miniature dairy

Hi Kevin

The most efficient animal for a home milk supply is a small goat. The give plenty of milk for a normal size family and do not need a lot of feed or elaborate housing. Some goat milk has a strong taste and it varies with the breed. I think Alpines might be a good choice but would recommend trying the milk before buying. Years ago we bought a couple of Toggenburgs for family milk and the seller gave us a glass to try before we bought them . The milk was very good, tasted like cow’s milk which later we became convinced that it actually was as no one in the family would drink the goat milk that we got because of the strong taste.

Dexters are another choice, one to three gallons per day, and I have heard of people sharing the milk with a calf. This frees you up to milk according to your need and schedule allowing the calf to suckle the rest which is plenty for the small Dexter calves.

We have a few Oberhasli’s (formerly swiss alpines I think) and agree that the milk is great. Even 2 does milking can keep you “hopping” if you don’t drink that much milk. Like Jen, we did cheese and yogurt.

IMHO – strong flavor is usually related to diet.

The advice about goats is a good one if space, animal size or milk volume is a concern. Having been in the commercial dairy business, both on the farm and in support businesses for many years I wouldn’t get to excited about the mini’s. My opinion is it’s more of a gimmic. Early on the prices for stock are high and then the market goes flat. Breeding could be a challenge. Milking a cow that has an udder that low will get old in a hurry too if your milking by hand. If a cow is what you want I’d look for a small Jersey. They are much easier to find and to get bred back at a reasonable price. Feed good forage and not much grain and you can keep the production volume at a more manageable level after the first couple months. Feed the extra to a pig or your chickens, or raise an extra calf for veal or beef. Unless you want to make cheese for awhile. The few mini’s I have encountered were nice little animals, mostly angus though, so milking wasn’t an issue. They were costly to get into though, and if you don’t sell some breeding stock at appropriately high prices you’ll loose out financially. The Dexters would be a better option in my opinion than a mini dairy cow if you don’t want a Jersey. Keep the idea of a couple good goats in mind though, that is what we have done and it’s working out good. In the end though, do what you think is best, or most interesting for you. Best of luck.

The best dairy animal by far for us so far has been a jersey cow. We feed only silage and a couple of scoops of our home grown and milled pig meal to keep her occupied during milking, and we milk once a day or if she has a calf, only when needed. We pick strong bodied, low yielding culls and get them cheap from our local largescale jersey dairy.

The great thing about a cow is that she gives so much milk in one go, a dwarf goat will give you enough, but you have to milk little and often to get it. We can milk just once a week and get enough to drink, some cream, a week’s worth of butter and make some soft cheese! As long as the calf is there to mop up the rest it doesn’t take over your life.

We have also milked our dexters but the milk just doesn’t compare to a jersey’s. It’s average for butterfat at best, and naturally homogenised which makes getting the cream and making butter difficult and quite wasteful. Jersey fat globules are plentiful, and big so they float – you just scoop off the cream with a spoon, easy peasy, and get full fat milk left to drink/for cheese aswell! I think if you are only producing drinking milk, it’s a lot of effort and resources but if you are making cream, butter, yoghurt and cheese it’s much more rewarding all round.

Have you considered a sheep? The milk is divine, they are just as thrifty as a goat but no goaty taste to the milk (and therefore butter) at all. The milk is very seasonal, but it freezes so well so you could intensively milk a whole flock for three months or so and stock up for the rest of the year. Our sheep aren’t a milky breed but can manage 1litre a day if carefully managed.

Ease of milking surely comes down to the individual, we’ve had cows you can just set down next to with a stool and bucket and off you go, and I know people with goats that stand on their front legs to batter you in the face with their hinds!!