How to Milk a Cow Once A Day (Calf Sharing)
Considering adding a dairy animal to your family? You can incorporate a milking animal into your homestead without sacrificing your freedom. Here’s why, and how, to milk a cow once a day.
One of the first things people will tell you if you even HINT that you are interested in having a dairy animal is, “Oh you don’t want that. You’ll be tied down. Can’t go anywhere—milking every day twice a day forever!”
Now that may be true in some instances. Serious dairy producers do live that kind of lifestyle, and I have a lot of respect for them. It takes a huge amount of dedication, the right type of personality, and so much time, to stick to that kind of schedule.
For our small farm, once a day milking provides enough milk for our needs and then some. Seeing as it takes less time than twice-a-day milking, it also gives us the freedom we millennial farmers find we need for a balanced life.
How to Milk A Cow Once a Day
This process takes a little time if you want it to be as stress free as possible for you, the cow, and the calf.
Right After The Calf Is Born
We will begin milking at the first usual milking time. So if she has her calf at say 11:00 a.m, you would milk her for the first time that evening. Then, you will milk her the next morning and evening.
You will have to milk your cow twice a day every day for several months.
The first 24-48 hours, the milk will be a deep golden color. This is colostrum and it is vitally important that your calf get a good belly full of this in the first 12 hours after being born. Calves that do not get this do not get the important antibodies they need from their mothers.
Their stomach lining only stays open to these antibodies for the first 12-24 hours MAX, and after that cannot absorb them. Calves that do not get sufficient colostrum will not survive.
After the calf has had plenty, this milk/colostrum should be filtered and frozen for future use. If you somehow have a calf in the future that isn’t able to get colostrum from their mom, you can use this frozen colostrum as a substitute. I simply freeze mine in gallon bags.
For the first few weeks or even months of the calf’s life, we won’t separate them at all, giving your new little guy or gal free access to all the fresh milk they need.
Mama cow produces a LOT of milk at this time, so there is plenty for everyone.
When we milk the cow, the calf comes right in there with us. This helps keep mama calm and also allows for the very beginning of the calf’s training. It gets them used to the barn routine and helps make them more comfortable around people.
Months 3-4, Switching to Once A Day
Most cows will continue to produce plenty of milk for you and their calf for 2-3 months at least.
After her milk supply seems to settle down I will start to drop one milking. Usually ,I’ll start to notice that one of the milkings is yielding much less milk so will start to drop that milking.
Let’s say you milk at 7:00 am and 7:00 pm. Move the 7:00pm milking later or earlier by about a half hour. Our goal is to stretch the amount of time the cow is going between milkings.
For example, the first few days you might milk at 7:30 pm. Then move it to 8:00pm for a few evenings. Then 8:30. Keep scootching the time back. Once you get as late as you can, drop that milking all together and begin milking once a day.
You will likely notice that first time you skip evening milking all together, her udder will be very full. If you stay consistent, her milk supply will adjust.
You can also bump that morning milking up an hour or two that first morning just to help smooth the transition a little.
Separating the Calf
Eventually you will reach a point where you are not getting as much milk as you want. This is now time to separate the calf.
At night, around 8:30 or so, move the calf into their own pen. I always make sure the mama cow sees where I am putting her baby, and in my experience, it is best that she can at least see her calf to know that it is alright.
If you are putting the calf in a barn, bring mom in too if you can but just keep them separate. I also advise leaving the lights on so she can see her baby and not forget where she is. Repeat this for several nights.
Our farm allows us to put the calf in a small pen in the milking barn, and then lock the cow in a neighboring stall. Again, they can see, smell, and hear each other. The first time we tried separating a cow and a calf, the mom forgot where the calf was and roared around the pasture crying for her baby.
This is why we lock her in the barn with the calf close by for a few nights until she gets the hang of it. Then we leave the door open so she can go out or stay in close to her calf as she pleases.
The next morning we milk the cow around 6:30-7:30 a.m. At this point the calf is old enough to start halter training. The calf gets a halter put on and then is led to a spot where she can be tied. Usually the calf will be tied tight for the first 15 minutes or so just to work on halter trainiting. Then I loosen the tie so she is still secured but can lay down if she wants, which she usually does.
After milking, mom and baby go outside and spend the rest of the day together.
