Q: I was wondering what is the best milk cow for a family to buy? 

A: The “best” milk cow is one that produces sweet-tasting drinking milk with lots of cream to make all the butter and ice cream you want, stands quietly for either hand or machine milking, will produce a nice calf yearly (either heifer to keep/sell or steer for freezer), is not too large or too small, maintains condition on average amount of hay/grain, is not prone to mastitis, is hardy and not prone to milk fever and/or other diseases.  Another desirable quality would be that she carries the A2 beta casein protein.

So there you have it, that is the best and most perfect milk cow to buy. Does she exist? Sure she does, and probably in every breed, but definitely in some breeds more than others.

So let’s talk about the milk you will get from the cow as that is really why you buy a milk cow, right? So it makes sense to me to buy a cow based on how good their milk is (with all else relatively equal such as temperament, et cetera).

My own experience has been with Ayrshire, Guernsey, and Brown Swiss cows, and I have had milk from lots of Jersey cows but have not owned a Jersey cow.  I have not found the Jersey milk to be nearly as good as the Ayrshire, Guernsey, and Swiss milk. I would say of the three breeds we have owned, the least amount of cream was from the Brown Swiss but that does vary within the breed. Her milk was sweet, white, and very good. The Ayrshire milk we have had has been sweet, white, and kind of “fluffy” is how I would describe it. Plenty of cream but not heavy cream, it’s more fluffy cream. Excellent tasting milk. Pretty much everyone who has tried it has loved it.

The Guernsey milk is in a class by itself for many reasons. One, the Guernseys don’t utilize the beta carotene they get from the grass so it goes into their milk. Beta carotene is a cancer fighter so there you have it in your milk. This is also what gives Guernsey milk the golden color. Most people have heard of “Golden Guernsey” milk from back in the day. The Guernsey milk is also high in protein and butterfat, so you will have plenty of cream for making ice cream, whipped cream, butter, and the like. I don’t know why everyone thinks Jerseys give the most cream, I get tons of cream from our Guernsey cow. The other benefit is that most Guernseys are A2/A2, a great health benefit.

So in my opinion, the Guernsey is the best breed of cow to own. However, they are few and far between and not everyone is able to find one so next I would look for an Ayrshire as they are hardy cows that produce delicious milk with plenty of cream. The interesting thing about Ayrshires is their cream is made of very tiny molecules which makes it very easy to digest. It is closest to goat milk (goat milk is naturally homogenized). Many people who are transitioning their babies off of breastfeeding find they do very well on Ayrshire milk.

Brown Swiss would be my third choice, and they are third for the reason that they are huge cows that eat a lot. They do have excellent milk though and they are quite docile.

I have heard really good things about the milk from the Dexter and the Dutch Belted but they don’t give a lot of milk. Another good idea is a hybrid of sorts, or a mutt, if you will. A Jersey/Angus makes an excellent milk cow, or a Jersey/Hereford. You can probably pick one up fairly cheap. If I were going to own a Jersey of any sort if would be one crossed with an Angus or Hereford. This gives them the hardiness they lack and also gives them sweeter milk.