Management Plan for Dairy Cow: Difference between revisions
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**rain catchment running into modular attached water barrel | **rain catchment running into modular attached water barrel | ||
= | =Cost/Benefit= | ||
*Cow: | *Cow: $1130 | ||
*Fencing: ~$ | *Fencing: ~$150 | ||
*Possibly grain to start her incentivized to hand milking and help her adjust to a grassfed lifestyle | *Possibly grain to start her incentivized to hand milking and help her adjust to a grassfed lifestyle | ||
**Gage Fertilizer and Grain Mill: (660) 726-3919 - 805 W Mill St, Albany, MO 64402 | **Gage Fertilizer and Grain Mill: (660) 726-3919 - 805 W Mill St, Albany, MO 64402 | ||
Costs: | |||
*Capital investment: $1262 | |||
*Labor: ~1 hour per day | |||
Benefits: | |||
*Manure/Fertilization | |||
*Grazing weeds | |||
*Soil Aeration | |||
*Human enrichment | |||
*Milk and derived products: | |||
**Milk: at least 1 gallon per day (roughly 4 dollars, and I'm not considering the premiums paid for fresh, raw, organic milk) | |||
**FeF drinks at least a half a gallon of milk per day, that is 3.5 gallons per week, 14 gallons per month. That's $56 per month spent on milk, and when you add the value of butter and other products the cost is even greater. Due to the demand of dairy on-site, this cow will pay back her cost in less than a year. | |||
**Processing into yogurt, butter, and cheese adds value and diversifies the shelf life of the product. | |||
*The only benefit that is easily quantified into capital is the dairy production, but the benefits to the land are highly valuable to anyone who wants to grow food in this soil. The manure will add nutrients, which will yield better plant growth, yielding better water retainment, mycelial growth, erosion prevention, and directly converts less useful weeds into more useful foodstuffs. | |||
==Grazing Plan== | ==Grazing Plan== | ||
Revision as of 19:15, 26 June 2012
Materials
- Cow: small, cheap, Jersey, in milk, not too old but at least a year, from local dairy with organic practices.
- Milk Jerseys in King City, 25 mi away - Teddy Pankau - +16604830567, +18165932316
- Fence: 1/8 mile livewire
- http://kansascity.craigslist.org/grd/3061259874.html
- 9137313580 Kansas City,$30
- Rods: mail-order from Livewire; http://www.livewireproducts.com/products-page/fence-posts--rods/37--55-stirrup-post
- Code: 44417
- Solar Fence Charger: 112
- Shelter/Mobile hut: scrap metal 8'x8' on wheels Cow Hut Design
- rain catchment running into modular attached water barrel
Cost/Benefit
- Cow: $1130
- Fencing: ~$150
- Possibly grain to start her incentivized to hand milking and help her adjust to a grassfed lifestyle
- Gage Fertilizer and Grain Mill: (660) 726-3919 - 805 W Mill St, Albany, MO 64402
Costs:
- Capital investment: $1262
- Labor: ~1 hour per day
Benefits:
- Manure/Fertilization
- Grazing weeds
- Soil Aeration
- Human enrichment
- Milk and derived products:
- Milk: at least 1 gallon per day (roughly 4 dollars, and I'm not considering the premiums paid for fresh, raw, organic milk)
- FeF drinks at least a half a gallon of milk per day, that is 3.5 gallons per week, 14 gallons per month. That's $56 per month spent on milk, and when you add the value of butter and other products the cost is even greater. Due to the demand of dairy on-site, this cow will pay back her cost in less than a year.
- Processing into yogurt, butter, and cheese adds value and diversifies the shelf life of the product.
- The only benefit that is easily quantified into capital is the dairy production, but the benefits to the land are highly valuable to anyone who wants to grow food in this soil. The manure will add nutrients, which will yield better plant growth, yielding better water retainment, mycelial growth, erosion prevention, and directly converts less useful weeds into more useful foodstuffs.
Grazing Plan
- From spring-fall rotational grazing, on ~2 acres until the forage is mowed, then moved. Timing for rotation depends on forage available.
- Grazing on land that isn't eroded, has <5% west-facing slope, and sufficient forage
- WINTER: feed baled hay, using baler and adequate storage (future pole barn for storage of dry hay and tractors?)
- Water:
- station her near a pond, to be built
- Keep her water trough full by pumping to it directly or carrying a tank to her with LifeTrac
Milking
- Daily, or twice daily during her highest milk output
- For one cow, milking by hand is easier
- dedicated milk bucket/container
- a jar for yogurt/kefir
- For more than one cow, milking with a simple machine will work
- Replicable, with modular parts that are easily replaced from simple materials
- Udderly EZ Milker has product that is hand held, I'd like to design something that is simpler, with a larger capacity
Scale
To start with, one cow will do. When we have more people, up to 30, we'll need another one or two cows. They could be the offspring of our original cow.
- For Scale, as we increase the herd size, we'll need:
- Proportionate amounts of fenceline, up to 1 mi of livewire plus posts
- simple milking machine design and fabrication
- Addons to the cow shelter, modular and replicable using scrap
Health
- Prevention: healthy environment, good forage, stress-free management
- Herbal supplements
- Garlic
- Free choice diatomacious earth or kelp for gut issues in calves
- Daily monitoring for signs of illness
Reproduction
- Calves in spring
- Milk her through fall
- Breed her in October (by bull service or using semen from a small bull, AI performed by a neighbor)
- Dry Period: November-Calving
- Calves: keep them with her, perhaps wean if you'd like to acclimate the calves to people more
- Females: raise up, breed them (use diverse genetics)
- Males: raise up, castrate, slaughter eventually
Definition of Done
- Spreadsheet with specific sourcing and prices that have been verified
- Tools/materials