🦌 Moose cow
Also known as: female moose, elk (Europe), Alces alces
Moose milk is a rarity: moose farms; it was used in therapeutic diets.
Moose milk is a great rarity. Moose are milked on a few experimental moose farms: the best known is the Sumarokovo farm in Kostroma Oblast, founded in the 1960s; a similar farm operates in the Pechora-Ilych Nature Reserve (Komi Republic). A small amount of moose cheese was also made on a farm in Sweden.
A moose cow is milked by hand, usually from the 4th–7th day after the calf is born, and comes to milking on her own, out of habit. Yield ranges from 1 to 6 litres a day, about 2.5 litres on average. The milk is very nutritious — more than 10% fat and more than 8% protein — and rich in lysozyme. It has been used in therapeutic diets, for example for certain stomach diseases, but such recommendations rest on limited data.
Moose are hard to domesticate and the farm herds are small, so moose milk will never become a mass-market product.
How it connects to milk
🦌 Moose cow → gives → 🥛 Milk
Links
- What milk it gives
- 🥛 Moose milk
- What it gives
- 🥛 Milk
- Feeds with milk
- 🍼 Moose calf
- Belongs to
- 🔬 Mammal
- Where it is milked
- 🌍 Northern Europe
- Part of
- 🦌 Cervids
Frequently asked questions
Can you milk a moose?
Yes, on moose farms the cows are trained to be milked by hand; the milk is obtained in small amounts.
How much milk does a moose give?
From 1 to 6 litres a day, about 2.5 litres on average.
How much fat is in moose milk?
More than 10% fat and more than 8% protein — much richer than cow’s milk.
What to read next
- 🍼 Moose calf — The young of a moose cow.
- 🌍 Northern Europe — Scandinavia and Iceland: skyr, fermented milk products, reindeer herding.
- 🔬 Mammal — The class of animals that feed their young with milk.
Similar
🦌 Reindeer · 🐕 Dog · 🦔 Hedgehog · 🦘 Kangaroo · 🐴 Jenny · 🐈 Cat
Sources
- Сумароковская лосеферма — Moose milk
- Faccia et al. Milk Products from Minor Dairy Species: A Review. Animals, 2020