Dairy Cows
The Gentle Cow - Read here an illuminating essay on the sanctity and symbolism of cows from a Hindu perspective.
How to Raise Your Own Milk Cow - This is the site of Joann S. Grohman, author of the wonderful Keeping a 'Family Cow. Read about this book. Read the "Heifer Diaries" which chronicle life on Joann's farm in enough detail to bring it to life. Check in at the Discussion Forum. Read her commentary about "Real Food" which is in the Weston Price tradition. Great site, great book. Highly recommended.
Kids' Cattle Blog - This blog is written by three homeschooled children who keep cows on their family's farm in IL and show them. Their cows are beef cows but still this blog is cute and has lots of photos.
Local Farm ... More than a Memory - This web site is from a small raw milk Jersey cow dairy in CT. The site gives a warm sense of how wonderful it is to have a family cow and it contains several must-read articles about raw milk, eating naturally with the seasons and other things "dairy cow". This dairy's integration into the local community is particularly notable.
Milking Frequency - This paper was presented at the third Western Dairy Management Conference. It summarizes the research of the effects on milk production of milking once, twice, three times or more per day. It is aimed at audiences with "high production" cows but the references to methods of milking in past times is interesting. There are a number of interesting articles in the Archives although you have to bear in mind that their "solutions" to various dairy herd problems arise from and are geared towards high end, commercial, grain fed herds.
Sally Fallon's review of Keeping a Family Cow - A brief and very positive review of Keeping a Family Cow by Joann S. Grohman from the nutritional/historical perspective of the Weston Price Foundation.
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The Grass-Fed Advantage
Back to Grass: The Old Way of Raising Cattle is Now the New Way - Better for the Animals and Better for You - This article from the Atlantic Monthly focuses on grass-fed beef cows but nevertheless contains useful general information about only feeding cows grass and the changing markets that make grass-fed products profitable.
Eat Wild - Although this site has a focus on eating grass-fed meat, there is a great deal of important information here about the necessity for raising cattle on pasture only.
Grass-Fed Farm Animals Mean More Nutritious, Safer Food - Written by the Program Coordinator of The American Livestock Breeds Conservancy, this article details a variety of important ways that grass-fed food is much healthier than food raised in conventional, grain based ways. It also documents the tremendous advantage that can be realized by crossing modern breeds with vigorous heritage breeds such as Dutch Belted cows and many others. She concludes with a powerful argument for choosing rare breed livestock for your farm or homestead.
Review: All Flesh is Grass - The echoing green, The latest from Gene Lodgson advocates grass-based farming on every scale -
An excellent, in-depth review of this important work on grass-based farming. Both the review and the book even mention Dutch Belted cows. All Flesh is Grass is a very useful book and this review will give you a good sense of it. Highly recommended.
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Minerals, Equipment and Other Supplies
Countryside Natural Products - Founded by a man who raised cattle organically since the 1960s, Countryside Natural Products sells organic foods and amendments to support soil, plant and animal health. They have over 30 years of experience with most of what they sell and the staff is very, very helpful. We have been using their Health Minerals all along and cannot praise this formulation enough. Both of our cows had frequent cases of mastitis before coming to our homestead but haven't had a moment's ill health since coming here. We credit much of this to these minerals. We joke that these minerals feed us twice - once when we are pouring them into a bucket because they smell so good and second when we are drinking mineral rich milk.
If you would like to support the Pockets of the Future Project, prayers, encouragement and donations are always welcome.
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