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You are here: Home / Blog Post / Milk Cow Myths: Part 2

Milk Cow Myths: Part 2

01.05.2022 by Raelene Bradley // Leave a Comment

5 Myths Keeping You From Living The Milk Cow Life

In this series, I’m talking you through, step-by-step-by-step, the 5 most common myths about keeping a family milk cow so you can crush those negative thoughts and set yourself up for success.

By the end of this series, you’ll see that getting a milk cow is not only totally possible, but that it is absolutely within your reach.

In the last post, we tackled Milk Cow Myth #1: I Have To Get Up At Dawn. That’s a doozy, especially for a night owl like me. If you haven’t seen it yet, go check it out and meet me back here. I’ll wait (chuckle).

Myth #2: I Can’t Leave The Farm or Go On Vacation

Listen, keeping a milk cow is a commitment.

Truth: A milk cow doesn’t ask for much, but she asks every single day.

You DO need to show up, you DO need to be invested. But the benefits of that kind of commitment are exponential and worth every minute.

A milk cow is a commitment to a lifestyle focused on wholesome, nutrient-dense food and wonderful growing experiences of stewardship and responsibility for you and your entire family.

And yet, even with the daily commitment of keeping a family cow, you’ve got more options than you might think.

How Often Do You Really Leave Home?

Maybe I’m going out on a limb here, but if you’re thinking about wanting to keep a family cow, you’re probably pretty content staying close to home.

Be honest with yourself here: how often do you really leave home for an extended amount of time?

Once or twice a year? A long weekend every few months?

We can work with that.

You’ve Got Options

Truth: The average milk cow’s lactation lasts 10 months.

A milk cow must have a calf in order to give milk. And, at least 60 days before she is due to have her next calf, you’ll stop milking or dry her off.

She needs that break to build up her fat stores for her next lactation and channel all her energy into growing her calf.

And that means (you guessed it!) you get a break too.

Use Her Dry Period To Your Advantage

Truth: She needs at least 60 days before calving to rest & replenish her stores.

When she’s dry, you’ve got 60 days (sixty!) to gallivant all over the earth if you so choose. It’s infinitely less complicated to find someone to check on her, fill her water tank, and be sure she has plenty to eat every day or so than it is to find someone reliable (and willing) to milk her once (or twice) a day, every day.

So use that to your advantage. I’m almost certain you have a friend (or several!) who would jump at the chance to have a farm-cation and keep an eye on your place while you soak in the sun at some undisclosed tropical location, or hike into the backcountry, or get lost in the museums of Europe.

Go. Sate your wanderlust for a week or two or five.

And come back refreshed and ready for calving and a whole new lactation.

Weekends Away Are Totally Possible

Truth: Calf-sharing opens up a whole world of flexible options.

Once she calves, that calf can absolutely help carry the load.

For the first little while after calving, you will have more work to do. She will produce way more milk than that calf could possibly consume on his own. She’s been bred and raised to do exactly that.

So you will need to milk her twice a day. Plan on several weeks.

But after a few weeks or a few months, depending on her production and the size of your calf (or if you have twin calves!), and your goals, you’ll be able to shift more and more of the milking to him if that’s what you want.

You’ll start first by transitioning to once-a-day-milkings (whew! Game. Changer.) and as he grows and her production evens out, you’ll be able to leave him with her around the clock and skip a milking every now and again.

That means that, yes, you can go to your sister’s wedding. And attend your nephew’s graduation out of town. And book that romantic overnight getaway.

The calf will pick up the slack.

You can learn more about how to get started calf sharing here.

Lean On Your Community

We aren’t meant to do it alone.

Too often there’s an ethic among homesteaders that they have to go it alone or it isn’t authentic, that being self-sufficient means they don’t/can’t/won’t rely on anyone else.

I think that idea is misguided and short-sighted.

We are meant to live in community. Being self-sufficient means that you have something of value to offer and that you do your best to provide not just for your family, but for others as well.

So lean on your community.

Reach out and see if anyone you know would like to learn to milk a cow and train a relief milker.

Teach them. Train them. And then enjoy a sleep in every now and again. Or a weekend away. Or a true family vacation knowing that you’ve got a competent, reliable milker taking care of business while you’re away.

You might start small and train your spouse first, and your older kids. That’ll give you a couple mornings to sleep in.

And then train a neighbor or a gal from church or a couple you met at your kid’s basketball game who have dreams to start their own homestead. You’ll be paying it forward by giving them an invaluable opportunity to prepare and learn the skills they’ll need to make their own dreams come true.

