I love your enthusiasm but honestly you cant just own one cow! Cows have best friends. Seriously, they do. You couldn't leave one sad lonely cow in your garden, you'd get sad milk and sad butter
It’s dead easy. Buy some high fat cream and put it in a blender (add salt to taste) for five minutes and it turns into butter. Save the butter milk and then put the butter into ice cooks water and squeeze the remaining butter milk out, otherwise the butter will turn rancid after a few days. Plenty of videos on YT. Tastes amazing.
No, yes, I understand that the process of making butter is fairly straightforward and can be store bought. But I am wondering how much hardship would it be to own one (1) cow, feed it, raise it, make its life so good, it would give me the best milk so I could make really good butter. Could I keep a cow happy on half an acre?
Ideally more than one cow as they are herd animals. They would need concentrates to ensure they're getting enough vitamins and minerals when producing milk otherwise deficiencies like grass tetany and milk fever can kick in. Half an acre would not last long in any season, especially due to poaching when it's wet. You'd need to buy bales of silage or hay. Also you'd need a shed or a lean to at least. You'd also need to get your cows pregnant in order to have them milking. And then the fucking milking can take an age depending on you, the cow, and each party's patience. And it's a twice a day job unless you want to leave the calf on her. Basically it's a lot of hardship and I would just buy cream...like you have to be aware of the need to pasteurise milk here too, TB is rife in this country so I wouldn't touch milk unless it's been pasteurised personally. And the machines for the job are fairly expensive. So just buy the butter and be done with it.
Have you considered goat butter? 1) goats are a lot cheaper to feed, in fact you can rent them out to other people to feed; 2) goats are smaller than cows so you don't need a barn, kennel be fine; 3) goat butter is easier to justify making at home as it is 'gourmet', impossible to buy in shops, and just quirky enough to make you 'interesting' rather than the 'victim of a midlife crisis'.
I'm only saying this because I was shockingly old when I realised, but when I did it was so obvious. I'm not trying to be mean or anything.
Lactation is brought about by pregnancy. The milk a cows makes is for it's calf. I spent so long thinking cows just make milk, like chicken just lay eggs but unfortunately no, the black and white cows don't just turn grass into milk in their four stomachs.
Yes, you'll need a herd number to own a cow. You'll also require sufficient space to graze them and adequate facilities to winter them. So in excess of 1 acre would be expected, iirc.
Most importantly for the of Agriculture, you'll need adequate facilities to restrain them for annual testing.
You'll also probably need more than one or keep the calf as they're generally not lone animals and require other animals, cattle preferably, as they're a herd species. So now you're up to in excess of 1 acre.
And they will require milking every day so you'll need somebody to care for them when you're not around and probably a milking machine as milking a cow by hand requires skill that takes time to develop and probably won't be present by most people you know atm, I'm guessing.
It's a massive commitment to own a cow. It's actually easier to own several, but still lots of work and dedication.
It's even worse than having a pet dog. You can skip walking the dog to odd day, but you have to milk the cows every day. Or twice a day.
I think you still need a herd number, even for one cute but you also have all the paperwork to do. Even for a single cow.
I love your enthusiasm but honestly you cant just own one cow! Cows have best friends. Seriously, they do. You couldn't leave one sad lonely cow in your garden, you'd get sad milk and sad butter
It’s dead easy. Buy some high fat cream and put it in a blender (add salt to taste) for five minutes and it turns into butter. Save the butter milk and then put the butter into ice cooks water and squeeze the remaining butter milk out, otherwise the butter will turn rancid after a few days. Plenty of videos on YT. Tastes amazing.
Did this with leftover cream after christmas. Definitely not worth the hassle
I just found out you can make it in the kitchen aid which is so much easier than by hand, Practice makes perfect.
Best plan would be to get up very early in the morning, sneak into neighbours field and milk one of their cows.
No, yes, I understand that the process of making butter is fairly straightforward and can be store bought. But I am wondering how much hardship would it be to own one (1) cow, feed it, raise it, make its life so good, it would give me the best milk so I could make really good butter. Could I keep a cow happy on half an acre?
Ideally more than one cow as they are herd animals. They would need concentrates to ensure they're getting enough vitamins and minerals when producing milk otherwise deficiencies like grass tetany and milk fever can kick in. Half an acre would not last long in any season, especially due to poaching when it's wet. You'd need to buy bales of silage or hay. Also you'd need a shed or a lean to at least. You'd also need to get your cows pregnant in order to have them milking. And then the fucking milking can take an age depending on you, the cow, and each party's patience. And it's a twice a day job unless you want to leave the calf on her. Basically it's a lot of hardship and I would just buy cream...like you have to be aware of the need to pasteurise milk here too, TB is rife in this country so I wouldn't touch milk unless it's been pasteurised personally. And the machines for the job are fairly expensive. So just buy the butter and be done with it.
What if I got two small cows. Would that work? Instead of one big one who'd get lonely. I could manage the feed and silage and other stuff.
Now you're milking two cows so it's going to take twice as long😄
https://youtu.be/MMiKyfd6hA0?si=fTWfo_dkhrkcsnNt Are they small cows or far away 🤓
Ah forget it...
Buffalo stampede
Have you considered goat butter? 1) goats are a lot cheaper to feed, in fact you can rent them out to other people to feed; 2) goats are smaller than cows so you don't need a barn, kennel be fine; 3) goat butter is easier to justify making at home as it is 'gourmet', impossible to buy in shops, and just quirky enough to make you 'interesting' rather than the 'victim of a midlife crisis'.
I'm only saying this because I was shockingly old when I realised, but when I did it was so obvious. I'm not trying to be mean or anything.
Lactation is brought about by pregnancy. The milk a cows makes is for it's calf. I spent so long thinking cows just make milk, like chicken just lay eggs but unfortunately no, the black and white cows don't just turn grass into milk in their four stomachs.
Yes, you'll need a herd number to own a cow. You'll also require sufficient space to graze them and adequate facilities to winter them. So in excess of 1 acre would be expected, iirc.
Most importantly for the of Agriculture, you'll need adequate facilities to restrain them for annual testing.
You'll also probably need more than one or keep the calf as they're generally not lone animals and require other animals, cattle preferably, as they're a herd species. So now you're up to in excess of 1 acre.
And they will require milking every day so you'll need somebody to care for them when you're not around and probably a milking machine as milking a cow by hand requires skill that takes time to develop and probably won't be present by most people you know atm, I'm guessing.
Lmao, your post reminded me of a YT video I happened upon randomly three years ago with this mad French chef making butter - enjoy
Just get some cream, a jar and a marble and get shaking! Then a pinch of salt… do they still do that in school or was that just an old thing… ??
The hardship of making butter
I make my own butter all the time, you just need some double cream a food processor and some ice water!
I love to add some achill island sea weed and salt mix and lemon zest to mine! Enjoy
Adam Byatt put up a great video on it the other day.
It's a massive commitment to own a cow. It's actually easier to own several, but still lots of work and dedication. It's even worse than having a pet dog. You can skip walking the dog to odd day, but you have to milk the cows every day. Or twice a day.
I think you still need a herd number, even for one cute but you also have all the paperwork to do. Even for a single cow.