looking at a bred heifer - even More questions added! About $$$$$$$$$

[kelsey2017]

I just was looking around on Cl all over my area because I wanted to know if I was going to be paying a fair price. I seems I am getting a steal, so now I am a little worried! The man was advertising the heifer at $750 and within a few minutes of talking to him he said if I bring cash I can have a deal. So I says "what kind of deal?" If I pay him in all $20's I can have her for $650. After doing scientific research (on CL!) I could not find one even open heifer Jersery or Jersey cross for under $900. Everything else sounds legit though, and he said that they were planning on selling her as a calf and didn't get around to it and would like her to go before winter. Oh I don't know whether to be nervous or jump on it! This sort of sucks, I don't really see why he would sell her at all. Does anyone think it would be helpful to have him sign a paper that she wouldn't be a free martin? This whole thing has my head hurting- I do NOT want to be a sucker! Last night I whipped out my trusty collection of Countryside and found an article on free martins, what sort of physical differences they have and such but I am still an untrained eye. OH Woes me the first- timer!

 

[CESpeed]

I don't know what area you are in, but I do know that a lot of cattle are being sold at really low prices because farmers can't afford to feed them. If you are really unsure, go visit several farms in your area and look at the cows. How does this heifer look in comparasion? Look at pictures online and in books. How does she compare?

I bought a car from CL for $500 in 2007. It was a 1989 Mazada 323 with around 100K miles on it. I thought it was too good to be true but the mechanic told me that if I didn't buy it, he would. With no servicing, the car had about 50K miles, after I completed his list (less than $1000) it was good for another 100K. Sometimes people don't know what they have, other times, people just want to get rid of something.

Good Luck.

 

[SuburbanFarmChic]

I would figure out what her market price would be and then if you are paying close to that you are getting a fair deal because if she is not bred/fertile then she is worth her weight as hamburger.

 

[herfrds]

Just save the time and runiing around and have the vet out to ultrasound her.

Ours just did my milk cow and she is postively bred at 30 days.

 

[kelsey2017]

I bought her anyway! After seeing her I feel I am making a good gamble. If i feed her all winter and she is not preggos she is still mine and I will have experience with handling a bovine and she will be older. No big deal, she is at least worth her weight. The guys cows are cool and a little over crowded, not bad, but she could use some groceries. I am actually thinking of bringing him a half dozen of my 8# meatbirds and trying to talk him into sending me home with one of his little jersery banded boys for company. I can put them in the stock trailer- it won't hurt to ask!
I am going tomorrow! So Unbelievably excited!!!!

 

[Stubbornhillfarm]

I bought her anyway! After seeing her I feel I am making a good gamble. If i feed her all winter and she is not preggos she is still mine and I will have experience with handling a bovine and she will be older. No big deal, she is at least worth her weight. The guys cows are cool and a little over crowded, not bad, but she could use some groceries. I am actually thinking of bringing him a half dozen of my 8# meatbirds and trying to talk him into sending me home with one of his little jersery banded boys for company. I can put them in the stock trailer- it won't hurt to ask!
I am going tomorrow! So Unbelievably excited!!!!

Best wishes! Make sure to put up pictures when you get some!

 

[SuburbanFarmChic]

Totally need pictures!! Congrats on her. Sounds like it has the chance of being a great starter cow.

 

[kelsey2017]

Oh thank you! She is going to be great. She is snug as a bug in the barn with the sheep and I just went out to shut off the light. The wolves are close again though, howling not far away, makes me sick to my stomach. She has been quiet with the light on but now she is mooing again. I thought if the light was out the animals would not move around much and be quiet. I am not very fond of the wolves here. My place is surrounded by cow pasture (for my landlords beef cows and calves) on all sides but a narrow strip 100' wide behind my barn. My horses are there and alert our surviving dog to things that don't belong. Our dog doesn't bark at anything less serious than a bear and wolves are not less serious. We have lost (our fault should have kept them in a kennel) three dogs plus injury to others due to encounters with wolves. Not barely three weeks ago my neighbor about 2.5 miles away lost several sheep to a large wolf while she was home. She saw some of it happen, while she was in the pasture tending the poor torn apart creature the wolf jumped back over the fence and killed one right before her eyes. She said she wet her pants. The DNR around here brushed her off initially but after another well respected neighbor corroborated her story they came out and set a trap. Got the beast within two days and relocated it. There are a lot of them around when I see them basking in the sun in the field or have pictures of my children standing on the road while a pup plays just down the road from them. I love wolves too, Mn would not be the same and they totally deserved a chance to come back but they should have been off the list of threatened species some time ago. JMHO though. Oh and she has settled down- I have not heard a peep for awhile now.

AND BACK TO THE MATTER AT HAND I love her! She was very cooperative and hopped right up in the trailer, hauled very well and was calm in the barn and then later out in the pen. She let me think I was in charge leading her and then let me brush her all over. She is going to be way easier to gentle than I imagined (knock on wood). So here are the pictures! We have named her Kjersten.
fresh out of the trailer

checkin everything out and grain bucket ready to reclaim attention if need be

Hanging out in the barn with kids

Would someone tell me why these turkeys are mocking me? Every time I try to moo 5 turkeys gobble in unison!

Well take my word for it I grabbed the wrong pic so you can't see the turkeys but that was funny!
I hope it doesn't last though.

 

[Royd Wood]

within a few minutes of talking to him he said if I bring cash I can have a deal. So I says "what kind of deal?" If I pay him in all $20's I can have her for $650.

Sounds like a dodgy dealer as you can't pay someone $650 in $20's

Looks like you got yourself a nice cow - wolves There are two timber wolves knocking around here even though the authorities say no wolves in Niagara

 

[kelsey2017]

The DNR tells us we don't have mountain lions here. I am on some cats route here every December within the first week there are tracks in the snow moving in a line from the NW corner of the property to the SE only 200' from the back of the house. I have also seen one. I didn't report it though because I knew they would disregard me as someone who had seen a bear. The one I saw was black. I have told that story to a couple people that also had seen a black one. I don't see why it couldn't happen, I would think it would be easy for that color to come out in a PANTHER!

OH and this guy (and his family) were a little different. When I met him I think he is quirky and give him the 20's. Maybe he just likes the fad wad of cash when you have 33 bills in your hand. I don't care, I have a new sound on the farm!

I half thought about only giving him $640 for that reason!

Edited for "a took me awhile to get the 'dodgey dealer' joke moment"