My wife and I had a family cow about 10 years ago for a few years. We hand milked it twice daily and got about 3 gallons daily- we drank a lot, sold some, made cheese, and just gave some away. It was raw milk (not pasteurized) and was delicious! We met a guy who made serious home brew beer and he wanted raw milk for his family- we had a nice trade going, we'd give him two half gallons of milk and received in return a gallon of his beer which was fantastic. Caring for and milking our cow- Dawn- was a lot of work at times and during summer with flies it wasn't always fun, but there were plenty of times when it was just a beautiful activity. On a nice morning with the sun just up, to have the cow in its stand and you squeeze out the milk with your head against its flank, the milk splashing into the bucket below- it was calming and made the whole world seem right. When we moved away, we found a local private school that had a farm program for kids and were looking for a cow, so Dawn got a new home.