Author Topic: Welsh Black house cow anyone? (Read 5751 times)

Backinwellies · « **on:** October 08, 2012, 09:07:22 am »

Has anyone experience of having a Welsh Black as a house cow (suckling own calf + hand milking). I'm not after much milk .... only me and the OH and maybe some cheese occasionally).

Linda

lachlanandmarcus · « **Reply #1 on:** October 08, 2012, 10:12:11 am »

If 'not after much milk' Im not sure any cow will be fulfilling that :-)))) have you considered a milking goat as they produce more of a domestic quantity? (still plenty for a family)? I only say that as I looked at having a milking cow and was shocked by how much even the trad breeds produce, as we dont have pigs to feed the excess to I didnt want to be throwing most of it away.

SallyintNorth · « **Reply #2 on:** October 08, 2012, 11:07:06 am »

I think BiW is planning to leave the cow's own calf on her as well as taking some for the house, llm. Quantity-wise, I can't see why that wouldn't work?

Backinwellies · « **Reply #3 on:** October 08, 2012, 11:44:10 am »

Yes that is the plan thanks SiN. OH not keen on goats milk idea, Have to say I'd need to be pursuaded to go down the goat route too. .... I've read it's not supposed to taste different, but you are trying to pursuade someone who milked cows for a living in the past here.

Linda

darkbrowneggs · « **Reply #4 on:** October 08, 2012, 11:51:19 am »

I hand milked Jerseys for years and used them as a sucklers as well. Have to say the ones I kept were not generally keen on the idea and often its difficult to get them to let the milk down.

Always sounds great in theory, but sometimes falls down in practice - I think it probably depends on the personality of the cow as much as the breed.

My Jerseys were very placid but also rather maternal - even when it wasn't their calf.

Had some Welsh Black cross heifers one time and they were very lively little beasties

Rosemary · « **Reply #5 on:** October 08, 2012, 12:13:27 pm »

What you are planning to do is what crofters on Shetland have done for hundreds of years. I planned to do it with my Shetlands this year but didn't get round to it (too big a bucket) but both seemed happy to let milk down for me the couple of times I tried it.

Maybe it depends on the relationship you have with the cow? If she sees you as part of her family, she may be happier to share. Our Blizzard suckles both calves quite happily (one Mum's not enough for chunky George

).

Ask me again next year and I'll be able to tell you more

lachlanandmarcus · « **Reply #6 on:** October 08, 2012, 01:13:09 pm »

Quote from: SallyintNorth on October 08, 2012, 11:07:06 am

I think BiW is planning to leave the cow's own calf on her as well as taking some for the house, llm. Quantity-wise, I can't see why that wouldn't work?

Ahhh yes I see - I was being dim and not thinking about how much calfie would slurp!! Will retire to the dunces corner! :-)))

VSS · « **Reply #7 on:** October 08, 2012, 07:41:37 pm »

Have done this with mixed sucess. Some cows don't mind you hand milking while they are rearing a claf, but others won't let the milk down, and if she doesn't let it down you won't get a drop. We gave up eventually and went over to milking and bucket rearing the calf. The biggest advantage to the former way of doing things is that if for some reason you are unable to get home to milk the cow, it doesn't matter as the calk will do it for you.

You will get a much shorter lactation doing it this way.

Backinwellies · « **Reply #8 on:** October 09, 2012, 07:21:05 am »

thank you vss.... very helpful to hear how succesful others have been.

interested in your comment about length of lactation.... am racking my rusty agric lecturer brain for reasons why it should affect lactation length.
Linda

SallyintNorth · « **Reply #9 on:** October 09, 2012, 07:40:43 am »

Quote from: Backinwellies on October 09, 2012, 07:21:05 am

thank you vss.... very helpful to hear how succesful others have been.

interested in your comment about length of lactation.... am racking my rusty agric lecturer brain for reasons why it should affect lactation length.
Linda

Me too. I kept Hillie in milk until 2 months before her next calf, and had taken a while to get her to hold to the AI that first time, so she milked for 14 months and reared 5 calves (plus milk for the house and all the pet lambs) in her first lactation.

When I trained her as a heifer with her first calf, I had the set-on and then her own newborn calf on her while I was milking her at the very beginning. Dairy cows are creatures of habit, so I think this built a pattern of signals in her brain, and helped to get her used to dropping her milk when she's put in her milking stall, washed, and caked. I did also spean both her own and the set-on calf, so that I could take all the milk myself for the pet lambs, at 5 months on her first lactation - maybe this helped to teach her to drop her milk for me.

Now I only milk her myself when I need milk, which isn't every day. Occasionally she is a little slow to start dropping the milk, especially if I haven't milked her for a couple of days, but so far she has always dropped it for me. I nearly always take about 2L, and sometimes I can feel that she's holding the rest back for the calves - if I want a significant amount more (for instance if we have visitors staying, or earlier in the year when there was a litter of puppies whose owner, our lodger, wanted cows milk for them) I have to work up to it over a few milkings, taking a bit more each time!

The more I read the more I think Hillie is a very special cow.

Her first daughter, Plenty, is due to calve herself in December, so we'll see then whether the house cow genes are running in the family! Plenty is a very different animal to her mother - hasn't got 1/10th of Hillie's brains, for one thing - but I do feel confident (or is that hopeful?

) she'll be as good a house cow as her mum.

downsized · « **Reply #10 on:** October 24, 2012, 05:48:31 pm »

Don't see why a Welsh Black shouldn't make a decent house cow.

What I plan/hope to do with the Shetlands is a couple of weeks after calving, pen the calf overnight and milk in the morning, 3 cows calving at 4 month intervals should give a decent, year long supply and not stress cows or calves, but as we all know things are unlikely to go to plan.

TheCaptain · « **Reply #11 on:** November 07, 2012, 08:17:52 pm »

I milked Betty our house cow (jersey x fresian) right up until 4 months ago, and shared the milk with her calf who was a year old before the Bettster weaned her herself (incidentally 4 months ago). I've got nothing else to compare it to but, from reading this thread, turns out she's a pretty awesome cow.

we've got her daughter (x BB) who's moving on soon, which we reckon (based on nothing but her character) will be an awesome suckler/house cow and we'll be milking again in the new year when Betty drops! Woohoo!