The cow is the most productive, efficient creature on earth. She will give you fresh milk, cream, butter, and cheese, build human health and happiness, and even turn a profit for homesteaders and small farmers who seek to offer her bounty to the local market or neighborhood. She will provide rich manure for your garden or land, and will enrich the quality of your life as you benefit from the resources of the natural world. Quite simply, the family that keeps a cow is a healthy family.

Originally published in the early 1970s as The Cow Economy and reprinted many times over, Keeping a Family Cow has launched thousands of holistic small-scale dairy farmers and families raising healthy cows in accordance with their true nature. The book offers answers to frequently asked questions like, ‘Should I get a cow?’ and ‘How Much Space do I need?’ in addition to extensive information on:

• The health benefits of untreated milk;
• How to milk a cow effectively and with ease;
• Choosing your dairy breed;
• Drying off your cow;
• Details on calving and breeding;
• The importance of hay quality and how to properly feed your cow;
• Fencing and pasture management;
• Housing, water systems, and other supplies;
• Treating milk fever and other diseases and disorders;
• Making butter, yogurt, and cheese, and, of course . . .
• . . . Everything else the conventional dairy industry doesn’t tell us!

Now revised and updated to incorporate new information on the raw milk debate, the conversation about A1 vs. A2 milk, fully grassfed dairies, more practical advice for everyday chores, and updated procedures for cow emergencies.

Keeping a Family Cow has not only stood the test of time, it still remains the go-to inspirational manual for raising a family milk cow nearly forty years after its first publication. Joann Grohman has a lifetime of practical experience that has been bound into this one volume and presented in the spirit of fun and learning.

About The Author

Home food production was Joann Grohman’s lifelong enthusiasm. She started milking cows in 1975 and could no longer imagine life without one. She declared that health and happiness can’t be teased apart and that your dairy cow supports both. Joann found that the prevailing beliefs about farming and nutrition—which can’t be teased apart either—have been generated by people who have never gotten their hands dirty. Very little of what they teach would survive a year on the farm. Real farming and real food leave you feeling there is a tomorrow. “In the morning your cow will be waiting.”