House Cow.

Dairyfarmerswife

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Shropshire
We used to have a house cow 'Jersey', about 30 years ago when I was growing up. I remember mum straining, (and maybe boiling?) the milk.

Now married to a dairy farmer we have 300 'house cows' but don't drink the milk in case of tb!
 

spin cycle

Member
Location
north norfolk
When I was growing up my father used to fetch the cow in to be milked.

He would chain her in the stall and then milk her by hand,the milk then went to the house to be put through a sieve and into the fridge.

It’s many years since we had a house cow however I was wondering if anyone else still does this.

so did we...but had a machine....after cow calved it was up to norwich mkt to buy a second calf...that'd sit with me in back of our mini on way home:)
 

GTB

Never Forgotten
Honorary Member
We had one in the early 70's too. We lived in a bungalow at the end of the road at the time and my father would carry the milk home in a stainless steel bucket in the front of his car/van. Very often he would have to brake suddenly and the milk would spill over the front of the car. Why the hell he didn't put it in a container with a lid I don't know! :banghead:

The cow would also rear one or two calves who would spend the day with her before being taken away in the afternoon/evening so that she would have enough milk for us by the morning milking. My wife buys milk from Morrisons now. It's about a pound for four pints so why would you bother keeping a house cow these days?
 

Old Boar

Member
Location
West Wales
Always had one when the children were around. Always a Guernsey. Hand milked twice a day. Left a bit in and let her out with her calf after each milking. I made butter and cheese, and ate the cream with sugar to keep me going! I have a lovely cine film of my son putting one out to the field with a stick of about 3 inches, son is around 3 and just wearing a nappy! She was not taking any notice of him, just ambling along, but the look on sons face was pure joy at "driving the cow".
 

Johngee

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Llandysul
Remember mother having a house cow 20 years ago, a Welsh Black cross who would only let milk down if the calf was sucking at the same time and you had to be fairly quick or he had more than his share. If I was milking I'd usually end up with just a pint. When my parents retired the house cow lasted two days before being converted into a single suckler and milk bought from the shop!
When we were kids we had a proper Jersey cross cow and remember making butter in a churn, spending what seemed like hours turning the handle.
 

Hilly

Member
Aye, life is too short and milks too cheap. I suppose if you kept a calf or 2 on her you could just milk once a day. Keep the calves off her overnight then milk in the morning and turn out.
Used to have one to rear 4 calves didnt milk her for house, she was an old bitch to chase in every afternoon in summer dominated yer life lol four stonking great calves tho !
 

MOG

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Llanthony
We bought a Harzer Rotvieh heifer back from Germany when we moved back here in 2000. She calved in the November and we hand milked her each morning before the calf went on. She was a milky breed and we would regularly have 20 litres a day. My wife then made cheese, quark, Yoghurt, butter etc and we were pretty much self sufficient in dairy for 5-6 months. Kept it up for about 7 years till the poor cow prolapsed giving birth in 2008. Calf lived and was doubled suckled by her daughter without any problem at all. We did milk a few of our other Red Devons but they were never the same. Finally stpped when we sold all our cattle in about 2010 as the hassle of TB pre-movement testing was killing the job when only selling small numbers.

Funnily enough, just last week we had a ewe with twins who had so much milk her lambs couldn't get it out quick enough. So we milked her out and had about 4 litres which Birgit bought in and made into a sheep milk Quark. And it was delicious. Am currently eating some rhubarb cheesecake made from it.

Here she is being stripped out for some reason
P7270085 (Medium).JPG
 

GTB

Never Forgotten
Honorary Member
Why the hell he didn't put it in a container with a lid I don't know! :banghead:
Been thinking about this and I've come to the conclusion that my dad did a lot of stupid things back then. I remember in 1976 when there was a severe drought, he would pump water from the river to the cattle which were in a field on the other side of the road. Why didn't he just let the cows into the field that had the river at the bottom of it??? :scratchhead:
 

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Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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