done – when??? I don’t want her to hurt as I have a Jersey and her bag is full!
This post was SO helpful. It’s was encouraging to know I’ll be able to milk our {future} goats once a day. I get up at 4:00am for work, and don’t get home until almost 6:00pm, so I was wondering if milking goats was going to work. I’m sooo glad to hear that I’ll be able to do this.
Thanks, Jill!
Yep- I’m sure you’ll be able to find a way to fit it into your schedule with a little creativity. Can’t wait for you to get goats someday! 🙂
Hi, great blog!! I grew up on a dairy and miss the “raw” milk. My husband and I run a cow/calf beef ranch. The other day I “stole” a cup of milk from one of my tame beef cows and it was SOOO GOOD!!! I miss that flavor!! We buy milk replacer (Jersey milk) for our bottle calves (twins, unclaimed babies) but my husband recently said that next year we should get a dairy cow to nurse our babies. I am ALL FOR IT!! I had this exact same idea, milk the cow in the AM and turn the calves loose until evening. Glad to hear it is working so well for so many other people!! I hope we can get a sweet Jersey heifer 😀 Maybe we should start looking for one this year- might be hard to find one thats gonna calve yet during our calving season.
Mmmmm… milk- can’t wait!!!!
Yes– there’s nothin’ like it! 🙂 I think nurse cows make life so much easier when compared to bottle feeding. Here’s hoping you get your cow soon!
How long will you milk your cow before breeding her again? Thanks of this great post. It’s been very helpful!
Jill – I notice you have a Brown Swiss…. I have both a full Jersey and a half Brown Swiss. Both are sweet girls and I also milk only in the mornings. My Jersey lets down when she hears me getting her feed tub ready, but my Brown Swiss only gives me what seems to be stored in her teats. She immediately lets down when her calf starts sucking, but nothing for me! I’ve tried massaging, warm wet cloths, everything but an oxytocin injection! Is this more typical of a Brown Swiss? Another thought I had was that my Jersey’s first calf was taken from her at the dairy she was raised on and her first year she was milked twice a day, so I wonder if that trained her to let down for people more so than a heifer that’s allowed to raise her first calf? I think I might experiment with this with a heifer some time (although I dread milking twice a day) but if it trains her for the years to come maybe it’s worth it? Any suggestions?
Hmmm.. I don’t think that’s typical– mine usually lets down as soon as I wipe her udder with a warm rag. Sounds like she just might be a tricky one. Wish I had more ideas for you!
When a kid or calf is old enough to be weaned, I noticed in the comments that you’ll often move to twice a day milking (unless the lessen amount for once a day is sufficient for the household). How long do you have to go without milk while “preparing” for the next breeding? And at what age does weaning take place?
Thanks in advance! 🙂
I like a dry period of 2-3 months before they calve again. 🙂
Thanks for a great topic. I work as a farm-based educator at a farm where we milk two sheep and a Jersey cow. My time is spent mostly in the kitchen with children and then I get to use the milk when it arrives in the kitchen. At some future date I would like to take on having a cow on my homestead. Once a day over twice is looking very appealing.
We just sold our babies–all four on Saturday. Before that, we did this exact thing. I loved the freedom it gave us for a few months. Now we are stuck. Twice a day with two goats. We will definitely get more milk. But I have a family of 6 and once a day with two dairy goats was more than enough for us.
I hear ya! I had my “stuck” phase (2x/day) last fall when I had my baby– it was rough for a couple weeks trying to find someone to help me milk while I recovered… But the positive side was that I was able to make a lot of mozzarella for the freezer with all the excess milk!
I have successfully milked goats and now a dairy sheep once a day without kids or lambs on them at all. There is only a slight drop in milk, not enough for me to justify two killings a day (would average 3 1/2 quarts with goats and now with our first freshening ewe, it was slightly over 1/2 gallon with two milkings and dropped to a half gallon with one. So I believe there is a lot more flexibility with dairy animals than most realize. It is nice to leave the babies on if you cannot be consistent in your milking, but if they are off for some reason, it is still possible to maintain a once-a-day schedule and not suffer a huge decline in milk, at least in my experience with dairy sheep and goats.
Good to know this works for sheep, too!
We milked once a day for two years straight with a calf only on the first 6 weeks. We got 2 gallons every day. We unfortunately had to eat that cow after she wouldn’t breed back but it was a terrific gig. We love “unconventional” milking
Me too! Makes life a lot easier, huh? 🙂
This is a great article and very relevant to us as our heifer will be calving out this fall! I’d love to know at what age you start separating the calf at night, when are they able to go through the night without nursing? I’m also curious about the age of weaning or does it just depend on when the cow has been bred?
Thanks so much!
