miniature milk cow? intro, questions

[Charrisse]

Hi guys. I'm new here, but an oldie at backyard chickens lol. In our efforts to become more self sustaining and less dependant, we are considering adding a mini milk cow to our family.
We are a rual family of five, have five acres of woods and " yard" an acre or so fenced off for the chickens for when they aren't free ranging.
We are interested in a small friendly cow, easy to handle, that would fit into our rual backyard barnyard lol
any ideas? Tips? What do you wish you knew then that you know now? Any thoughts on a breeder, reputable, around southern Indiana?
Thanks in advance!

 

[WildRoseBeef]

Miniature cattle are really expensive. Might be best with just a standard Jersey cow, especially if you've got five mouths to feed.

BTW

 

[Roscommon Acres]

I would recommend looking into Dexters. They are not a miniature breed because to be a miniature, there has to be a standard sized equivalent. This is just how big they get (approximately three feet at the shoulders, give or take). We love ours so much. We got two this past spring and the older one is off visiting a bull right now so we can hopefully have a calf and fresh milk next July.

They're very sweet, follow me around like a puppy dog and even my seven year old can lead them around and load them on a trailer. Part of it is just because they aren't that intimidating, not being five foot tall and all.

They're supposed to be decent milkers, but not heavy milkers like the Jerseys that might leave you bathing in milk so as not to waste any. If you want them for milk for your own family, two should give you a surplus, but not an insane amount. They're also a dual purpose breed that is supposed to have wonderful meat so if nothing else, you know one thing you can do with the calves you have to have every year!

The one thing I'd recommend is that whatever you get, get two. They are not happy alone. We had a beef steer alone in a pasture, and he'd get loose and walk two miles to the neighbor's to walk along their fenceline and talk to their cattle. Once we got these girls, he stayed put and was happy, even though he was always separated from them since he was so much bigger than they were!

 

[boothcreek]

I second dexters! About 40-45 inches at the withers and depending on bloodline can be extremely productive milkers.

We have 2 cows and a heifer at the moment. Abigail we got as a yearling and she gets a huge udder but has always been very cranky so we dont milk her, but her daughter "l'il Red" we got use to being handled down there from day one and I milked her last summer. We dont pull the calves, so we made due with 1 quarter of her udder and still got about 4 liters of milk a day from her.... I couldnt imagen milking the all 4 teats, we would be drowning in milk.

I am working on getting our new heifer use to the Idea now too so hopefully got 2 girls to milk from next summer.

Mind you our dexters are from bloodlines mainly geared towards being beefy, but their production is still awesome.