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With gentle grassfed Jersey dairy cows comes the fun of introducing tiny baby calves to small children! Here, Jenny Sabo (and mother cow Lena) share day-old baby heifer calf Sabo’s Ladine with Keats, Kiril, and Zach.

Photo: Harriette McPherson

Sabo’s Ladine, our newest heifer calf fathered by New Zealand grassfed Jersey bull Beldene Dukes Landy. Ladine was born October 26, 2008.  She will stay with her mother, Lena, until she is at least 6 months old, and will continue to nurse once daily until we dry up Lena in preparation for her next calf, when Ladine is 10 months old.

Photo: Steve Simpson

One of the benefits of gentle grassfed, hand milked, dairy cows is the simplicity of our daily milking routine. I filter the milk as soon as it comes out of the cow, then carry it back to the house, transfer the fresh raw milk into glass jars, and finally cool the jars of milk in a sink full of cold water.

Photo: Steve Simpson

I have taught all my Jersey-cross dairy cows to be milked anywhere I can tie them up, which greatly simplifies milking during their daily moves on pasture during the growing season.

Here, I’m milking our Angus/Guernsey/Jersey 5 year old cow “Toffee”, who gives about 1-1/2 to 2 gallons of creamy milk a day on a once-a-day millking. Her month-old red calf, sired by our Devon Bull “Abel” is in the background.

All our dairy calves nurse throughout the 9-10 month lactation period. After birth, they live full time with their mothers for the first month or so, then progressively less time over a 24 hour period as their digestive systems (and their appetites for milk) improve.

This gives them daily access to all the health promoting benefits of fresh, raw milk from their own mothers until their immune and digestive systems are mature enough to keep them healthy on their own.

Photo: Steve Simpson

We often hot fence the gentle dairy cows into a small space around the house or guest cabins (pictured here) using them to keep the grass short. How many of us have a lawn mower that gives creamy grassfed milk?