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Story: Food

Milking the house cow, early 1900s

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Milking the house cow, early 1900s

This man is milking his house cow in the early 1900s. Rural people farmed cows commercially but also kept house cows from which they got their own milk. Raw milk from the cow would have been drunk by the household, and also turned into butter and cheese.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library, James McAllister Collection (PAColl-3054)

Reference: 1/1-009611-G

by James McAllister

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page

David Burton, Food – Dairy products, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/39133/milking-the-house-cow-early-1900s (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by David Burton, published 7 November 2012.