Skipping a Day
Ah yes, the dream of every small dairy farmer. The time when you can sleep in and just skip milking. Or finally take a weekend trip somewhere!
Yes, you can skip milking (though this might not be the case if your cow is a huge producer) once the calf is around 3-4 months old and drinking heartily.
You might notice a decrease in milk production when you do start milking again. You many also notice nutritional scours (pale, runny poop) from your calf. That should clear up on its own after a couple days but contact your vet if it does not.
Calf Sharing = No Cream
I’m very sorry to tell you this, but once you separate the calf from mom at night, you will probably get little to no cream. I don’t know how they do it, but mama cows will hold back the best milk for their babies.
Why We Choose to Milk Once A Day
There are many reasons why once daily milking is the right choice for us and our family. Let’s look at the positives.
Healthy Calves
Our calves stay with their mamas, and this makes for sturdy, healthy animals that grow stronger faster because they are on rich milk. The same way breast milk is best for human babies, a cow’s milk is what is best for her calf. Our AI technician and our veterinarian are always blown away by how big our calves our for their age. That’s all mama’s good milk growing them up big and strong!
Additionally, it just seems right to let a baby stay with its mother. Even before I became a mother myself, the sight and sounds of a young calf and its mother being taken from each other was enough to make me feel sick.
A cow would naturally wean her calf somewhere between 6-9 months.
Less Commitment
You aren’t tied down to milking twice a day every day. You milk just once in the morning. Or even better yet, once a cow gets further along in her lactation and her milk supply goes down a bit, you can even take a day off just because you want to.
Last summer after milking every day for 3–4 months, I might leave the calf with her mom in the evening, thus letting the calf nurse in the a.m., leaving me to get some extra shuteye. Now I have my own baby so extra shuteye doesn’t happen anyway.
If you want to get away for a weekend, you can! Finding someone who can come and handle your farm chores for a weekend is complicated enough, but throw milking a cow in there and it can be next to impossible to achieve. When your calf stays with the mom, all the milking is taken care of for you.
Less Milk
This could be a positive or a negative.
With our cow, during peak lactation with her calf still on, I would easily get close to two gallons of milk a day, milking just once. If I was milking twice per day, it would be double that.
That would mean minimum of 40 gallons per week. Maybe you have a big family and can put away that kind of milk volume, but my tiny family of three certainly can’t. Even with butter, yogurt, and cheesemaking, it’s just not happening.
Less Chance of Mastitis
When milking a cow, it’s very important to remove as much of the milk as possible so they don’t have issues with mastitis. When you just milk once a day and you turn the cow back out with her calf, that calf will clean out any remaining milk, no problem. This decreases your need to worry about stripping the cow out completely.
Reduced Feed Costs
If you separate a cow from its mom, you now have to feed it. Maybe you are giving her other milk you have, at which point your cost is the time it takes to care for it. As the calf gets older if it stays with mom, say through a fall and winter, that calf will eat less hay than if it was weaned completely.
Common Questions About How to Milk a Cow Once a Day
How much milk will I get? This varies from cow to cow and from season to season. We personally would get around two gallons a day, milking just once in the morning. That is during peak lactation. It tapers off as the baby gets older.
Will my calf starve? No. Your cow isn’t stupid and she will not give you all the milk she has. As a matter of fact, she won’t even give you the best milk. Somehow, our cow always saved her creamier, better milk for her baby. But the milk quality of what we get is still excellent!
Are there negatives to once a day milking? You’ll get a decreased amount of milk (which, again, could be positive or negative). If you decide to wean the calf at some point you’ll then have to milk daily. We choose to keep our calf with the mom right up until we dry her down for her next lactation.
Do I have to separate my cow and calf for this to work? Not right at first, but I’d say eventually yes. Unless you plan to sneak out and milk your cow before the baby gets up for her breakfast.
Where’s all the cream? Depending on your cow, she might save up all that good hind milk for her baby, leaving you with delicious but somewhat depressingly lacking in cream content.
Will this work for goats? Absolutely! We do this same process with our Nubian and it works just great—plenty of goat milk for us and plenty of milk for the baby goat!
Is Every Cow Good for Calf Sharing?No. Not every cow will be good for calf sharing. Some might be too aggressive. Some, such as Dexters which are in general produce less milk, might not produce enough milk for calf sharing during their first lactation.
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