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How much milk do dairy cows produce? A production guide

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If you’ve ever wondered how many gallons of milk a dairy cow produces, this blog post will outline our experiences owning a variety of cow breeds including dexter cows and jersey cows on our small acreage! 

Raising a Family Cow

Taking on a family milk cow is no small feat! If you think your family’s milk consumption is high enough to consider owning a family milk cow, there are many major factors that can influence your decision to own a cow. Here are a few things that are surprising about owning a dairy cow:

  • Even while sharing the milk with the calf, you will be committed to being home to milk and care for the cow most months of the year
  • With an average milk yield of 7 gallons a day from high-yielding dairy cows, you’ll need to build in time for processing milk outside of the general daily cow chores 
  • Dairy grain rations are often hard to source without a minimum 2 ton order 
  • While a high-yielding cow like a jersey cow seemed intimidating at first, there are plenty of opportunities to use milk! 
Ashley in the field with a baby calf

How to use large qualities of milk

On average, our jersey cows will produce an average of 40 gallons of milk each week. We have found ways to use this fresh milk in a variety of ways, from cheese making to homemade ice cream. Our family absolutely loves having the fresh raw milk for all of our dairy needs. You can read more about how we use the 40 gallons on milk in the blog post linked below. 

What are the lactation cycles?

Different stages of lactation yield different amounts of milk but if we leave plenty of milk for the calves to drink, our cows’ peak lactation provides us about 43 gallons of milk per week. This is often broken into stages called early lactation, mid lactation, late lactation and dry period, but as small producers we just refer to fresh cows and dry cows.

All cows experience a dry period as they condition and prepare their bodies to have another calf. We typically have our cows dry for a minimum of 2 months to minimize health problems in mature cows. This dry period is one of the reasons we have two cows– that way one is always in milk. 

How much milk is produced?

While milk is typically poured in gallons, most dairy operations track pounds of milk. A gallon of milk weighs eight pounds. Across all dairy breeds of cows, United States dairy farmers average milk production is around 7 gallons per day. This yield will vary by breed, we once owned a variety of dexter cows with a peak yield of 1.5 gallons per day whereas our jersey cow yields about 5 gallons per day. Typically, the liters of milk produced is directly related to the kg of feed they are fed. 

Ashley holding a baby calf

What do dairy cows eat? 

It requires a lot of calories to produce milk. Think about a mom you know who is feeding a baby. If a human needs 500 additional calories to nurse a baby– a cow surely needs some additional support! While some breeds of cows have genetics that allow them to eat a more grass-based diet, typically it is not possible for a milk cow to consume only grass. Grasses are considered carbs, and protein is needed. Selective breeding can reduce the pounds of grain needed, but our jersey cows receive a total mixed ration of about 3% of their body weight. In addition to this grain at milking time, they receive access to fresh grass, hay/alfalfa, and fresh water. The feed costs per month for our two jersey cows is about $800 for grain and $80 for quality hay. The amount of milk is often directly related to the feed intake. We get about 1.5 gallons per milking out of our cows (16 pounds), and feed them 16 pounds of grain. 

A cow’s milk production is directly related to their diet. In the summer months, there’s enough grass in Iowa that an average dairy cow can be on pasture with grain provided at milking time, but nearly all dairy cows still need grain during the lactation period. 

We are able to order two tons of feed per month from a local feed mill that is specifically rationed by a dairy nutritionist based on the lactating cows stage in lactation.  

What happens to the calves of dairy cows? 

On most homesteads or micro-dairies, the calves are kept to supply the family with beef. On our operation, we allow the calf to nurse the mom as long as possible, as jersey milk produces delicious, tender beef. If we have a female (called a heifer) we may consider keeping it for a future milk cow, but we almost always have bull calves that we turn into a steer. Many dairy farms pump milk into a separate tank to feed their calves. They sell them at any stage in the production as livestock. 

While this may seem sad to some, rest assured that the calves are well fed. A dairy cow is made to produce so much milk that it can support both the calf and supply a surplus. If the cow was not milked, it would be at risk of mastitis or another infection. 

Ashley in the field with our dairy cow and her baby calf

What is made from dairy products? 

While many think of ice cream, milk, cream, butter, and yogurt, there are actually a lot of milk products that you may not think of. Lubricants, printing ink, and chewing gum (casein) are all examples of where milk is used. Learn more here! 

On our small acreage, we make butter, yogurt, cream cheese, soft cheese, cream cheese, hard cheeses, and have drinking milk. We fed the surplus to our herd of herford hogs and are also able to feed the calves. 

Other considerations:

  • Body condition score [image] While many people think dairy cows look skinny, their bodies should be leaner than beef cows. Learn more here.
  • Natural breeding or artificial insemination: If you own a dairy cow, you’ll need to consider how to breed it to continue milk production. We prefer natural breeding, but you’ll need a plan to house a bull or spend time traveling to milk the cow. 
  • Milk quality- both the cleanliness of the barn/pasture and the genetics of the cow affect the quality of the milk. 
  • Metabolic stress including, mastitis, ketosis, and milk fever 

Dairy producers are essential to the food system, supplying people with milk. A dairy cow is a well coveted animal among many small and large farms, essential to the food supply chain!

Use the contact us page if you are a local wanting to buy raw milk or if you have more questions about raising dairy cows! 

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