Dexter or a Mini Jersey. Having lived on a Dairy Farm as a kid, Beau is dead-set against us having a milk cow.
Really? I took good care of Weber, and I’m here pretty much 24/7, anyway! Not like I have to get up EXTRA early, or rush home from work to milk.
Farm Boys! Grrrr! ;)
We raised registered Saanen dairy goats for 25 years. Milking was a way of life. Milking a cow is harder than milking a goat. We always had at least 2 mature does and one of them in milk. You would get a gallon and a half a day from one good dairy goat, milking twice a day. When fall came we would go down to once e day milking in the morning. You can go a couple of years without rebreeding on a mature doe, who had kidded before. When we really wanted a lot of milk we would have them both bred. Sold off the registered doelings and we only had a few males born, castrated them and sold them to 4H’ers for showing. When we had 2 does in milk. It was too much milk. I was making mozzarella cheese 3-4 times a week. One fall we went into winter with over 40 pounds of mozzarella in the freezer. This is my pitch for a goat instead of a cow. :)
How would he feel about dairy sheep?
Sheep’s milk is supposed to be so rich and sweet, it’s described as “drinking ice cream”.
Plus, you get yarn!
Find a dairy that has Jersey cows. Ask if they have any cows retiring. Buy cow.
The cow may be five years old and their milk production is on the decline but they will still produce milk for another five or more years.
Now you will want to breed this cow AI and choose a heritage size sex selected for a female.
The resulting heifer will be smaller then her mother, (easy birth yay!) and by the time her mom is really slowing down the milk production she will be ready to go.
Possible problems, they are generally not trained to be hand milked and it can take a bit to teach them. You want to make sure you do not get a "cull cow" which is no longer a breeder.
YMMV