Hey Emmalina,
I usually start separating after the calf is about a month old. At first, the cow usually has so much milk that you can milk and the calf can nurse 24/7 without much problem. Once her production levels out (and the colostrum is gone) I start locking the calf up at night. Most cattle folk wean in the fall (providing that the calves were born in the spring). Last time around, I had a hard time getting Oakley re-bred, so her calf was on her a little longer than usually, but that doesn’t hurt anything, at least in my opinion.
We’ve had our Jersey for a little over 4 years now. That twice a day milking is a drag at times. But considering we’re homebodies anyway, it works out well.
We also tried the once a day milking and it was a disaster. AnnaBelle would not let us near her without chasing her down (literally) when she had her calf in the same pen with her. So hence to say, we separated them. Both of the calves she had were healthy as can be. AnnaBelle on the other hand was not happy at all with the situation. She wanted her *babies* with her 😉
Blessings,
Amand
Matthew 6:33
Wow– sounds like Miss AnnaBelle is quite the determine bovine! 🙂
I love reading this! I don’t yet have anything close to a traditional homestead, but I have always wanted to have one since I was a little girl. Both sets of my grandparents were dairy farmers and I remember my grandpa showing me how to milk a cow when my hands were too small to squeeze anything out! I have acquired some opinions and nuggets over the years on milking. Some has come by way of breast feeding my own children! First, formula is expensive, time and labor consuming and non nutritious for humans and animals, why do it? Goats milk has been used successfully all over the world as a milk replacer for almost all animals– kangaroos and other marsupials I think are the only exception. There is never a need to milk out the excess milk. Mastitis can set in if you get a clogged duct, which, if you are watchful, you can alleviate with warm compresses and massage. Leaving the milk in the udder signals the body that it is not needed. Milking beyond let down, though not getting much out initially, signals a need for more milk. So the animal will give as much as you ask for–to a point. Milking more often produces more milk–a hungrier calf will eat more often! If there is a problem with let down, you can let the calf nurse on one side and then milk on the other. Not ideal as a long term arrangement, but it works especially when introducing a cow to the idea of milking. Some people milk what they want and then give the rest to the calf. This is probably not best as the fore-milk, what is let down first, is full of carbs and sugar and the hind-milk is full of cream, and the little calf needs both, and we humans who are not on low fat diets prefer both as well. There is no need to wean a calf, unless planning to breed the cow again. I cannot imagine this would be an ideal situation, as the cow needs time to rebuild her nutritional stores between calves. Don’t mess with God’s design, he did it right the first time, tampering with it only messes it up. The cow weans the calf herself when she is ready–as do goats and sheep, etc. I have heard that if you milk after the cow weans her calf herself you won’t get near as much milk. What to do with surplus milk? If you have a medium to small family, use a goat or two, not a cow unless you just love cows or hate goats milk. Traditionally people have turned the excess milk into cheese, let it ripen for six months, then eat the cheese in the winter when the cow or goat has dried up and is pregnant again. Well that’s my two cents! Happy milking!
Great points, I would add that in goats case, the babies scream when separated, so we use teat tape on the side we want so we can switch sides. It’s a flexible tape you can get in the goat supply catalogues.
Hi, there!
Lovely milking video! And good advice for milking once a day. We live on 1 acre and I’m planning to get a Mini Zebu milk cow to milk once a day. This is my cow of choice for various reasons–size of the cow being appropriate for our land, minimal upkeep and quality of milk are primary. Have you ever milked a Mini Zebu and do you have advice for how to tame her, halter train her and help her enjoy the process of milking, when she’s never been milked before in her 13 years?
🙂
Thanks!
Hmmm… No, I have no experience with Mini Zebus! They sound neat though! Just take it slow with the halter breaking and be patient- and you should be just fine. 🙂
We have been farming for 35 years and most years have had a cow to milk. We traditionally only milk once a day and raise the calf with the cow. We have never had a traditional milk cow, just a range cow that has a nice big bag and good temperament. This year was the exception to the once a day milking. We had a heifer that lost her calf, and usually we have a twin to adopt on to her, but this did not happen, so we milked twice a day from March until just a few days ago. We have been getting up to 3 gallons a day, so I needed to find ways to use it up. We supplied our two married offspring and spouses and 3 grandchilden with all the milk that they could use, then needed to process the extra. I learned to make all kinds of cheese (cottage, cheddar, mozza, jack, velveeta, cheez whiz and some very edible flukes). I also made yoghurt, dulce de leche, buttermilk. I pressure canned a winter’s worth of milk and we are now drinking that. I made any recipe I could find to use lots of milk, like puddings and custards. It has been an interesting summer and lots of work, but I learned a whole lot about cheesemaking. I am looking forward to a once a day year next year.
