# What breed should we get?



## Jayzandra (Oct 15, 2016)

We are wanting to get some dual purpose cattle. We are a family of 6. Me, DH, 1 girl and 4 boys. We need at least a gallon of milk a day and enough meat to keep us from having to buy any from the grocery store. We slaughter a pig roughly every 6 months and raise poultry as well. We live in the desert and won't be able do any grazing. We will be feeding bales of hay. Also, we have about 5 acres. 
I had my heart set on Dexters, but DH thinks they're too small.
Any advice would be appreciated.


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## Baymule (Oct 16, 2016)

What about a milking shorthorn? Or a Normande?

http://www.normandeassociation.com/

http://www.milkingshorthorn.com/


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## Jayzandra (Oct 16, 2016)

We would like to keep a small herd. Maybe 3-5. How many of those can be kept on 5 acres of nothing but desert? Like I said, well be feeding bales of hay. I don't want them cramped and crowded, I want them happy.


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## Bossroo (Oct 16, 2016)

Since your land is " nothing but desert" keeping 3-5 cattle would trample all vegetation and you will have only sand.  Just how deep are your pockets to buy feed year round for the 3-5 cattle ?  I would keep one cow for milk breed her AI every year to produce a calf per year for meat.


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## babsbag (Oct 16, 2016)

Have you considered a few goats?


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## WildRoseBeef (Oct 16, 2016)

Jayzandra said:


> We are wanting to get some dual purpose cattle. We are a family of 6. Me, DH, 1 girl and 4 boys. We need at least a gallon of milk a day and enough meat to keep us from having to buy any from the grocery store. We slaughter a pig roughly every 6 months and raise poultry as well. We live in the desert and won't be able do any grazing. We will be feeding bales of hay. Also, we have about 5 acres.
> I had my heart set on Dexters, but DH thinks they're too small.
> Any advice would be appreciated.



Dexters won't be too small for that size of an acreage, and because of the fact that you will be needing to feed hay anyway, why would you want to purchase a larger animal that needs more feed (which costs you more money in the long run)? 

I wouldn't get 3 to 5 animals, that's way too much. I would have two cows, at the most, but even you'll be feeding hay quite a bit. One may be enough, though goats are a better option and more adapted to the desert, as are criollo or corriente cattle. Neither breeds will give much milk, only beef, but they're more adapted to the desert than most breeds.

But, I also encourage the option of having goats instead.


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## cjc (Oct 18, 2016)

We feed a herd through the winter, in Canada, so longer winter than most places so our herd is only on hay and grain during about 6 months of the year. Trust me when I say this it will cost you a fortune. By the time you feed these guys out it would have likely made more sense to go to the store and just purchase beef and milk. Unless price is not an issue for you. I am also only going to assume that because you are in the desert hay is expensive. In my experience a lot of these dual cross breeds also surprisingly eat a lot and need a decently high grade feed to stay in good body condition. I don't know about much of the breeds mentioned though and because we are in the cold we tend to stay away from fair weather breeds.

I have 8 Holstein X Angus which are said to be a dual purpose cow. But they are big and they eat a lot. On grain and hay I pay about $150 per animal per month to feed them right.


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## Jayzandra (Oct 21, 2016)

We have goats, but I don't like their meat. We love beef and want to raise our own.


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## Jayzandra (Oct 21, 2016)

My husband's friend raises a roping steer for meat every year. We have a lot of free range cattle out here and roping steers are easy to find and cheap. He keeps it in a small round coral and drops 72 bales of cow hay ($7 a piece) in with. When the hay is gone he slaughters. This is NOT the meathod I want use. I think it's cruel.
Having said that, he gets 400+lbs of meat from a full sized bony cow on roughly $600 (including the cost of purchasing the steer).


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## greybeard (Oct 21, 2016)

What your husband's friend is doing is called 'dry lot' production. It's fairly common, tho not something I'd care for, tho the animals don't seem to mind. They get fed and have water and don't have to walk far for either, and don't burn off energy, which means they make good use of the feed they do get. 

A picture of your 5 acres would be helpful.
Is there absolutely zero plant life on it--or just no traditional looking 'grass'?
People do raise cattle in the high desert, it just takes a lot more land per animal than most other places. You would be surprised what they learn to eat.
Coriente/shorthorn cross would probably work.


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