How many gallons of milk does a dairy goat produce over a dairy cow?
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Surfing Goat Dairy, Malama Maui tour, Maui Visitors Bureau. Photography by Peter Liu (@PeterLiu47)
Question by Lil’ Llama: How many gallons of milk does a dairy goat produce over a dairy cow?
I’m doing a project and can’t find out how many gallons an goat and a cow produce. I am comparing to see which one is more efficient. If the goat produces more milk than the cow then how many acres would one need to let a young steer graze, in the summer?
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One Response to How many gallons of milk does a dairy goat produce over a dairy cow?
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the other way around
Milk is measured by weight (pounds) rather than by volume (gallons). Eight pounds is roughly equivalent to a gallon of milk. The American Dairy Goat Association (ADGA) lists Nubian breed averages for 2001 at 1844 pounds of milk in a 275-305 day lactation. That means the average Nubian doe will give an average of 6 pounds (or 3 quarts) of milk per day. Since this is only an average, there are many does who do much more than this. Several of our first fresheners have given 8 pounds (a gallon) a day and our older does have given 12 pounds (1 1/2 gallons) a day.
3 quarts
The average California cow produces 19,825 pounds of milk each year, more milk per cow than any any other state in the nation. That’s 2,305 gallons of milk a year or about 8 gallons of milk every day of her milking period. That’s enough for 128 people to have a glass of milk every day!
8 gallons
How many acres, …
It takes a long time and a lot of grassland to raise a grass-fed steer. Western rangelands are vast, but not nearly vast enough to sustain America’s 100 million head of cattle. There is no way that grass-fed beef can begin to feed the meat appetites of people in the United States, much less play a role in addressing world hunger. Grass-fed meat production might be viable in a country like New Zealand with its geographic isolation, unique climate and topography, and exceedingly small human population. But in the world as it is today, I am afraid that grass-fed beef is a food that only the wealthy elites will be able to consume in any significant quantities.
sparrow
May 5, 2012 at 4:18 pm