Post by olivehill on May 20, 2011 9:39:21 GMT -5
We've been investigating getting a family milk cow for a while now and I'm leaning strongly towards moving forward with it later this year or early next. I feel like I've got a good handle on the money, feed, space, etc required. But I'm not totally satisfied that I have a grasp on the time commitment.
I've searched for and read all of the threads I could find that addressed this on KFC and elsewhere, but there seems to be a wide range of estimates -- none of which really agree with one another -- about how long you can expect to have invested in the day-to-day chores. I've seen people say it takes them as little as 20 minutes and others say it takes as long as 3 hours twice per day.
I have 20 minutes. I do not have 3 hours.
And therein lies my question: how long does it take to do daily chores? I'm not talking during calving season when you're watching over a cow in labor, or during initial training where you're working to get the cow used to her halter, stanchion, milking routine, etc. Just normal, every day, already-have-the-routine-figured-out chores. From slipping your boots on and leaving the house, to walking out of the kitchen with the milk properly stowed in the fridge, how long does it take?
Now, I realize setup and what all I consider "a daily chore" will make a difference in this so here's an approximate of what I'd be dealing with.
The house would be about 500 ft from the barn, the furthest paddock gate about 400 feet from the barn in another direction. I would be milking one cow by machine in a stanchion. May thru late October (or there about) the cow would be rotationally grazed through paddocks, during the rest of the year she would be stalled in the barn for the most part.
The "daily chores" I am expecting (correct me if I miss anything) would include bringing the cow into the stanchion, graining her there, cleaning her up, brushing her, milking her, turning her back out either to her stall or paddock depending on time of year, cleaning up any mess she may have made in the barn while entering or milking, cleaning up the milk machine, straining and jarring milk and stowing it away.
In the summer it'd take longer to bring her in from the paddocks rather than straight from the stall right in the barn, but I figured the time that takes would be cancelled out by the stall cleaning in the winter. IOW, I'll spend the time either walking the cow in or cleaning her stall but either way it would probably be a similar amount of time spent.
Sound about right? Care to wager a guess as to how long all that would take -- or if you've got a similar setup sharing how long it takes you? This time thing is the only real hang up I need to straighten out before making a final decision. I don't want to bring a cow home and find out I don't have the time I need to "do it right".
I've searched for and read all of the threads I could find that addressed this on KFC and elsewhere, but there seems to be a wide range of estimates -- none of which really agree with one another -- about how long you can expect to have invested in the day-to-day chores. I've seen people say it takes them as little as 20 minutes and others say it takes as long as 3 hours twice per day.
I have 20 minutes. I do not have 3 hours.
And therein lies my question: how long does it take to do daily chores? I'm not talking during calving season when you're watching over a cow in labor, or during initial training where you're working to get the cow used to her halter, stanchion, milking routine, etc. Just normal, every day, already-have-the-routine-figured-out chores. From slipping your boots on and leaving the house, to walking out of the kitchen with the milk properly stowed in the fridge, how long does it take?
Now, I realize setup and what all I consider "a daily chore" will make a difference in this so here's an approximate of what I'd be dealing with.
The house would be about 500 ft from the barn, the furthest paddock gate about 400 feet from the barn in another direction. I would be milking one cow by machine in a stanchion. May thru late October (or there about) the cow would be rotationally grazed through paddocks, during the rest of the year she would be stalled in the barn for the most part.
The "daily chores" I am expecting (correct me if I miss anything) would include bringing the cow into the stanchion, graining her there, cleaning her up, brushing her, milking her, turning her back out either to her stall or paddock depending on time of year, cleaning up any mess she may have made in the barn while entering or milking, cleaning up the milk machine, straining and jarring milk and stowing it away.
In the summer it'd take longer to bring her in from the paddocks rather than straight from the stall right in the barn, but I figured the time that takes would be cancelled out by the stall cleaning in the winter. IOW, I'll spend the time either walking the cow in or cleaning her stall but either way it would probably be a similar amount of time spent.
Sound about right? Care to wager a guess as to how long all that would take -- or if you've got a similar setup sharing how long it takes you? This time thing is the only real hang up I need to straighten out before making a final decision. I don't want to bring a cow home and find out I don't have the time I need to "do it right".