Post by thystledown on Jan 17, 2017 13:45:08 GMT -5
I grew up on a 40 cow commercial dairy. 30-60 was the norm for a single family farm that didn't hire help. The milk house was always attached to the barn. I'm surprised to hear that some places want it separate. Even if using a separate milking parlor, the milkhouses are usually adjacent just for transporting the milk even by pipeline. I agree that bulk tanks are wonderful and would love to have one--only I mostly skim all our milk unless we need it for household drinking or cheese making. So most of my milk is skim which I only use in making part skim mozz. I clabber the rest for animal feed. So I just don't have enough whole milk to make a bulk tank, even a little one, worth while. And my cow is not an only cow--she's an only dairy cow. In the summer when she is dry she runs with the beef herd. In the winter, she and her calf(calves) have their own paddock and come in to the barn every night that a) I want milk the next day or b) it is really cold out. I find that even with a run-in shed, my jersey can't keep herself warm. She carries neither the fat nor the hair coat of the beefers. If I pushed my cow for production I think she would give so much that I would want a bulk tank. When she was fresh and on grass in August this year, her second lactation, I was getting 5-6 gallons OAD with the calf on 24/7. But this drops off in winter to about a gallon and a half OAD with the calf shut up at night. But this is fine with me. Ass it is, I actually make more money on her than on the beef cows. And, I do wish I'd read the requirements for a grade A milkhouse and planned for it even though I don't think I'd go that route. But I did what I could do economically and under the circumstances. So my advice is to find the requirements, and do what you can toward them (just in case), but if it is cost prohibitive, do what you can that works for just your family cow.