[SallyintNorth]

Given the milk yields how realistic is it to keep a ‘house’ cow(s) for home consumption of its milk, including cheese making, with any breed?

Frankly, it can be tough to manage the output of a pukka dairy cow unless you have additional outlets/uses for the milk.  So, pigs, or extra calves, or a community (as we are here) or large extended family - or go the whole hog and sell milk, yoghurt, butter and cheese. 

Anyone on here milking Dexters?  That would seem to be the best fit for a household.  Separate the calves overnight when you want milk in the morning.  Maybe accept having to buy in milk for two months or so when they're dry, and save yourself all the angst of trying to stagger calvings. 

Maybe something like Galloways or Blue Greys would work similarly?  I'm sure I've heard of people doing it with original population Herefords too.

But, I can't help thinking that the best milking animals for a small setup is a couple of goats  

[SallyintNorth]

When I started crossing the Red Devon onto the Jersey, before I (a) knew about Shetlands and (b) knew I would be living in a cohousing community of 24 adults!, it was with the thought that a Red Devon x Jersey should make an adaptable animal, a suckler cow who could run with the herd but also be able to give a bit of milk for the house if managed that way.  Flare is that animal, I think.  I don't yet know if I've managed her to be able to produce enough milk for us here. We have milked her through her first lactation, without taking the calf off, just to train her, and now that Luther is gone she is behaving perfectly - but not giving a great deal of milk at this point, from winter forage.  So for us, I really want to be having her the earlier calver and the Jersey the later, so that when we need Flare's milk because the Jersey is dry, she is early on in her lactation and has it to spare.

[SallyintNorth]

Size of udder isn't a definite correlation to milk yield ([member=10673]SallyintNorth[/member] will know more)

It is true that some suckler cows can have a tidy little udder and produce plenty to rear a cracking calf, or even two.  And that some big-uddered dairy cows give less than another similar animal with a less bulky udder.  Many, many factors affect yield, including day by day input (which is a factor of how much and type of grass, how much sun, the time of year, as well as what supplemental feed you give.) 

Hillie's pure Jersey daughter Plenty had an udder a fraction of the size of Hillie's, and gave as much milk as I wanted from her - but I think if I needed to be up in the 20L-30L a day regular yield, I'd expect to see an udder at least like this pre-calving

[GBov]

Are Shetlands bigger or smaller than Jerseys?

Have pretty much decided to go with something more multi-purposed and lower maintenance than a Jersey - despite how sweet their faces are - but smaller would be good as well.

Chickens love milk as do pigs as do four of the five of us so I think we could use up one cows worth.  Not sure about two but by gum, we would be willing to give it a try! 

[GBov]

Sorry, forgot to say about goats, been there, done that, tried three different breeds at three different times and hate them!  Sooooo not my animal. lol

[Rosemary]

Are Shetlands bigger or smaller than Jerseys?

I think they are about the same - 450-550kg - at leaast that's what the breed society page says. I put a weight tape on mine and it said they were 670kg. Ours steers are 350-360kg dw at 28 months or so, so I think the tape is probably close. But the Shetlands arequite variable from lighter dairy types to big girls like mine 

[SallyintNorth]

Hmmm.... I did think your Shetlands might be bigger than some Jerseys, Rosemary!

Jerseys vary too, some are nearly as big as Guernseys these days, but ones closer to the island type will be smaller.

Smaller than either, you've got Dexters or Kerrys.  Not sure how easy it would be to source Kerrys.  Dexters are plentiful but make sure you buy the right type for what you want.  They won't all take kindly to being milked!

[SallyintNorth]

Chickens love milk as do pigs as do four of the five of us so I think we could use up one cows worth.  Not sure about two but by gum, we would be willing to give it a try! 

If you have surplus, I suspect you would be able to find folks locally very happy to do swapsies.     I am forever saying, "No, sorry, we don't have any to spare." 

[honeyend]

I bought Kerry's with the idea of milking but after calving they became devils, and remained a little bit feral, whether this was because they had not been handled much but after 18months I still didn't trust them and they were handy with their back legs.
 I swopped them for Red Polls, which although a larger cow actually are a lot nicer to handle. I was ill over the summer so they calved outside, so again no chance to milk. One cow had twins and has so much milk that they can not keep up, the other although a good mum is not as milky. They are both hopefully in calf to a Lincoln Red, so perhaps third year lucky.
  I had some Dexter lodgers and I thought them too small, and really the bigger cows do not take much more keeping, and when it comes to sending them off for beef the slaughter costs are the same. They live on mainly straw, with just a bit of hay.
  I think with all animals where they have come from and how they have been handled makes a huge difference.

[SallyintNorth]

I think with all animals where they have come from and how they have been handled makes a huge difference.

Ain't dat de troot! 

I would't fancy trying to milk a heifer that didn't know me well and wasn't already completely comfortable and confident with me handling her all over.

[SallyintNorth]

I had some Dexter lodgers and I thought them too small, and really the bigger cows do not take much more keeping

You must live in the land of milk and honey! 

There were Dexters here when I came.  It was a challenge trying to manage them and the Jerseys together.  In the end the Dexters had to go because we couldn't milk those, we couldn't manage them all together, and we don't have enough ground here to keep two separate herds.

The Dexters were very hardy, the Jersey not,

The Dexters, being smaller, are very light on the ground.  If you are in a wet place, as we are, the physical weight of your beasts makes a huge difference to keeping them over winter.  And if your ground tends to mud, bigger beasts will poach the ground much more quickly and deeply.

The Dexters make good use of shorter grass, which the Jerseys wouldn't attempt to graze.

when it comes to sending them off for beef the slaughter costs are the same.

Slaughter fee yes, is per head.  But butchery costs are mostly per kilo.

I have found that crosses out of the Jersey are a good size by 10 months, so for us, it works well to send the calves off in November, so we don't have to winter them.  The meat is fantastic.  A Dexter at 10 months is no size at all, I think you would want to take them through a second summer.  But the calves are hairy, tough little creatures and can outwinter down here as long as there is good natural shelter.  So if your ground can take it - and you have enough of it for followers over the summer, plus for making enough hay for stirks through the winter - and your winters aren't too vicious, needing two summers might not be a problem. 

I should mention that our cows rear their own calves up to 5 months at least.  I don't know if I would get such fit animals by 10 months if I took the calves off and reared them on a bucket, even on their own mum's milk.  And I have found that weaning them before 5 months gives them such a setback that again, I think they wouldn't be ready by 10 months.