In the interests of adding to the store of common knowledge, I've been measuring.
As we aren't sharing with a calf this year, I have better data than previous efforts... At a week post freshening, Sasha is reliabily providing 6 litres of milk every day.
We have been getting the new Holstein calf to do "cleanup milking" - he gets tied to the milk stall when I'm done and slurps up what he can, so Sasha is producing a bit more than the measured amount, though not a whole lot.
All is well so far... Sasha isn't in love with the calf, but a few more sessions of cleanup milking might change her mind. We shall see!
I am definitely going to make cheese. Even with all of us here, we won't drink six litres a day!
Update: three weeks in, and we have settled to milking once a day, late morning...seven litres daily and the calf gets the whey from cheese making (he is 3 months old so he is fine).
ReplyDeleteA month in, and once a day milking, and we are stable at about six litres a day.
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