Post by cornerstone on Nov 4, 2011 21:42:03 GMT -5
Hello all, not an owner of a family cow yet, but am certainly in aquistion process. I need a few ideas on the possible pros/cons on some of the choices I have below.
I currently have the following options:
#1 a 2 year old (who is possibly 3 months bred for the first time - to a Dexter bull) Dexter/Zebu cross haven't met her - but she looks very nice and well put together from the pictures I receveid. Was told she is a pretty friendly and personable cow
#2 a 3 month old Jersey (the draw for this one is that the owner will trade me a couple of my goats for this heifer calf) The mother is getting sold tomorrow so the baby will be without mama anyway. SIDE NOTE: will I have to give this baby milk if I get her?
#3 an Amish friend of ours has an older Jersey that is due to calve in about a month, she has previously had mastitis in the two back quarters awhile ago and from what he said she only milks in the two front quarters - he thought she may be good for us as she is a very gentle and easy for even the kids to milk We would NOT get her until afte she calves, not sure yet if they want to keep the calf or not (I suppose it depends on the calf's gender).
#4 wait a bit longer for a "better" choice.
Here is just a bit of our situation. Not in a really big urgent rush for milk (we have a few goats that will be lactating for awhile - and even if we dry them up - still not a huge deal not having home milk for awhile). We have a small acreage, hence the small cow choices. We have goats, horses, pigs and chickens. We have a good supply of our own hay, but pretty much no pasture at this time (in about 2-3 years we will have about 5+ acres of pasture). The goats are on pasture though and would put a small calf in there, but a larger cow could be pastured either with the horses or in our back pasture/paddock. Price IS an issue for us. I have found Dexter calves for 1600.00. Sorry but that is out of our price range, so I know this is going to limit the quality of what we will be able to purchase. The choices above are from around 300 to 700.
Any ideas and thoughts from those of you more experienced than me would be AWESOME. If more specific info from me is needed - just let me know!
I currently have the following options:
#1 a 2 year old (who is possibly 3 months bred for the first time - to a Dexter bull) Dexter/Zebu cross haven't met her - but she looks very nice and well put together from the pictures I receveid. Was told she is a pretty friendly and personable cow
#2 a 3 month old Jersey (the draw for this one is that the owner will trade me a couple of my goats for this heifer calf) The mother is getting sold tomorrow so the baby will be without mama anyway. SIDE NOTE: will I have to give this baby milk if I get her?
#3 an Amish friend of ours has an older Jersey that is due to calve in about a month, she has previously had mastitis in the two back quarters awhile ago and from what he said she only milks in the two front quarters - he thought she may be good for us as she is a very gentle and easy for even the kids to milk We would NOT get her until afte she calves, not sure yet if they want to keep the calf or not (I suppose it depends on the calf's gender).
#4 wait a bit longer for a "better" choice.
Here is just a bit of our situation. Not in a really big urgent rush for milk (we have a few goats that will be lactating for awhile - and even if we dry them up - still not a huge deal not having home milk for awhile). We have a small acreage, hence the small cow choices. We have goats, horses, pigs and chickens. We have a good supply of our own hay, but pretty much no pasture at this time (in about 2-3 years we will have about 5+ acres of pasture). The goats are on pasture though and would put a small calf in there, but a larger cow could be pastured either with the horses or in our back pasture/paddock. Price IS an issue for us. I have found Dexter calves for 1600.00. Sorry but that is out of our price range, so I know this is going to limit the quality of what we will be able to purchase. The choices above are from around 300 to 700.
Any ideas and thoughts from those of you more experienced than me would be AWESOME. If more specific info from me is needed - just let me know!