That question was asked of us many times before Chloe was purchased. The most recent inquirer was our neighbor out here, who upon learning of our plans, asked if we realized we had to milk it everyday. Our response in the affirmative earned us a "you must be stupid" look.
I'm not sure how our desire to have a dairy cow came about, but I believe Regina mentioned the idea, sort of off hand, to me. We both did a little research to see if anyone really had a "family cow" anymore, and to our surprise we found many articles, two books, and even an online forum just for people who want or own a family cow. Reading all that stuff got us excited. We found ourselves wanting to have fresh raw milk, make fresh butter and cheese, and have a calf to raise every year for beef.
Up until that point we really just wanted to live in the country and have a few chickens. The dairy cow idea was what really got us into homesteading. Most of the magazine articles were from homesteading magazines, and most of the people on the cow forum did homesteading. Of course we started reading all that stuff, and got more interested in self-sufficiency.
Having Chloe has been a joy. We had some rough moments at first (mainly with her and I getting along during milking), but those were soon ironed out, and gained us valuable experience anyway. There are some downsides to having a cow. We don't enjoy as much freedom as we used to. When she's milking twice a day we can't just go out to dinner without planning ahead when we're going to fit in the milking. We can't just pick up and go out of town anymore. That's not a huge deal as we didn't go places much anyway, but it makes planning camping trips harder, which is something we really enjoy.
The pros have so far outweighed the cons for us. We enjoy the fresh dairy, and the feeling of self-sufficiency that our cow provides. I find myself just stopping and admiring her sometimes. There's something so satisfiying to me about seeing our cow graze in our field at sunset. It kind of feels like I'm reconnecting with my roots or some inate desire programmed into man to have and work the land. I get the same feeling when I'm gardening. It's hard to explain. I don't know if we'll have a dairy cow forever, but for now we love it, and wouldn't trade her for the world.
I'm not sure how our desire to have a dairy cow came about, but I believe Regina mentioned the idea, sort of off hand, to me. We both did a little research to see if anyone really had a "family cow" anymore, and to our surprise we found many articles, two books, and even an online forum just for people who want or own a family cow. Reading all that stuff got us excited. We found ourselves wanting to have fresh raw milk, make fresh butter and cheese, and have a calf to raise every year for beef.
Up until that point we really just wanted to live in the country and have a few chickens. The dairy cow idea was what really got us into homesteading. Most of the magazine articles were from homesteading magazines, and most of the people on the cow forum did homesteading. Of course we started reading all that stuff, and got more interested in self-sufficiency.
Having Chloe has been a joy. We had some rough moments at first (mainly with her and I getting along during milking), but those were soon ironed out, and gained us valuable experience anyway. There are some downsides to having a cow. We don't enjoy as much freedom as we used to. When she's milking twice a day we can't just go out to dinner without planning ahead when we're going to fit in the milking. We can't just pick up and go out of town anymore. That's not a huge deal as we didn't go places much anyway, but it makes planning camping trips harder, which is something we really enjoy.
The pros have so far outweighed the cons for us. We enjoy the fresh dairy, and the feeling of self-sufficiency that our cow provides. I find myself just stopping and admiring her sometimes. There's something so satisfiying to me about seeing our cow graze in our field at sunset. It kind of feels like I'm reconnecting with my roots or some inate desire programmed into man to have and work the land. I get the same feeling when I'm gardening. It's hard to explain. I don't know if we'll have a dairy cow forever, but for now we love it, and wouldn't trade her for the world.
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