Keep Learning in Milk Cow 101

If this is feeling more and more doable, you’re on the right track. Keeping a cow is totally possible and absolutely within your reach.

So if you’ve got the gumption to really dig in and learn what you need to live that milk cow life (boy is it a good one!), join the waitlist for Milk Cow 101 today.

Bonus: You can absolutely go on vacation. It’s all about the timing.

When you join the waitlist, you’ll be the first to know when enrollment opens and you’ll be ready to learn everything you need to feel confident and prepared to bring home your very own family milk cow.

Categories // Blog Post, MilkCow 101 Tags // family milk cow, home dairy, homestead, Homestead Skills, milk cow

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Hey there friends! Long time, no see eh? . Popping Hey there friends!
Long time, no see eh?
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Popping in to let you know I’ll be posting over at @belvedere.farms from now on.
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Same farm, same milk cow / farming / homesteading / canning & preserving / free-range kids capers & misadventures kinda stuff, but a whole new chapter.
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Sneak peek: if you’ve been around for awhile, you’ll know Maude (our milk cow Sandy’s first calf). She’s a brand new momma herself!
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She and I are learning together how to train a milk cow from scratch. It’s an adventure, to be sure!
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Come on over to @belvedere.farms and follow along.
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- Raelene
Wow. Just wow. . This is how I feel every time I l Wow. Just wow.
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This is how I feel every time I look at the pantry shelves, filling slowly but surely, bit by bit.
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Summer’s bounty + hard work (and plenty of hot sweaty days in the kitchen) means my family will eat like kings all winter long.
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It’s such a blessing to know these skills and get to pass them along.
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Sign up for my newsletter (link in bio) so you know when the next homesteading/self-sufficiency class is happening here at Belvedere Farms and you too can start filling those pantry shelves with goodness.
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#homestead #preservingtheharvest #canning #cannedpeaches #canningseason #selfsufficiency #homemadefood #homesteadmama
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Don’t put out that fire.
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#farmraisedkids #farmher #farmgirl #ican #homesteadmama
Can I hear an AMEN? Just tell me one thing: Team L Can I hear an AMEN?
Just tell me one thing: Team Lake or Team Ocean?
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Me? Lake. All the way. Nothing in the lake wants to kill me. 😱
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#gooutside #wildandfreechildren #lakeday #summertime #outdoorkids
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Just like that, canning season has officially begu Just like that, canning season has officially begun.
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I drove down to the vet’s to pick up meds for a sick heifer and since it takes me right through Amish country, I couldn’t resist stopping at a farm just off the road to pick up 10 quarts of small but luscious berries (the small ones are sweetest, I think).
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Harvested rhubarb from the garden and a couple hours later : strawberry rhubarb jam.
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When you’re filling shelves for the winter, every little bit counts.
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Are you making jam this year? What’s your favorite fruit to use for jam? I loooove apricot jam, but have a hard time finding local apricots here in Ohio. If you know of a source - spill the beans!🤣
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It may seem like a small thing, but it always make It may seem like a small thing, but it always makes my heart happy to look out the window and see the cows grazing in the pasture.
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It took a lot of work to get here, and takes a lot of work to stay here, but working hard for something you love isn’t a burden. Instead it builds confidence, self-respect, resilience, and stamina.
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Go, friends. Work your tails off at work worth doing. And stop every now and again to take stock of all you’ve accomplished and all you’ve learned. It’ll blow your socks off and give you the gumption to do the next hard and worthwhile thing.
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Every farm needs a barn cat. We’ve noticed a hug Every farm needs a barn cat. We’ve noticed a huge difference between the years we’ve had barn cuts and the years we haven’t. They’re essential.
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And yet, I’m pretty sure my kids all think we keep barn cats for the kittens.
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There’s a new litter every spring and so far we’ve always been able to give enough away to keep from being overrun. Their momma, Scout, is a phenomenal mouser (and catches birds and squirrels and chipmunks too) and earns her keep many times over.
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So much so that when she decides to give birth, she finds a spot in the basement and we let her come and go as she pleases while the kittens are teeny. That in itself is a testament to her place on the farm.
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Are you team barn cat? How many do you have?
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#barncat #kittens #kidsandkittens #farmraisedkid #farmkid #homesteadkids
Eleven brand spankin’ new piglets born on the fa Eleven brand spankin’ new piglets born on the farm yesterday afternoon/evening.
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It never gets old this farming thing. There’s always something to work on, look forward to, get better at, learn from, grow into, and try again.
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I’m here for it and doing my darndest.
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#farmlifebestlife #babypigs #piglets #iamyourfarmer #supportlocalfarmers #berkshirepigs #farmher
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