Buying a first cow is a bigger decision than most first-time farmers expect. Yield is the number everyone quotes, but it is rarely the number that decides whether the purchase works out.

Lactation number matters more than age

A cow in her second or third lactation is usually the safest buy. First-lactation animals are cheaper but their eventual peak is still unknown. By the fourth or fifth, yield is on the way down.

Match the breed to your shed

A high-yield HF cross will give you 22 to 25 litres a day, but only with reliable green fodder and cooling through the summer. Without those, an indigenous Gir or Sahiwal at 12 to 14 litres will out-earn it, because it will actually stay healthy.

Watch a full milking

Never buy on a single quoted figure. Sit through a complete morning milking, then the evening one. Check the udder for hardness and past mastitis. Ask for the vaccination and deworming records, and do not accept an animal without them.

Then budget for feed

Roughly 400 g of concentrate feed per litre of milk, on top of green and dry fodder. Work that monthly cost out before you agree a price for the animal, not after.