Trends in Homesteading
It’s become very popular to have a homestead milk cow. I can see why! No running to the store for milk. When my children were little, milk was the item we were always running out of. I love being able to open the “milk fridge” and see gallons of milk sitting there. I love being able to make cream cheese, or ice cream, or whipped cream, or yogurt without having to run to the store. Chocolate milk is a treat and is easily made when there’s plenty of milk. In years past, I would have never drank “raw milk” as I was told it was dirty and full of bacteria. Now I know better. Raw milk doesn’t go bad like pasteurized milk does, unless it becomes contaminated by something outside of itself. It just changes into a cheese like substance (which is, believe it or not, fully edible). Raw milk would have to sit for a really long time to actually go putrid. After having milk cows for a couple of years, I can see why the family milk cow was considered an asset.
I have a neighbor who comes to my house every week to pick up milk. He is an older gentleman who likes to tell me the stories of how he grew up, and even gave me a tour of his property. Oh to have a barn like they have!! He said that the milk truck would come through the countryside picking up milk from various farms for the “city folk”. They would set out large cans of milk for the milk truck and would get paid for their milk. It was a small source of income for their farm. When I had work done on my property, one of the gentlemen stopped to discuss my dairy cows after he had finished working. He told me that he had worked in a dairy long ago and that his granny had a milk cow. I sent milk home with him. I have discovered that many people in this area had milk cows a generation or two ago and remember the fresh, delicious, taste of raw milk. I can tell you that a Jersey cow’s milk can taste like a vanilla milkshake. It’s that good. A Guernsey cow’s milk, often called Golden Milk, is sweet, rich, and buttery. A Brown Swiss cow’s milk is crisp and refreshing. Seriously, the milk is that good. I don’t think I can drink store-bought milk again, even if you paid me.
I started selling my excess raw milk to a number of neighbors once they found out I was milking cows every day. In our state, raw milk can be sold as “pet milk” with full disclosure of the “risks of raw milk”. The dairy industry doesn’t much like us raw milk proponents. And it’s not just the older generation who appreciate it. The younger generations have become educated on “whole foods”, foods that are not chemically or radically changed in the manufacturing process. They have turned to sourcing foods from small farms or the farmer’s market rather than buying from the grocery store. In fact, “ditch the grocery store” has become a popular phrase among them.
In the state of Tennessee, and in some other states, the homesteading movement is enormous. There are groups of people, organized by county, but connected via their same interests, who regularly communicate, meet, and organize get togethers. They teach one another all kinds of things, like how to raise and butcher various animals on the farm, how to grow medicinal herbs, etc. There is a lot of trading, purchasing, and knowledge shared between the groups. There are also larger organizations, such as the Homesteaders of America (HOA) group, that meet annually and put on workshops. There is a national organization named The Weston A. Price Foundation that focuses on whole foods, farming, and the herbal arts. There are many local groups that are not affiliated with any organization, but whose goals are primarily the same: how to get back to the old ways of self-sufficiency. It’s very good to see. I have precious spare time to attend any events, but I like to keep up by reading their blogs and books when I have a few moments of time.
One impetus of the homesteading movement, in my mind, is the fact that our “food system” is making people sick. I read in a study once, that the oldest living Americans were midwest farmers. But, that study was of the time before the implementation of “big ag”, pesticides, and genetically modified organisms (GMOs). I’m not knocking the family-owned big farms, at all. In many ways, they were forced into using GMO seeds and pesticides. The government got its nose all the way into their business and it changed farming. The history of how farming changed in America is a large topic and worthy of studying. The intervention/interference is still being debated, not just for financial reasons, but for health reasons too. On the positive side, the changes made America an agricultural giant. At what cost though?
All I know is, from personal experience, that the people I knew and know were and are getting sick in great numbers in their 20’s, 30’s, 40’s, 50’s (before the clot shot arrived on stage). So many with “autoimmune deficiencies”, meaning their bodies are struggling to cope, myself included. So many cancers, heart disease, diabetes…. And the sicker people got, the bigger the pharmaceutical industry got. There’s literally a pill or shot for everything under the sun. But, from what I observed, the medical interventions made people, for the most part, even sicker. A vicious cycle. I’m not knocking life saving medical interventions. I’m advocating for avoiding the things that make you sick and saving the medical interventions for true emergencies. I’m not trying to “trigger” anyone into the larger debates. I have made decisions for myself only, based on my observations of the world around me. I have the freedom to do that.
