The
Family
Milk
Cow
In This Circular
Why have a family milk cow 3
Family food at low cost 3
High- quality food *
More money *
Use of land and labor "
Improved farm practices 5
Market for crops 5
When you get a family cow 6
After you get the cow 7
Some good rules to follow 8
North Carolina State College of Agriculture and Engineering of the University
of North Carolina and the U. S. Department of Agriculture, Cooperating.
State College Station, Raleigh, N. C, D. S. Weaver, Director. Distributed
in furtherance of the Acts of Congress of May 8 and June 30, 1914.
Prepared by
R, L. Wynn, George Hyatt, Jr., and J. D. George
Dairy Extension Specialists
Published by
The North Carolina Agricultural Extension Service
Extension Circular No. 416 February, 1958
* AM
Why Hove A Family Milk Cow
A family milk cow is more than just a pet, or another animal around
the farmyard. She is a source of high quality food at low cost. In the
end a family milk cow means more money for you.
Do you have a family milk cow? Here are some reasons why you
should.
Family Food at Low Cost
A family milk cow means family food at low cost. If there are five
people in your family and you're drinking the recommended amount
of milk— a quart a day for each person— then you're paying out around
$ 336 a year for milk. With a family milk cow you can produce this
same amount of milk for about $ 140. As the table below shows, this
is a saving to you and your family of close to $ 200 a year on your milk
bill.
The table compares the cost of producing the family milk supply
with an ordinary cow to the cost of buying it. The table is based on a
family of five with about half of the bought milk as fluid milk in bottles
and the other half as canned condensed milk.
You can see from the table that from the 3,000 quarts of milk produced
by the family cow, you will meet the milk needs of a family of
five and you will have 1,175 quarts for other purposes. This milk will
HOW MUCH A FAMILY MILK COW PAYS
A family cow producing
2Vi gallons of milk per day
for 10 months— 3,000 quarts
FEEDING THE COW
Pasture rent ( 6 months)
@ $ 5 per month $ 30.00
2 tons of hay fa, $ 25 50.00
1 ton of grain 60.00
Total Feed Cost $ 140.00
Buying the milk ( 5 quarts
per day x 365 days) 1,825
quarts needed per year
COST WHEN BUYING MILK
900 quarts in bottles
@ $. 25 per bottle $ 225.00
925 quarts canned milk
( a) $. 12 111.00
Total Cost $ 336.00
MONEY SAVED WITH FAMILY COW
($ 336.00 —$ 140.00 = $ 196.00)
The
Family
Milk
Cow
be worth $ 82 to you if you can sell it for manufacturing purposes at
$ 3.25 per hundred pounds.
Since market price is used in the table, if you use home- grown feeds
you will greatly reduce the cost of producing milk with a family milk
cow.
High- quality Food
The U. S. Department of Agriculture says milk does more for your
body than any other single food. The protein, minerals and vitamins
that are so necessary for your body are provided cheaply, in large
amounts and of high quality through the use of milk. Every person,
both young and old, should drink milk, and families with a cow usually
drink more milk than families without a cow.
WHAT YOU CAN GET EACH DAY FROM A QUART OF MILK
Calcium
Riboflavin
Phosphorus
Protein
Vitamin A
Vitamin 6,
There is no waste in milk as every drop can be used and the cost
is very low in proportion to food value. It is usually the best food investment
at any price. The wise family, with a small food budget, will
make a generous allowance for milk as limited- budget- diets are usually
short in variety and lack vital essentials. Milk can make up that deficit
at low cost.
The chart above shows how much of the daily nutrition requirements
you can get from one quart of milk ( 4 glasses).
A much larger food budget would be needed in the average home
if the vitamins, minerals, protein and other health protective factors
supplied by milk had to come from other sources.
Research has proven that for one- fourth the cost of the moderately
priced foods on the market, milk will supply one- half of your family's
food needs— if you buy everything from the grocery store. The family
cow reduces the cost even further.
More Money
You are interested in a source of security— something that is worth
money— that can be either mortgaged or sold for cash. A family cow
is excellent security when the small farmer has need for immediate cash
for emergency purposes— doctor's bills, hospital bills, school fees, etc.
Also, the possibility of our manufacturing milk markets expanding
What would I do without the money I get
from my surplus milk?"
in North Carolina makes a good
family cow more and more an excellent
source of regular supplementary
cash farm income. Many farmers
on milk routes with a high producing
family cow have found it convenient
to sell from $ 15 to $ 25
worth of surplus milk per month
from their one cow.
And don't forget that the well
managed dairy cow will yield a calf
each year in addition to the crop of
milk you harvest. If you use proved
bulls through artificial breeding associations
when you breed your cow,
the calves that you get may be very valuable from a money point of view,
either for sale or as a replacement for your present family milk cow.
