Your Home and Your Cow
“
A young fellow wantin’ a start in life just
needs three things: a piece of land, a cow and
a wife. And he don’t strictly need that
last.”
– Old Saying
Life is a little more complex
now than when those lines were first spoken. But
it’s still possible to get back to simpler
living in some ways. One definition of a decent
place to live might be a place where no one will
tell you that you can’t have a cow and a
few chickens. That will take you at least a little
ways away from most cities and towns to where
land is more affordable.
A move to a place where
you can have a cow doesn’t have to mean
building a little house on the prairie, though.
In nearly all of the country, there are places
within twenty miles or so of even the big cities
where cows are legal. Many municipalities are
encouraging the survival of what small farms are
left with significant tax breaks. In our Connecticut
town, which like many once rural areas is now
a mix of suburbia, small town, and small farms,
we pay taxes on our thirteen acres as farmland,
which is valued at a fraction of the land’s
value were it to be subdivided into building lots.
Yet as building lots in our area increase in value,
our land becomes more valuable. This makes the
farm an excellent long-term investment, an important
practical aspect in considering buying a few acres
in an area close to suburbs or a city.
How many acres? You’ll
need at least two for even a smaller cow like
a Jersey. She’ll keep the grass mowed for
six or seven months each year, and in the other
months she’ll need a bale or so of hay each
day. Our eight acres of pasture supported three
Jersey girls and four calves this summer. The
female calf we’ve sold, the three male calves
are in various freezers, and the three girls will
winter over on about 500 bales of hay that are
in the barn. We’re milking two now, and
the third will be bred for the first time in the
spring.
But just two acres of pasture
will do fine for a family cow. A good fence should
come before the cow, and a small tractor is handy,
to move manure around and cut the grass when your
cow doesn’t keep it all down.
In most parts of the country,
most breeds of cow need a barn in winter. A barn
is also very handy for storing hay and equipment
and milking your cow. You can improvise with a
garage, but a small barn is better, and if you
don’t buy a place with a barn, it would
be wise to build one at the start. One cow has
a way of becoming two, or more. Your local AI
– artificial insemination – expert
is the person to facilitate this (bulls are for
real farmers or masochists). When your cow is
getting ready to give birth (nine month gestation
period), you’ll need to dry her up –
stop milking her – for the last two months
or so. At that point, it’s very handy to
have a second cow if you want fresh milk every
day.
So, a place somewhat in
the country, with a couple of acres, a fence,
and a barn…not too high a price for fresh
raw milk every morning, right?
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