# Longhorn Milk



## NickNack4147 (May 10, 2021)

Might be an odd question, but has anyone tried milk from a Texas Longhorn (mini or standard)? If so, how is it? Creamy enough to make cheese and such? Do they tolerate being milked well?


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## altair (Jul 23, 2011)

Good question!


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

According to this site they are great for milking and the milk is good for cheese;






About Us! - Longhorn Cattle Society







www.longhorncattlesociety.com


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## Alice In TX/MO (May 10, 2002)

The ease of milking any cow is dependent on her personality and her raising.


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## NickNack4147 (May 10, 2021)

Danaus29 said:


> According to this site they are great for milking and the milk is good for cheese;
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Nice! I feel like the TLH is such an underrated cow..


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## altair (Jul 23, 2011)

Danaus29 said:


> According to this site they are great for milking and the milk is good for cheese;
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> 
> 
> ...


I think those are British longhorns (their horns curl in) though they may share some old ancestors with the U.S. version.


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## Alice In TX/MO (May 10, 2002)

Getting them in a stanchion is tricky.


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## NickNack4147 (May 10, 2021)

Alice In TX/MO said:


> The ease of milking any cow is dependent on her personality and her raising.


For sure. I know they're known for their general docile nature, so I was wondering if that transferred over to a milking situation. You'd think that if they are compliant in being haltered, led, and even ridden in some cases that they'd be cool with milking..


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## NickNack4147 (May 10, 2021)

Alice In TX/MO said:


> Getting them in a stanchion is tricky.


True, horn logistics. It'd have to be modified to be able to open completely I suppose.


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

altair said:


> I think those are British longhorns (their horns curl in) though they may share some old ancestors with the U.S. version.


Hmm, I didn't realize there were 2 distinct breeds of longhorns.

I suppose you could train any cow to accept being milked. I know one of my grandparents neighbors trained one of gparent's Angus cows to come over to the line fence so the older kids could milk her to get milk for their baby brother. It went on for quite a while before Grandpa found out when one of the kids spilled the beans in a conversation. He told them they should have asked first but they were welcome to as much milk as the cow would let them have.


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## altair (Jul 23, 2011)

English Longhorn - Wikipedia who knew, eh?


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## NickNack4147 (May 10, 2021)

Danaus29 said:


> Hmm, I didn't realize there were 2 distinct breeds of longhorns.
> 
> I suppose you could train any cow to accept being milked. I know one of my grandparents neighbors trained one of gparent's Angus cows to come over to the line fence so the older kids could milk her to get milk for their baby brother. It went on for quite a while before Grandpa found out when one of the kids spilled the beans in a conversation. He told them they should have asked first but they were welcome to as much milk as the cow would let them have.


That's basically what I told my husband when he asked if we could milk the longhorn -- that all cows make milk soooo probably if you work with it! I can't imagine it being _bad_. He wanted a cow he could milk, but also one that was super low-maintenance that could pasture basically 24/7 with minimal supplements... Had to break it to him that he was describing a beef cow and not a dairy cow lol. And here we are... trying to milk a beef cow ...


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## Alice In TX/MO (May 10, 2002)

Lots of folks have milked beef cattle. Not really a problem.


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## Tom Horn (Feb 10, 2021)

altair said:


> English Longhorn - Wikipedia who knew, eh?


If you've ever watched Braveheart, they use a team of English longhorns to bring William Wallace's father and brother back from the battle where they were killed.


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## Tom Horn (Feb 10, 2021)

NickNack4147 said:


> Might be an odd question, but has anyone tried milk from a Texas Longhorn (mini or standard)? If so, how is it? Creamy enough to make cheese and such? Do they tolerate being milked well?


I would say that catching one up and milking her would be the greatest challenge. I wouldn't think that they would produce enough milk to be worth the trouble, but folks milk sheep and make cheese out of that so if you have patience and several longhorn cows you might get enough milk to do something with.. 

Folks have been milking just about anything that lactates for centuries, cow, sheep, goat, horse, camel. The Mongols make a fermented drink from horse milk... Yummy.


Did you hear about the four hippies that got killed getting a drink of milk? 

The cow fell over onto them.


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## Tom Horn (Feb 10, 2021)

Alice In TX/MO said:


> Lots of folks have milked beef cattle. Not really a problem.


I worked on a dairy that ran at least one beef/dairy cross through the parlor. Her productivity dropped much faster than her Holstein counterparts.


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## muleskinner2 (Oct 7, 2007)

You make do with what you have, not wishing you had something else.

Squatting around a fire one morning sipping black coffee, someone said, "I wish we had some milk for our coffee." Without a word, one of the cowboys stepped into his saddle and rode off. No one even seemed to notice. Suddenly they heard a loud commotion, a crashing of brush, bellowing of a cow, the blatting of a calf, then observed a big cloud of dust, and it was getting closer to the fire. The cowboy appeared, dragging a big old Brama Cow at the end of his rope. He quickly rode around a tree and pulled that old cow up until her forehead was pressed against the tree. Then he jumped off his horse and wrapped his rope around her horns, tying her hard and fast to the tree. She couldn't move left, right, or back. 

Stepping over to the fire, he picked up his cup of coffee, and carried it over to the old cow. Putting his shoulder against her flank, he leaned into her, reached down and put exactly the correct amount of milk in his coffee. Without a word, he walked over and squatted down next to the fire and sipped his coffee. 

He hadn't contemplated the milk producing traits of Jersey vs Herford, or Holstein vs Longhorn, he roped what he had and milked her. 

And that was how in 1975, I fixed my first cup of coffee, working on a ranch in the Matto Grosso country in southern Brazil. I didn't do the roping, but I was third or fourth in line for a squirt of moo juice.


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## hiddensprings (Aug 6, 2009)

I think it is dependent on the cow and their willingness to join your program. I had a Jersey Milk cow that I only kept for a month. Evil witch that she was, even halter broke fought like a wild cat at milking. I tried everything and finally ended up putting her a head chute, opened the bottom panel, tied a back leg so she couldn't kick, and milked sitting on the ground. Non-milking time she was sweet. Even had the vet out to make sure there wasn't a problem with her udder. Nope, just evil. She went to the sale barn. Too much work and really a dangerous situation for me. On the other hand, had an angus cow that I raised as a bottle calf that would let me do anything to her. Just for kicks and giggles, I tired milking her in the field once, she just looked back at me and went back to eating grass. Easy Peasy with her. For me, I found that goats were far easier to deal with at milking time and I had enough of them to do anything I wanted to with the milk: cheese, yogurt, soap, bottle calves, etc.


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