“Some very edible flukes” <----- I love those! I bet I could learn a lot from you about home dairying- wow! 🙂
I like the idea. However, how do you wean the calf when the time comes? It seems like you’d have to separate them permenantly. We have a Jersey cow that adopted a calf that we were raising for meat. We wanted them to be together on pasture to keep each other company, but he would not stop sucking. We tried nose rings as well and he figured out how to tip his head upside-down to latch on with the ring out of the way. We pastured the calf at a friends house for two months, thinking that would do the trick. But now he’s back and bringing her back into milk after we just dried her off. She’s due in a month and if we keep him, he’ll steal all the milk. We just have the one cow, so we don’t have separate pastures etc. Any ideas? I’m leery of letting her new calf suck because we want to keep it long term. Did we just get a persistent calf, or so you just plan to permanantly separate the two? Thanks!
Yes– you’ll have to permanently separate– at least for quite a while. Last year ours would even nurse through our barbed wire fence. This year we plan to sell the calf as soon as it’s weaned– or keep it in our log round pen where it can’t escape-although that will make feeding/watering a bit of a pain.
Thanks for this post! My Jersey just calved today. I thought I knew everything I needed to know from having goats until baby was actually here and I realized there was more to learn! Thanks for the helping hand!
We had goats several years ago and milked them, which was relaxing for me….we have not had goats for a couple of years but have recently thought about getting a cow to milk. In the meantime I have been buying my raw cows milk locally. My question is, I have bought cream from her a couple of times and made butter out of it but it usually has a little bit of a sour taste and if I cook, such as put it on a skillet to cook items like pancakes, it smells really sour. Is this the norm for raw butter? Thanks so much for your website, I love it!!!!!
Hi! We have milked our Nubian goats twice a day for many years. As we are aging we need our work load to decrease so are thinking about going to once a day milking. My question is – – do you feed grain to them only in the morning on the milkstand or do you feed them in the evening as well? We unfortunately brought in CAE a number of years ago so we always snatch the babies quickly away from the mamas and heat treat everything the babies get. We are getting ready to dry a couple of them off in a month or so and they are milked once a day but I feed them grain again in the evening at the present time. Just wondering what everyone else does regarding the feed situation.
Am wondering what feed ration you all give your goats to increase milk production.what I feed gives me thick rich milk but they just dropped production on me this last week.
This is good news for people who feel trapped by the twice daily chore. It certainly puts a crimp in making plans for outings, children’s events, etc.
There is a commercial goat dairy up here that does 1x daily milking. They don’t turn kid goats back with their dams because they have usually sold them all off when they are a few days old. She told me she gets 1/3 less milk, but it is worth it to only have that chore once a day. She selects for goats that can manage holding onto their milk for that amount of time rather than having it leaking out all over the place.
We’ve been milking once/day all winter because they give less. They are also not bred. We want to see if we can go a couple of years without rebreeding the does. That gives us steady milk year round without interruptions.
I have milked cows for 50 years and always 2X daily when milking. But I do not need that much milk anymore and don’t want to milk 2X a day. Will a cow’s milk stay good just milking 1X day ? and if so for how long. Old finger and hands don’t like 3 gallon milking chores.
I’ve never had any problem with the milk just milking 1x per day. However, I only milk 1x per day when I sharing with the calf, and the calf tends to keep her udder pretty empty unless they are separated.
The udder seems to be an ideal storage unit if she’s up on her vitamins
I think I posted this on the wrong thread! I meant to post it here. Anyway, I am very interested in doing this with our calf if possible. Thanks!
Hello!
I just read your post and had a question. We have a milk cow that we just bred and she is due in about a month. We bought her after she had had her calf and the lady who owned her before us had let the calf nurse full time. The calf had kind of ‘raked’ her utter with his teeth, leaving raw scrapes and stuff that just took a long time to heal. It was hard to hand milk while trying not to break open the scabs, yet we managed. However, I have heard about milking one a day and would like to do this with the new calf, but I would not want to repeat the utter prob. Do you have any problems like this with your calf?
I love the blog! Sooo glad I found it! 🙂
~Emma
For once a day feeding, do you feed the same amount of feed pellets or less?
Thanks,
Amy
I love your blog! I have been sitting around dreaming of my future dairy goat 🙂 Keeping babies milking is such a great idea! It would be nice to be able to take off for a few days without the worry. Keep up the good work!
Hilary from http://www.downtownhomesteading.com
I’m thinking about breeding my jersey again and i was wondering if she would have to go dry if we were getting colostrum from a “big time” ranch
Hi!! I was wondering about the weaning process and when you have to milk 2x’s a day. When do you start and how long does that last? Do they wean on their own or do you have to seperate them?? Thank you!!
We usually wean our calf at 6-9 months. You will have to separate them– they usually will NOT do it on their own.
