Evening all, new to the forum so bear with me if I’m not up to speed, I’m after a bit of advice from some people in the know! Firstly I’m not a real farmer, I do have 30 acres and a few bits of machinery for hay making, also buy a few stores in to graze during summer, I did work on a mixed farm for 5 years after school though, so do know a bit. Anyhow, the daughter has been milking for 2 years at a friends farm and is mad keen on milking her own, she has some learning difficulties but is excellent with cows and is very thorough and takes pride in all she does. how could this be possible or remotely viable? The only idea I can see on our scale would be to milk a few cows and use the milk to rear some calves? Any ideas or thoughts appreciated, cheers
Starting milking
- Thread starter Hanging on
- Start date
serf
Member
- Location
- warwickshire
Our new(ish) parlour
Thought I'd start a thread showing the build of our new parlour as it comes along. The building we are converting was the farm's original parlour, it looks like it could have been an abreast type parlour to start with but most remember it as a pit parlour before a new one was built nextdoor in...
thefarmingforum.co.uk
serf
Member
- Location
- warwickshire
Take a look at this , brilliant what he has done .
Tarw Coch
Member
- Location
- Bottom of Wats Dyke
Milking cows to rear calves is just making work, the calves can get the milk themselves.
To stand a chance on a very small scale you’re going to need to do more than just sell milk as a commodity, you’re going to need to process and market it .
- Location
- Derbys/Bucks.
For now, the best route for your daughter is to progress in a career working with cows. She will gain valuable experience working for others - especially if it is a good business she is working for.
A few years down the line she will have much more confidence and see the direction she wants to take her dairying career.
A few years down the line she will have much more confidence and see the direction she wants to take her dairying career.
Thanks for all the replies, that dairy build thread is great, it’s amazing what they have done, cheers
Spencer
Member
- Location
- North West
Start learning how to make cheese...
deleted user 837354
Member
AND ice cream.
- Location
- Ceredigion
How about this then
Dad milked 40 cows in the morning Checkley near Nantwich- loaded them in wagons . Pulled the vacuum line and pumps out, moved it all to Farm near Lampeter and milked them again 12 hours later. That must be a record never beaten
Dad milked 40 cows in the morning Checkley near Nantwich- loaded them in wagons . Pulled the vacuum line and pumps out, moved it all to Farm near Lampeter and milked them again 12 hours later. That must be a record never beaten
dudders
Member
- Location
- East Sussex
When my family moved here in 1967, milk was delivered from the farm next door - a pedigree Jersey herd. She did a local round delivering milk in glass bottles and small churns, untreated in any way. Leave it to settle and sometimes in Spring it would be almost all cream!
Later on, I kept a couple of Guernsey house cows, milked them by hand and all the milk was taken by a small local school which owned the cows and paid any cow-related expenses. My reward was to keep any surplus milk and also the calves, which stayed on their dams pretty much to a natural weaning and then stayed on the place till I sold them at 2 years. It worked well, a lot of youngsters learnt how to hand-milk, and they often got to make yoghurt and soft cheese too. The only equipment I needed was a couple of stainless steel buckets and a muslin cloth for straining the milk straight into the small churns they provided.
Might serve as a model for your daughter to work on. If you have the grazing and at least a shelter for milking, you just need to establish a willing local market. Important to keep it simple, keep it clean and have the consumers owning the cows, via a shareholding system. Then there's no selling and none of the red tape that goes with it. She won't make a fortune, but does she need to?
Later on, I kept a couple of Guernsey house cows, milked them by hand and all the milk was taken by a small local school which owned the cows and paid any cow-related expenses. My reward was to keep any surplus milk and also the calves, which stayed on their dams pretty much to a natural weaning and then stayed on the place till I sold them at 2 years. It worked well, a lot of youngsters learnt how to hand-milk, and they often got to make yoghurt and soft cheese too. The only equipment I needed was a couple of stainless steel buckets and a muslin cloth for straining the milk straight into the small churns they provided.
Might serve as a model for your daughter to work on. If you have the grazing and at least a shelter for milking, you just need to establish a willing local market. Important to keep it simple, keep it clean and have the consumers owning the cows, via a shareholding system. Then there's no selling and none of the red tape that goes with it. She won't make a fortune, but does she need to?
Exfarmer
Member
- Location
- Bury St Edmunds
That was not so uncommon , father thought he had done a big move milking then they were transported by lorry from Brighton to Just north of modern day Milton Keynes and milking them that night. But then we were joined by neighbours from Ayr who had hired a train and bought their herd down . After taking them off the train they were walked about 5 miles to be milked in their new housing. The Patons were probably the best stockmen I ever met. I believe the family are still there today
- Location
- Herefordshire
Worth seeing if your daughter could have a couple of cows at the farm where she milks? Perhaps do a deal with her employer that they pay her 2-3ppl a litre to help her understand the finances of the job.
Thanks for all the replies, there’s some really good ideas and tales there, it unfortunately looks as if the place where she milks now will be going out of milk within the next 12 months. Daughter doesn’t drive as her eyesight is poor and there isn’t really anywhere else she can get to easily without transport. I like the ideas of cheese etc and selling bottled milk but we’re not really near a large population and again the driving makes this difficult to pursue for the likes of farmers markets etc, unfortunately I’m not in a position to buy a dairy farm, but am a builder so could easily knock some buildings up but just can’t see a way for her to milk cows. Cheerd
jimmer
Member
- Location
- East Devon
Where are you based?
spin cycle
Member
- Location
- north norfolk
- Location
- Northumberland
Yep, certainly qualifies for the added value tag.
Roughly 80 litres whole milk & 16 litres whipping cream, value under £100 turns into over £1000 of ice cream.
Ok I know there are other costs but still a decent margin
- Location
- Derbys/Bucks.
- Location
- Derbys/Bucks.
Put your location in your profile and you may get a local response with some practical ideas.
jimmer
Member
- Location
- East Devon
If they're local to me I'll give her a job
Throughout the years I've taken several young under my wing, most have gone on to be decent young lads and lasses
Not done it for a while quite miss it really
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