What do you think about this cow??

[Azriel]

http://greatfalls.craigslist.org/grd/3855193968.html

I'm looking at buying this cow, she is a good 4 hour drive from me, so I would be buying her sight unseen. I have talked to the owner and she sounded honest and said that the reason she is open is that they AI'ed her and just got busy with a new human baby, fires, and then floods, and never preg checked her.
The price is very low for arround here, you can't find a Jersey or Jersey cross for under $1800,and more like $2000 if they are milking or ready to calf, and I think she is very pretty, which I know doesn't matter a hill of beans for milking abilitys, but if I have to look at an animal for a few hours every day I have to like the way it looks. I'm just a little worried about the not bred, not milking part.

 

[WildRoseBeef]

She looks nice! I like her conformation, she looks like a good cow.

I wouldn't be worried about the not-bred part. Like you said they sound honest so I wouldn't assume that she's not bred, but I would ask them to get her preg-checked before you buy her anyhow. I also wouldn't worry about the not-milking part either. You can't expect her to be milking if they likely hadn't had time to milk her (I'm assuming) and that she hasn't calved yet.

Do you know when she has been bred? I didn't see anything on there that said when she had been AI'd, other than she's a five-year old cow--a relatively young cow.

 

[Azriel]

She was AI'ed last fall, and the lady that I talked to said that her husband did the AI himself but had not done an AI for over 20 years, and with all that was going on in their life they did not notice that she did not take untill mid winter, so she is open. They bought her to get the calf pictured behind her, and need to keep their numbers down, so thats why they are selling the cow.

 

[WildRoseBeef]

Well, unless your really wanting to get a lactating cow now, I don't see why you shouldn't get her.

 

[Cricket]

She's VERY pretty! I wonder if it would be worth the money to have her vet checked? Then if there was some very obvious reason for her to have not taken you'd know. Although the owners explanation is reasonable--and if they were lying about something, you'd think they'd have just said they'd not had her bred. Like Karin said, if you're willing to wait awhile for milk . . . Worst case scenario, you could turn her into a hamburger cow at that price. (But she looks more like a pet than food)