Multi- purpose cattle- Oxen teams?

[Beekissed]

Yep...that's how I did it also. Let her have her calf all day, penned them separate at night and milked in the morning. Keeping milk and equipment clean isn't hard once you have a routine. Folks have been doing it for thousands of years with a single family milch cow and found it to be a worthwhile endeavor~milking, cleaning and processing are just part of the whole thing. Every food animal comes with its chores and inconveniences.

The good part about it all is this: If you find your life getting too busy to tend to your milking duties for one reason or another, you can always buy a bottle calf and foster it along with her own calf. This adds to her usefulness, doesn't make you feel her milkiness is being wasted and can also provide extra meat for your family.

 

[gypsygirl]

A dairy cow has been bred to be able to produce enough milk to feed 4 to 5 calves at a time. Only with very careful management might one be able to avoid mastitis, scouring, and other problems. Perhaps other breeds might be more easily successful with only one calf.

 

[treeclimber233]

She is talking about getting a mini cow. I doubt the calf will have any problem keeping up with the milk. Taking care of the milking equipment is not difficult if you hand milk. Hand milking is not hard with just one cow. Then all you have to do is keep the bucket and jars clean.

 

[Stubbornhillfarm]

I don't know if all Jerseys are like this or just my two chuckleheads. They are awesome steers don't get me wrong, but they are dramatic as all can be! If you try to move them with their halter and give a push from behind, they get all wabbly legged like they are going to pass out, if you keep it up, they drop and play dead! It is funny ridiculous! When they were about 3-4 month old, we put halters on them and tied them one at a time. The first one did ok, pulling a bit and then figured it out for the most part. The other one, dropped down on the ground with his head tied (plenty of slack, it was not choking him) but his eyes were rolling around and he looked like we were trying to kill him! He was absolutely fine, there was nothing too tight, nothing pressing on anything, he was just being dramatic.

So, my point in this long story: If all Jerseys are like these two, I don't know how you would ever train them to be oxen.

Best wishes on your homestead!

 

[RamblingCowgirl]

My fiance and I are in our early 20s and are starting our homestead too. We both act way older.....sometimes. I have horses and will be useing eather of my two minis for our garden, but it's only 1/4-1/2 an acre.

From what I have seen most breeders that raise cattle for dairy/oxen used breeds like dexter or randall linebacks. They also seem to be very willing to help you find the right animal for your needs. I belive the dexter was used to make the mini jersey, but I'm not sure. I had looked into mini breeds a few years back but don't remember everything. lol.

You could do something like: get a pair of small/mini milkers, and train them both for ox work. That way if something comes up and you need more power you've got it. Keep the calf off for 6-10 hours and only milk once a day like other people have said. I did that with goats, pend them up at midnight, and milked at 6am. I also had bottle kids out there that needed to be fed on that time line, or I'd have gone a few more hours. Also having a set of cows you could breed them to calve around the same time and raise & train teams for sale if that is something you would want to do.

I think if I was going to go with a small multi-prupose cattle I'd go with randalls, but I don't care for most solid colored livestock. I always hear good things about dexters tho. And maybe {just tossing it out} you'd rather use something like a mule or pony. They tend to be easy keepers. But some people would rather have oxen.

And no matter what you go with, odds are there will be some days you just want to rip your hair out thinking why did I ever want to love like this just remember you are not alone