Use of Land and Labor
She will help you make profitable use of some of the idle land and
labor that is mounting year by year because of government cuts in
row crops.
A dairy cow can well use two or more of these idle acres. The labor
that will at times be idle will become constantly profitable through the
care and management of the cow and calf.
Improved Farm Practices
Remember that a dairy cow eats mainly soil conserving and soil
building crops, such as hay and pasture.
The part of the feed not used by
the cow for her body maintenance
and for making milk is returned to
the soil as manure which adds needed
elements as well as humus.
Market for Crops
No other animal or machine of
any kind will take grasses, legumes
and other cheap roughages and convert
such a high amount of them
into the most perfect and valuable
food on earth.
Where else can you find such an
excellent market for your rough- The family cow makes an excellent market
for many farm crops. ages, grains and meals?
When you get ready to select a family milk cow, you need to take
a good look at one before you buy.
Study her history and background. Find out if she comes from a
family of good milkers and is the result of artificial breeding. Check
and see if she has any daughters, and if they are good milkers.
Check her health, too. Find out if she and her close relatives have
been free from Bangs disease, tuberculosis, and mastitis. A healthy
cow is an important step toward clean milk and a healthy family. Don't
ever buy a milk cow from a stockyard.
Try to select a cow that is young, preferably in her first milking.
Heifers are often good buys.
When you are confident that the cow you are interested in meets
these standards, go further and consider the following points.
( 1) Select a cow that is well- grown with a large middle, plenty of
depth and spring of rib, and with legs reasonably straight.
( 2) Don't get a fat cow. Fat cows are usually poor milkers. Look lor
one that shows evidence of milking ability.
( 3) Check the udder carefully. First make sure it doesn't have any
hard tissue that indicates disease. The biggest udder is not always the
best. It's more important that it is attached up close to the body and
carries well forward, high and wide behind. Check it after milking to
make sure it is soft and pliable. Make sure the cow has teats of reasonable
length, and is not a hard milker.
When you get ready for a family milk cow, check the animal carefully before you buy.
After You Get The Cow
Make sure you have or can get an adequate supply of high quality
feed to keep " old bossy" in good flesh and make her produce milk
to her maximum ability.
A dairy cow will use about one- half of the feed that she can eat
for keeping her body size and health. The other half will be used for
making milk. She takes care of her body first. That's why it's necessary
to give her all the high quality roughage she will eat, plus water and
salt where she can get it at all times.
Roughage is very important to a dairy cow because it is the type
of feed that she is built to handle. High quality roughage will produce
high quality milk and at a lower cost than any other feed. An example
of high quality roughage for a family milk cow is good ladino- grass
pasture and well- cured legume hay.
When you have a plentiful supply of such roughage, you need to
feed her grain mixtures or concentrates only in the case of high production.
The following is a good guide for feeding grain mixtures to
dairy cows.
( 1) Feed all the high quality roughage the cow will eat.
( 2) For the Jersey or Guernsey cow, feed no grain for the first I14
gallons of milk she gives each day, but feed one pound of grain for
each additional quart. This means that a Jersey or Guernsey cow giving
I1/ 2 gallons of milk will be entitled to only one pound of grain per day.
( 3) Give the Holstein or Ayrshire cow one pound of grain for each
quart of milk she produces above two gallons per day.
Work out a feed budget for your cow. To properly feed a 1,000
pound cow that averages about three gallons of milk per day, you need
the following feeds: acres of improved permanent pasture; i/ 2
acre of temporary or supplementary grazing; 2 tons of high quality
hay; 1 ton of 16 per cent dairy feed.
The following home grown grain mixtures make excellent 16 per
rent dairv feeds.
MIXTURE NO. 1
1 GO lbs. corn- cob- shuck
meal
140 lbs. ground oats
100 lbs. 36% cottonseed
meal
1 lbs. salt
MIXTURE NO. 2 MIXTURE NO. 3
225 lbs. corn and cob meal 500 lbs. ground oats
100 lbs. 36% cottonseed 100 lbs. 36% cottonseed
meal
3i/ 2 lbs. salt
6i/ 2 lbs
meal
steamed bone
meal
6 lbs. salt
12 lbs. steamed bone meal
steamed bone leal
Here are some good
rules to follow with your
Family Milk Cow
1 Milk quickly, completely, and at regular inter- L
vo,$- <| 5\
2 Proyide shade, shelter, water and salt at all p*|
times. 1
3 Handle gently. J
| 4 Give the cow a dry period of 6 to 8 weeks before
freshening.
• 5 Breed the cow artificially 7 to 9 weeks after l*
freshening. (
6 Have the cow tested annually for Bangs disease I
and tuberculosis. \
7 Don't turn a hungry cow on lush green pasture. V
8 Keep two milk cows and breed so as to always
have one milking, if land and feed are available.
