Even if you want a cow to milk, they take up more feed than a beef cow does. You also need space to build a shed or barn to actually be able to milk the cow in! Cows take up space, require lots of feed to keep, and can make your yard or field a mess if they are kept there for most of their lives. Like horses, a cow needs space to move around and graze, and is not happy kept in one small area all the time. They cannot live in your house nor can they be confined to a small suburban lot. They also make a lot of manure, can get quite dirty, and even noisy when they’re hungry or when they get in heat. They are also great escape artists (though not as much as a horse is), and are susceptible to a number of illnesses and diseases. Cows take a lot of care, it’s not all about just putting it out to pasture and leaving her be!
If you want a milk cow, it’s best to buy a cow that has been used at a dairy farm but is being sold because she is no longer productive to that dairy farmer. Try to avoid buying dairy calves, if you can. They take a lot more care than an older cow would, and death loss from bottle calves is much higher than if you bought a cow. If you want to buy a bovine for your freezer, buy a couple steers from a local farmer or rancher. Whether they’re beef or dairy it doesn’t matter, so long as you feed them well enough so they have enough meat you can get at slaughter. If you are wanting something that is merely a lawn ornament, consider getting a breed that takes less inputs than a regular cow would, such as one that is relatively disease-resistant, can do very well on grass alone, etc.
Building a shelter and purchasing feed before you buy your animal is much better than scrambling last-minute to buy feed and build a shelter before anything unpredictable happens, like some sort of storm or something that would make it harder to care for your pet bovine.
You should ask everything from health, breed, breeding, feeding, etc. before you consider buying. [2] X Research source
If you let your new pet out into the big corral right away it will test the fence to see if it can escape and get back home. You do not want that, so you need to keep it confined for a little while.
Do not overgraze a pasture, nor let it be too under-grazed. This is important if you want to maintain pasture health in order to maintain the animal’s health. See How to Feed Cattle for more information on proper feed and feed management for your cow.