We are having an issue with our Momma Cow not letting down her milk for us. She did when we first started milking her and now that her calf is 6wks she’s holding up almost all her milk. I was share milking for a few weeks and we have decided to sell her calf when she’s 8wks so we were trying to wean the calf. It seems as soon as we started separating them longer she started hoarding back her morning milk from me. I went from getting a 16-19cups in the morning milk to getting 8cups if I’m lucky. I can’t figure out how to get her to let down her milk for me. Any tips or tricks?
It can be tough. It will improve once you sell the calve, but in the mean time, you may just end up with less. One trick is to turn the calf in with the cow for a few minutes FIRST, and then pull the calf away from the cow once the milk has let down. This can be tricky once the calf gets bigger and stronger, though! Best of luck
We had a jersey for a month. Things I noticed that were different from goats.
1. Her teats were really small compared to many if our huge fauceted goats. This was before our electric milker. So milking took an hour and was exhausting.
2. She was really filthy. It was winter and sloppy. It tookan hour to prep her udder and get it clean before we could even start milking. We are solar, off grid so everything was more difficult than an average household( heating water etc).
3. Along the same lines, the goats minced in the mud and managed somehow to keep their udders meticulously clean. All I use on them is homemade lotions and oils. And wipe off.
4.The Jersey was very jealous of the goats. She would knock them out of our hand when we were leading them to the goat milk stand.
4. She was very affectionate and demanded we hug her head. She licked our clothes.
5. Cow milk separates immediately and we found it was not at all fun to drink as fluid milk. Shaking it up did not stop this. Goats milk ( and sheep) is our preferred drinking milk. Butter on the other hand……Perfect. By the way, I accidentally discovered when whipping cream in a blender, a little too long and you have butter. Easier than a churn.
In fact all animals have naturally homogenized milk, it is only cows that are unusual in this respect.
6. Cows milk is not normally pure white like that at the store. Jerseys are particular richly yellow. But in my reading, normally when other breeds are on grass, real live grass, their milk has a yellow tinge too. How do they get store milk white? I haven’t yet found an obvious article but I have found that most confined operations feed mostly silage and silaging destroys the beta carotene in the feed, so….The best of my reckoning, no beta carotene, no color. So white milk us deficient in valuable nutrients. I know it’s all deficient in vitamin k2 now, which depends on live green feeding. And that’s a major important bone vitamin. Look up Weston Price Nutrition and Physical Degeneration. At the time he named it Factor X. Chris Kresser has done a good rundown on it more recently.
We would still have our beautiful Buttercup but the Mennonite family we got her from lost their other cow to hardware disease. So back she went.
Wow..love your homestead.. I only have distant memory of trying to milk one time at my uncle’s farm, It was years back. We loved being around him when he was milking. Your little girls pic reminded me of my attempt to milk the cow.
How do you continue the once a day milking after the baby is weaned or how do you transition that?
I have two Nigerians and a Nubian that I am currently milking twice a day, I would like to begin milking them once a day….in the evening. Since they kidded in the spring and have been milked twice a day all of this time (after the kids were weaned) is it ok to just begin milking once a day? Do I do it by just skipping the morning milking? That seems like it would be difficult on the girls especially since it is getting hot out now. Thank u.
I have my first nigerian due in about a week. I would love to follow your once daily milking schedule. How long do you leave them together before you separate them? Is that clear? Do you wait a couple weeks before you start the night time separation??
I didn’t separate mine for the first 4 weeks. The does did have more milk than the kids were taking so I had to milk them out once a day to help them keep up. When they got a bit older, they usually kept up, but then it was time to separate for the night and leave with their mom during the day.
I have a miniature Jersey due to calf in Oct. What are your thoughts about the risk of Clostridium in new born calves if left with their mom? How can i make the risk less?
Can a calf have too much milk from their mom? Should I start milking mom once a day if the calf is with her all the time also?
I am also a city girl turned homesteader of sorts and am starting to navigate the world of dairy cows and goats. your information has been very helpful. I was wondering at what age is it ok to start the once a day milk sharing with the calf. our zebu calf is 4 months old and is eating some grain and grazes.
Thank you for the great post! I want goats so bad but am nervous about being tied to our homestead. A neighbor told me even with once a day milking that I couldn’t really leave for the weekend, but I love that you are saying that it is possible! Out of curiosity, how many days could your goats go without you milking them without it causing a problem?
I have dairy goats that I want to reduce to once in the morning. Only one of them has doelings on her during the day, but they will be sold eventually and I want to take everyone to a once a day schedule. Right now, the remaining does without kids are twice a day.
So if the cow is a high producing cow, how do you get her production to go down after having a baby. I heard if it’s high producing you must milk twice a day until the calf can drink enough, is that a exception to the once a day milking?
It could be something you have to do. This will depend on your specific situation and your cow. Jill typically only milks once a day.