Post by deforestfarm on Oct 5, 2008 14:27:10 GMT -5
Hello, I am a brand new member, and am shopping for our first milk cow. I have never milked a cow before, but have milked goats. We are currently looking at a cow that is reasonably close, but I have some questions for impartial judgement.
Here is the good part - she is friendly, halter trained, has been hand milked, has been share milked (she gave two gallons per day share milking), has sucessfully nursemaided up to 4 calves at once, sounds like easy let down, 4 good teats, and no known history of mastitis or ketosis.
Here is the bad part - she has only had two calves, one at 5 years, and her current calf. She is 7 years old. I don't think this was due to problems with getting her bred, but I can ask again. She prolapsed about 6" of her uterus on this year's (huge heifer Jersey) calf, and had it corrected by a vet without stitches. He did not think it would be a problem in the future. The current owner had her kind of dumped on them from the previous owner, so they do not have a lot of health history, or any vacc/disease history previous to owning her. They have had her for a little under a year.
The reason she is being sold is, the current owner runs beef cows and orders bulk straws from one bull a year. They are concerned that the bulls they prefer are going to be too big again for her, and don't want to order single straws for one cow. So she is open right now.
My questions are; if she prolapsed once, will this make her more likely to prolapse again in the future? We are intending to use a Dexter bull with her, so calf size should not be an issue. I will double check before selecting a bull to make sure he does not throw unusually large calves. The vet did say he didn't think it would be a problem, but is it likely that I will need a vet to correct her prolapse with every delivery now?
Thanks in advance - you never knew you had so many questions, until you do...
Edit - Oh! I forgot... they are asking $600 dollars, which is really cheap for this area for a milker. It isn't so cheap for hamburger though, so I would like to know up front what our chances are for her.
Here is the good part - she is friendly, halter trained, has been hand milked, has been share milked (she gave two gallons per day share milking), has sucessfully nursemaided up to 4 calves at once, sounds like easy let down, 4 good teats, and no known history of mastitis or ketosis.
Here is the bad part - she has only had two calves, one at 5 years, and her current calf. She is 7 years old. I don't think this was due to problems with getting her bred, but I can ask again. She prolapsed about 6" of her uterus on this year's (huge heifer Jersey) calf, and had it corrected by a vet without stitches. He did not think it would be a problem in the future. The current owner had her kind of dumped on them from the previous owner, so they do not have a lot of health history, or any vacc/disease history previous to owning her. They have had her for a little under a year.
The reason she is being sold is, the current owner runs beef cows and orders bulk straws from one bull a year. They are concerned that the bulls they prefer are going to be too big again for her, and don't want to order single straws for one cow. So she is open right now.
My questions are; if she prolapsed once, will this make her more likely to prolapse again in the future? We are intending to use a Dexter bull with her, so calf size should not be an issue. I will double check before selecting a bull to make sure he does not throw unusually large calves. The vet did say he didn't think it would be a problem, but is it likely that I will need a vet to correct her prolapse with every delivery now?
Thanks in advance - you never knew you had so many questions, until you do...
Edit - Oh! I forgot... they are asking $600 dollars, which is really cheap for this area for a milker. It isn't so cheap for hamburger though, so I would like to know up front what our chances are for her.