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Just heard this from the seller: "Since my last email to you Hooray has been to the vets to get DA surgery (tacking it down). We believe her not liking our grain finally caught up to her--not getting the balanced diet she needs. (We are hoping she may try our grain again and not feel icky and...

They are 600 miles away so I haven't seen them in person yet. I will put a deposit down and pay remainder upon completion of sale when we travel at the end of the month. Could I ask their veterinarian to assess those things for me when he runs tests on her? What would I be looking for?

Thank you so much! The reason they are culling Hooray is because she doesn't like the grain they feed at the dairy. I imagine that is contributing to her condition as well. Two more questions: 1) What should I feed her and in what quantities should I give in to improve her condition? 2) what...

These cows are selling for $700- $800 and family cows here sell for $2000- $2500. For $1500-$1700 you can get a heifer or a nurse cow that's never been milked. Our primary concern, being first time cattle owners, was finding a cow that has a good disposition and is used to being milked.

Excellent input. Thank you. We are hoping for milk for our family plus cheese/yogurt/butter. We also will feed pigs/chickens/and lambs with excess milk. I do not want to keep offspring necessarily, unless it is for my dinner table. I am not looking to start a herd... I would love to buy a cow...

We don't have a jersey yet but we hope to very soon! We are in the process of looking for a good family cow right now.

Hello all! I was wondering if you would look at some pictures for me and share any thoughts you may have on these cows? We have sold our goat herd and are getting ready to purchase a dairy cow. We have been corresponding with a jersey dairy that is culling some of their older cows. Most of the...

I have been researching cream separators but most of the reviews and blog posts I am reading say that it is too much of a hassle to use the cream separator regularly because of the cleaning and assembly. The cream issue is one of my top three reasons for wanting a cow. What has your experience...

We live in southeastern Idaho. I am in complete agreement on the size of cow you recommended. A Dexter is my first choice but it appears to be impossible, at least over here, to find one that has ever been milked. People here raise them exclusively for meat which makes it difficult to judge the...

We have 2.5 acres. I read in Joann Grohman's Keeping a Family Cow that flies can be an issue if manure is not picked up daily so that's something we will take into consideration. I know that we don't have enough grazing area to support her but we are already buying hay year round for the goats...

Well, we have added to our herd and now have four Alpines and a Nubian. We raise 4-5 pigs each year and feed them milk along with making our own dairy products for our own use. Boer goats are very expensive in our area so breeding our dairy goats to a boer would be very expensive- much more...

We need to invest in more to expand the pasture size. Is the electric net overkill for cattle? The fencing we have is 44".

Hi all! We currently keep a heard of dairy goats but due to our commitment to raising as much of our own food as possible, we are considering selling the goats and investing in a cow instead. We have a small homestead and use portable electric net fencing to rotate grazing areas for the goats...

Turns out she had aborted when she had her overnight date and we didn't know until 3 days later. We kept her separated from the herd until all discharge ceased and gave her a round of antibiotics, but I suspect that the abortion was due to something other than chlamydia. Our other girls...

I have a total of five does in my herd, three of which are bred and due to deliver within the next nine days. The other two are doelings that haven't been bred yet and are new additions to the herd. One of my pregnant does, a first freshener, began to have a little discharge last Sunday. At...

We bought a newly freshened 3 year old Nubian about five weeks ago. She gives over a gallon of beautiful, creamy milk which we love. Unfortunately, we don't love her attitude. She doesn't walk well with us and she is a brute! She practically drags me around the barn- it takes every ounce of...

We have spoken to both breeders - those we got our original does from and the breeders that own the sire. Our does' line appears to be completely clear. The owners of the sire were going to check and see if any of his other kids had the trait (this was his first year so there aren't that many to...

Oh goodness! I didn't realize that it meant I shouldn't breed the dam either! Is it not possible that the trait came from the sire?

We just discovered that our 8 week old alpine doeling has double teats. I'm not sure how we missed this when she was born but we did. Now what? There is no possibility of breeding her, correct?

We have two ten week old gilts that we acquired last weekend and they won't touch any vegetable scraps yet. Is this normal for their age? When will they eat vegetables/fruits/etc?