“This may sound stupid, but you can only milk the girls, right?”

Believe me, we’ve heard this question more than a time or two… in some variation.


Frankly, it’s not a stupid question. A USFRA commissioned study found that 72% of consumers “know nothing or very little about farming or ranching”.

If you’ve never experienced cows outside of books, movies, how would you know? It’s not stupid, it’s not a lack of intelligence. 


It’s a lack of knowledge— a lack of involvement, either by lack of interest or lack of access.



Either way, we’re happy to answer any seemingly stupid questions, because as first generation farmers, we get it.



Yes, you can only milk the females… once they’ve calved that is. 
Another shocking fact, cows have to give birth in order to produce milk. Just like humans.



Let’s take a quick look at how it all works: 



A female calf is born, we call that a heifer. When she’s about 14 months old (depending on numerous factors like size and body condition), she’s bred and should calve around 2 years of age. Any less and she may struggle to maintain proper body condition that first lactation. Any more and she may become over conditioned, storing fat in her udder thereby reducing her milking capacity for life. 



Once she calves, she’ll be called a cow and she’ll begin producing milk.

Like humans, cows produce colostrum for the first few days which is essential for their calves lifetime health. 


The cow will produce milk indefinitely, as long as she’s consistently milked— though the quality and quantity will decrease the longer she’s lactating. 



Most farmers aim to have a cow calve every year. After about 9 months of lactating you enter the dry off period. This is when you begin to stop milking the cow allowing her to stop producing milk, so her udder will regenerate milk producing tissue. It’s critical for future lactations.


Timing is truly everything.