Wanting to find a Heritage Cattle

[Nichole Olie]

Hey i'm new to this site and i hope i'm doing this correctly! I'm trying to find Cattle that will do well in Ohio. I did a little bit of research off the ALBC website and thought the Red Poll Cattle would be a good fit or the Highland Cattle. I just want a little info on both cattle.


Hardiness/Vigor
Handing? Easy? Hard?
Mothering?
Meat and Milk production? I do want to milk my cows, but also have good meat.

 

[Mike Fronczak]

We raise Highland but they are more of a beef cow than a milk cow, at least ours are.

 

[WildRoseBeef]

Hey i'm new to this site and i hope i'm doing this correctly! I'm trying to find Cattle that will do well in Ohio. I did a little bit of research off the ALBC website and thought the Red Poll Cattle would be a good fit or the Highland Cattle. I just want a little info on both cattle.


Hardiness/Vigor
Handing? Easy? Hard?
Mothering?
Meat and Milk production? I do want to milk my cows, but also have good meat.

Most Highlanders are raised more for their meat than their milk.

Red Poll is a good choice. So is Braunvieh, as they are more of the beefier counterpart of the dairy breed Brown Swiss. (Both these breeds fit what you're looking for in breed qualities, btw) Fleckviehs are also a good dual-purpose animal, except they may be a lot harder to find--as far as Heritage is concerned--than the other breeds because they may be more beefy Simmental than the Switzerland dual-purpose dairy/beef cow of the Alps.

 

[Nichole Olie]

Thanks so much Karin, the Braunvieh seems to be a really good fit also! I really appreciate it!

 

[Mike Fronczak]

Not to steal this thread, but along a similiar line. I have seen a bunch about raw milk & it got me thinking about adding a dairy cow. What would a good breed be to mix in with our Highlands ? From quick research milk numbers seem way high is 4+ gallons/day really normal ? Thanks

 

[Nichole Olie]

Not to steal this thread, but along a similiar line. I have seen a bunch about raw milk & it got me thinking about adding a dairy cow. What would a good breed be to mix in with our Highlands ? From quick research milk numbers seem way high is 4+ gallons/day really normal ? Thanks

Actually a Dairy cow can produce upwards of 8 gallons a day! Normal i think is around 6-7 gallons. Why i thought getting a dual purpose cow would be best. But maybe even then it'll be to much milk... Maybe goats will be better?

 

[Mike Fronczak]

Not to steal this thread, but along a similiar line. I have seen a bunch about raw milk & it got me thinking about adding a dairy cow. What would a good breed be to mix in with our Highlands ? From quick research milk numbers seem way high is 4+ gallons/day really normal ? Thanks

Actually a Dairy cow can produce upwards of 8 gallons a day! Normal i think is around 6-7 gallons. Why i thought getting a dual purpose cow would be best. But maybe even then it'll be to much milk... Maybe goats will be better?

I was being conservative (I had heard higher numbers) with 4 gal, even with our 4 kids we don't go through that much, trying to wrap my head around what to do with the excess. Goats are not an option, we had 2 never again. The cow I could also use my Highland bull to breed, & end up with another calf to grow out for meat.

 

[TracyTooManyHorses]

Hey i'm new to this site and i hope i'm doing this correctly! I'm trying to find Cattle that will do well in Ohio. I did a little bit of research off the ALBC website and thought the Red Poll Cattle would be a good fit or the Highland Cattle. I just want a little info on both cattle.


Hardiness/Vigor
Handing? Easy? Hard?
Mothering?
Meat and Milk production? I do want to milk my cows, but also have good meat.

We had Red Poll when I was "growing up". Great cattle, cannot say enough about them! Often mistaken for the red angus by cattle buyers at the sales. They are a very docile animal, longevity, hardy, excellent mothering & milking. They are a dual purpose & give a fair amount of cream per milking.

I do not know much about the Highland, but I do know there is a dairy strain among them. We have a Speckle Park cow that throws the hair from the original development of the breed (Highland cattle) onto her calves!

 

[Royd Wood]

Not to steal this thread, but along a similiar line. I have seen a bunch about raw milk & it got me thinking about adding a dairy cow. What would a good breed be to mix in with our Highlands ? From quick research milk numbers seem way high is 4+ gallons/day really normal ? Thanks

Hey Mike
You can milk Highland and I have milked Galloway - trouble is a big strapping Galloway calf is knocking me off the stool
3 galls of milk a day is no probs from a freshly calved Galloway, and some can give more milk than that.
Highland and Galloway have a fantastic butterfat content
I was brought up on raw milk from the churn then we progressed to the tank - still here and still breathing

 

[Mike Fronczak]

Not to steal this thread, but along a similiar line. I have seen a bunch about raw milk & it got me thinking about adding a dairy cow. What would a good breed be to mix in with our Highlands ? From quick research milk numbers seem way high is 4+ gallons/day really normal ? Thanks

Hey Mike
You can milk Highland and I have milked Galloway - trouble is a big strapping Galloway calf is knocking me off the stool
3 galls of milk a day is no probs from a freshly calved Galloway, and some can give more milk than that.
Highland and Galloway have a fantastic butterfat content
I was brought up on raw milk from the churn then we progressed to the tank - still here and still breathing

Great info as always Royd, thank you.
We (my brothers. & sister) had it (raw milk) as kids occasionally at a farm we visited. Still remember the seperated milk, seemed weird to us.
I'd have to work with our cows a whole lot more first, currently as beef cows we handle them very little. I was told they all were halter trained as calves though, so far everything he has told me was true. There is a place probably 45 minutes away that sells it (almost 3x supermarket milk prices), but will run out and get a few gallons to make sure my family will drink it before trying to train our cows. Always a new adventure.