Finding my first cow
To get back on topic, one of the central focus points in the homesteading communities is the family milk cow. Once people figure out how much that cow gives back, they fall in love with the idea of blissfully walking out to the field, pail in hand, thinking happy thoughts, in preparation for milking that extremely cooperative and friendly bovine. At least, that’s how I idealized it. I do believe that in some instances, you can hold on to that lovely ideal. It’s just a little bit more work than that.
So, you’ve decided to buy a cow!! Where do you even look for a cow? What kind of cow? What do you do with it when you bring it “home”? Can’t it just graze the lawn? How are you going to get it home? What if it doesn’t like you…. Is the cow pregnant? When will she calve? What do I do with the calf? Is there such a thing as a midwife for cows? How am I going to milk the cow? What am I going to do with all that milk? Is this stuff safe for my children to drink? So many questions… and you haven’t even started yet. But, truthfully, everything new is like that. The only difference is that this is a large, live, animal that could cost you a pretty penny.
I bought my first milk cow off of Craigslist. I was just casually searching and figuring out just what to search for. There were lots of bull and steer calves available, “nurse cows”, beef cows, and a lot of cows that didn’t look so good. Every few days, I’d refine my search, and search again. I came across a book in one of my Internet searches, entitled Keeping A Family Cow, by Joann S. Grohman. I bought it and read it thoroughly, several times in fact. I highly recommend the book. I am a member of the Weston A. Price Foundation and I eagerly read their literature. The acronym “A2/A2” kept popping up. I wasn’t really sure what it meant, but something about milk proteins and possibly a more easily digestible milk.
One day as I was searching Craigslist, I found a cow for sale that seemed to fit the bill. She was a bred (pregnant) Jersey cow, A2/A2, 2 years old, disease tested and disease free. She looked really good in the pictures. I thought, Eureka!!! I contacted the seller and found that he lived a couple hours northeast of me. I asked if he was willing to deliver her. He was! The list price of the cow was $3,000. I gulped, and told him I wanted her. He said he would charge me $4 per loaded mile for the delivery, which was not a bad price considering gas prices, and the ability to load up a cow and drive her here. I was literally shaking. I had learned from my readings that I needed milking equipment and I decided to purchase equipment from a dairy supply in Iowa. That equipment, which included a vacuum pump, cost almost $3,000. Okay, now I’m in $6,000. Whoo boy, this better be a good idea!
Note: You can certainly hand milk a cow, but I decided with the arthritis in my hands and wrists, I would spring for the best equipment. The equipment had a good resale value in case I decided this was all a bad idea. In fact, the cow also had a good resale value due to her age and status. I could sell it all if it turned out to be a big mistake.
I had the infrastructure. I just needed to pick up another water trough, some minerals, and a dairy ration at the feed store. Oh, and a halter and lead rope. Oh, and after further reading, I needed to make sure I had a few more things on hand, such as a couple of bottles for the calf should they be needed, some medical supplies. Oh! And hay. Straw for bedding. Oh! I needed a chosen spot for milking her, something with a head gate and feeding trough. I will call the neighbor to see if he will build me something. I had plenty of grass, but I didn’t want to be short of anything on this important purchase. The calf was due to be born mid April, so the time of year was just lovely. What could go wrong?
When that cow stepped off the trailer, I fell in love!! She was gorgeous. Big, beautiful, brown eyes and long eyelashes, along with a nice winter coat of reddish fur. She was not halter trained, had never had a calf, but she would follow a feed bucket. We walked her right into her pasture and she took a look around. I think she liked it. The farmer gave me a few tips to get me going, I paid him, and he wished me luck, and drove off. Eeeeeek. What have I done?
(To be continued tomorrow, in Part 2.)