Just starting to work it out.... first cow questions

[canesisters]

OH! Forgot to add. Jeff & Jennie said that they would be happy to let my cow come spend a month at 'camp' when it's time to breed. We would work out either a boarding fee, or the calf. I get a 'freshened' cow and he grows his herd.

 

[Bossroo]

... and who gets the Vet. bill ? If I were you, I would keep a resulting calf !

 

[Baymule]

A calf for the freezer sounds like a good deal to me. Pay the fee, it should be less than the price of a calf.

 

[canesisters]

but.... then I have to have to feed it - care for it - then the expense to ship and butcher it....

Naw, I think that I'll give up the calf and ask for some beef back. They're very fair folks. If it's not a good fair deal, they'll make it right.

 

[canesisters]

Do you ever go back and read through an old thread and think, "Geeze, if only I had known then what I know now..."
All that expectant energy. All that excitement for a new adventure.

1 Eva-love cow raised, 4 calves birthed, 1 nasty bout of mastitis, several of the wettest months we've had in decades, 1 dead pickup, buckets of tears (mad & sad), a little blood, a vat of back pain meds and many, many, many homes fed - I learned sooooo much, and I STILL have so much to learn.

 

[Mini Horses]

And from this learning experience, how do you like "today"? I know Eva is still there and Blossom entered the world a short time ago. Do you suggest this for others?

You know I have goats for milk. Love the milk and milking -- especially if not rushed all the time. I do make cheese, soaps, etc with the milk. And even though I have more of them than "most" for just milking, I'd recommend a home dairy.

Given your past couple of years of "cow life".... How would you mentor a newbie now?

 

[canesisters]

I love having a cow. I do think though, that my Eva is exceptional. She is the MOST patient & gentle lady. When it's just her here, my only real concern is making sure she has access to plenty of good pasture and is a happy girl.
I've learned that I am not going to prioritize time for things like making cheese. I've barely gotten around to making butter this time around. So, from a purely financial view, it's a bit NUTS to keep a cow JUST for coffee cream .
If you have enough people at home who will be going through at least 1.5 - 2 gallons of milk a day then having a backyard cow is DEFINATELY a good thing. OR, if you're able to put a few HOURS a week toward the cleaning & cooking/processing to make cheese - again, a backyard cow will be a valuable asset.
The fact that I haven't bought beef in YEARS and have been able to gift it to family & friends - or use it to 'pay' for help around the farm is a HUGE attraction to raising a calf.

If someone just wanted to have cows for the beef, I would definitely recommend strictly beef breeds. I have to milk for the first 7-8weeks or so because Eva (Jersey/Angus) produces a few gallons more than her calf can consume. If someone wanted to just have a few cows and raise the calves to sell as beef, then a beef breed would likely not need very much special care that would be different from any other time during the year.

The 3 biggest things I'd stress to someone starting out with their first dairy cow would be:

1. Adequate fencing & pasture. Cows need more restraint than horses. And they need much more pasture. They don't have upper incisors so they need longer grass in order to even bite it off. So, if they are expected to use the pasture as their main source of food, they need to be moved to fresh pasture regularly. Ideally (which I have YET to achieve) they should be in pasture about 5" tall and they should be moved on the 'rule of 3s' which means that when you walk around in it you should see about 1/3 eaten, 1/3 trampled & 1/3 still standing.

2. Some sort of milking area that is easy to clean. The 'ideal' is a room that the cow enters JUST for milking with a textured concrete floor that is deeply bedded behind her for the almost inevitable pee & plops that happen with 'let down'. My stanchion is built into the stall wall so I milk in her stall .... NOT ideal. And sometimes I toss milk because it's gotten dirty

3. A tractor. The literal TONS of hay/poop/bedding/pooped on hay/pooped on bedding that I've moved by hand is Ridiculous. Even a small tractor that has a bucket on the front and a blade on the back will make your life SOOO MUCH EASIER.

Those 3 things aside, just spending time with your cow - getting to know her moods, the way she walks, where she likes to chew her cud, how she stands when content will make both of you so much more comfortable with each other. I got to witness Eva's second calf being born because I was on the phone with someone I had a meeting with and was looking out the window. Eva was just standing in the pasture - nothing obvious going on. But to me she looked 'off'. I told them I was sorry, that I was going to have to skip the meeting, asked them to take good notes, and about 2hrs later I was taking pictures of a wobbly calf trying to find his mom's udder.

Handle your dairy cow every day and every where. I raised Eva like she was a horse. She got daily grooming from nose to tail to hoofs. She learned to pick up her feet when asked and to move over a step with a little push on her hip. She learned to stand still & be haltered in the field and to come to the barn when called.
I wish I had tried to train her for saddle... how FUN would that be!!

... hummmm.. now that I think about it... She will 'retire' as a dairy cow in a few years.. but, hopefully, will be around for many healthy years after that.. maybe I SHOULD look into that...

 

[CaliFarmsAR]

Following

 

[Baymule]

Yes, I’ve gone back and read old threads. It’s interesting and fun, then and now.

 

[farmerjan]

@canesisters one suggestion... get a 2nd calf to put on the cow when she freshens... She will produce a little more being nursed regularly, you will have a 2nd calf for extra beef.... INCOME... even if you just sell it for straight income from a stockyard. You can still separate the calves from the cow in the morning, milk what you want for you in the evening and turn the calves back in with the cow. She will learn to let her milk down... if you completely milk out one quarter, you will get the cream that is produced towards the end of the milking...

I just realized I was reading this thread from the start 7+ years ago.... so, you have had several years and experience.
Have you ever gone online to "Real Milk.com" and FTCLDF websites???? (Farm to consumer legal defense fund)....