Yes, you can milk horses. Mares (female horses) produce milk throughout a lactation period that can last several months, and people in Central Asia and parts of Europe have been doing it for centuries. The process is more demanding than milking a cow, though, because horse udders are smaller and need to be emptied more frequently.
How Horse Milking Works
A mare’s udder has two halves, each containing two separate mammary gland complexes that drain into their own teat canals. The cisterns that store milk between feedings are roughly the size of a sheep’s or goat’s, much smaller than a dairy cow’s. This means a mare holds less milk at any given time, so milking needs to happen frequently, often every two to three hours during peak production.
Getting a mare to release her milk requires triggering the let-down reflex, which depends on oxytocin. In traditional settings, the foal is kept nearby so the mare can see or smell it, which stimulates the hormone naturally. On commercial operations, a small dose of oxytocin is sometimes given by injection one to two minutes before milking. Without that reflex, the milk simply won’t flow. Each milking session yields a relatively small volume, around 500 ml on average, compared to the several liters a dairy cow gives per session.
Cold-blooded (draft-type) horse breeds tend to be the best candidates for milking. Their calmer temperaments, willingness to cooperate with handlers, and generally higher milk output make them more practical than lighter breeds. In Poland, the native Sokólski breed, developed from local mares crossed with French Breton and Ardennais stallions, is used in milking research. Across Central Asia, local Kyrgyz and Kazakh breeds have been milked traditionally for generations.
How Much Milk a Mare Produces
A lactating mare produces a surprising amount of milk relative to her body weight. Research measuring foal intake found that mares produced the equivalent of roughly 3% of their body weight in milk per day. For a 500 kg (1,100 lb) mare, that works out to about 15 to 18 kg (roughly 15 to 18 liters) per day. That’s less than a high-producing dairy cow, which can exceed 30 liters daily, but it’s far from trivial.
The catch is that you can’t collect all of it. The foal needs a share, and the frequent milking schedule means labor costs are high. Commercial mare dairies in France, Germany, Italy, and Greece typically collect only a portion of the daily output, leaving enough for the foal to nurse between sessions.
What Horse Milk Tastes Like and Contains
Horse milk is thinner and sweeter than cow’s milk. The nutritional profile explains why: it contains about 6.4% lactose (nearly double cow milk’s 3.25%), but only 1.2% fat compared to cow milk’s 3.6%. Protein is also lower at 2.1% versus 3.25%. The result is a light, watery liquid with a mildly sweet flavor and fewer calories, around 480 kcal per liter compared to 674 for cow’s milk.
The mineral content is generally lower than cow’s milk as well, with less potassium and sodium, though calcium and phosphorus levels overlap depending on the mare’s diet and stage of lactation. What makes horse milk nutritionally interesting is its protein composition. The protein structure is closer to human breast milk than cow’s milk is, which has drawn attention from researchers studying infant nutrition and food allergies.
Horse Milk for Cow’s Milk Allergies
One area where horse milk has genuine clinical backing is as a substitute for children with cow’s milk protein allergies. In a study of 25 children with confirmed IgE-mediated cow’s milk allergy, all reacted to cow’s milk during controlled challenge tests, but only one child reacted to mare’s milk. Skin prick tests told a similar story: all children had strong positive reactions to cow’s milk, while just two showed mild responses to mare’s milk. The proteins in horse milk that correspond to the allergenic proteins in cow’s milk were recognized by far fewer of the children’s immune systems. These findings suggest horse milk is well tolerated by most children who can’t drink cow’s milk, though supervised testing is still recommended before switching.
Kumis: The Fermented Version
The most famous horse milk product is kumis (also spelled koumiss), a mildly alcoholic fermented drink that has been a dietary staple across the Central Asian steppe for thousands of years. Traditionally, raw mare’s milk is poured into wooden containers or animal-skin bags, beaten with a wooden stick, and left to ferment at room temperature for one to three days. A small amount from the previous batch is saved as a starter culture, similar to how sourdough bread works.
Modern production is more controlled. The milk is pasteurized, cooled, and inoculated with a blend of lactic acid bacteria and yeast cultures. Fermentation takes just a few hours at a controlled temperature before the product is bottled and chilled. The finished drink contains 0.6% to 2.5% alcohol and a small amount of carbonation, giving it a slightly fizzy, tangy quality. Kumis is categorized by strength: weak versions have about 0.5% to 0.7% alcohol with a milder acidity, while strong versions reach about 1% alcohol with a sharper, more sour taste.
Shelf Life and Storage Challenges
Raw horse milk spoils faster than you might expect. At room temperature, it stays within acceptable quality standards for about 16 hours. Bacterial counts start in the range of 60,000 per milliliter when fresh, climb to about 1.4 million by 16 hours, and explode to 55 million by 24 hours. At that point the milk fails both alcohol and boiling stability tests, meaning it has begun to curdle.
This short shelf life is one reason horse milk is so expensive outside of Central Asia. It needs to be refrigerated immediately after collection, or processed into powder or fermented products. Fresh mare’s milk in Central Asia runs $5 to $8 per liter, but imported products in Europe and North America can reach $60 to $100 per liter equivalent, whether sold as freeze-dried capsules, powdered milk, or liquid. Artisanal kumis typically costs $10 to $15 per liter. Horse milk has even found a niche in skincare, with mare’s milk extract creams selling for $40 to $80 per jar.
Why Horse Dairying Stays Small
Despite the nutritional appeal, horse milking remains a niche industry for practical reasons. The small udder capacity means milking every few hours, which demands significant labor. The foal needs to remain with the mare to keep milk production going, so you can’t simply separate mother and offspring the way dairy cattle operations do. Mares also produce milk for a shorter period than cows, and total yields per animal are lower. Combined with the perishability of the raw product, these factors keep prices high and production volumes low. European production is growing slowly in France, Italy, Greece, and Germany, but horse milk is unlikely to compete with cow, goat, or sheep milk on any significant commercial scale.