House Cow Basics: Land, Shelter & Buying

Keeping a family cow is a long-held dream of many a smallholder but sourcing a good cow, being able to meet her needs, and providing her with a long-term and loving home is a commitment that needs to be fully understood before deciding to embark on this life-changing path.

In this first part of a three-part series on house cows, we cover the basics of the land and shelter requirements, as well as where to source a cow and what to consider when buying.

SHELTER

Over the past 100 years dairy cows have been selectively bred to put considerable energy into milk production at the expense of their own body maintenance. As a result, most milking cows need quite a bit more mollycoddling than beef cattle. For the house cow keeper, this means during the cold winter months providing a roof over their head in a light, airy place where they have sufficient space to move freely, and a draught-free area to lay down on clean, dry bedding.

Keep in mind that for the majority of the time your cow will have her calf at foot and winter housing consideration likely needs to be made for a growing weanling too. The larger the area you can provide, the easier job you give yourself in keeping your cow clean and content over winter.

Ideally the hay feeder needs to be at the front of a south-facing shelter, where they can stand eating with the winter sun on their back on flat concrete which is kept free of bedding and can be easily scraped clean with a shovel each day.

Then a bedded area at the back of the shelter that is at least the length of a cow (allow 3m) distance beyond the hay feeder will mean that when your cow stands to eat, she is not dunging onto her bed. This not only decreases the daily mucking out time and will save a fortune on straw, but it means she is less likely to lay in a cow pat and a clean udder come milking time is a joy.

LAND

As a very general rule of thumb, two acres will easily support a cow and her calf through the grazing season (April – November), excluding land set aside to make hay. However, the amount of land you might need will vary depending on the quality of the pasture and what sort of grazing management practices you use.

Whether buying or making hay, there is an easy calculation to work out requirements: whether she is lactating or dry, your cow will eat approximately 3% of her body weight per day in hay. A small milking cow, like a Jersey, will weigh around 450kg, so allowing for a little wastage, she will need 15kg hay per day (this is approximately the weight of one small bale). Allow enough for 5 months: thus, 150 days x 15kg is 2.25 tonnes. In a good year you might make 1.5 tonnes of hay per acre.

You will need a barn to store your hay, or at least a roof over the top of it, and 2.25 tonnes will fill an area the size and height of a double garage.

COW CONTENTMENT

A house cow on a traditional farm was usually one of the beef cows, often a Hereford, that happened to be friendly and willing enough to give milk for the house. She would always have raised her own calf as well as provided milk, so she rarely, if ever, was on her own.

Cows are social, herd animals. They form extremely strong bonds, and will mourn and be more susceptible to illness, if that bond is broken by removal of their companion.

Cows will make a bond with another species if there is no other option but the companionship of another bovine should really be the aim. This could be her calf, but not if that calf is then to be removed (weaned or sold) before she calves again. An ideal world would be two neighbouring households, sharing two cows calving at different times of year, giving a constant supply of milk, and providing stable companionship.

BUYER BEWARE!

Never is it more relevant than when buying a house cow for the buyer to beware. Not only are you looking for a healthy cow but she must have a good temperament. Very few dairy farmers are willing to let their best tempered cows go and even fewer are willing to make time to show someone their herd when only selecting one or two cows, and will likely ‘steer’ you towards those they’d like to get rid of.

Unless it is a dispersal sale of a whole herd, buying from a cattle market is extremely risky. Not just the disease risk, but cows are sold for a reason, and probably not the reason you would want to buy them!

The best source for finding good quality cows from genuine sources are fellow house cow keepers or micro-dairies. Micro-dairies in particular usually need to sell young stock or cows to stay within their grazing limits.

Buying a cow is similar to buying a dog: how they have been raised and treated in the past has a big impact on how they behave and, like a dog, a house cow should be a purchase for life. Thus, there is a choice: buy the puppy equivalent, a young heifer, who you can raise, care for and bond with before she calves, and trust you will get through those early milkings when you are both learning. Or buy an older cow, who knows the ropes but who comes with her own quirks, and possible bad habits and other people’s baggage.

If buying an older cow, the key question to ask is if she has ever had mastitis or been treated with antibiotics. If yes to either of these questions, politely pass her over: you do not want to start on your dairy adventure with an animal that is susceptible to disease.

Whichever you choose, look for a cow or heifer who is alert, with a keenness to see a new face, a brightness to the eye, a gloss on the coat and who gives an air of vitality. You do not need to know all the conformation traits of every breed: you are not looking for a show champion. You need to find a cow that you are excited to go out to see every morning, that you can fall in love with and provide a life-long home.