Post by lostnation on Dec 2, 2007 10:07:36 GMT -5
Hello, everyone! So glad I found this forum – again, LOL!. I'd discovered it & joined awhile back, but forgot to bookmark it & . . .just rediscovered it while Googling “something cow”. Whoops, LOL!
I’m Sarah & live w/ my husband, Mike & countless other creatures of many species on a small farm in extreme southern Michigan. - Barrrrely in Michigan, right on the Ohio & Indiana borders. *waving at neighbors in OH & IN*
We try to be pretty self-sufficient & raise as much of our own food as possible – & do a lot of buying/bartering from other like-minded folk for the things we don't raise/grow/etc. ourselves.
Dairy goats are the primary focus, but we have lots of free-range fowl running around, keep pigs, raise the occasional deacon on the extra goat milk – then pasture – for the freezer annnnnnnnnnnd added our first milk cow to the family just over a year ago! ;D
Her name is Guinea & she’s a Guernsey, purchased from a friend/neighbor whose father is our area “Guernsey breeder” & whose family has a small, Grade-B dairy (Amish). She was a 5th freshener, 5 months fresh when we bought her & opn. She was AIed by another commercially dairying neighbor (“English” w/ Holsteins) for a February calving & . . . is starting to look pretty plump around the middle!
Thus far, she’s been an easy-keeping, low maintenance gal, but . . . I’m starting to stress abt being pretty clueless abt how to properly maintain a late-gestation cow. Eek! That’s why I’m here, though – to wade thru the archives & learn as much as possible, LOL!
As for all that wonderful milk . . . I’m lactose intolerant – hence: the beginning of the dairy goat venture, LOL – so use goat milk for drinking, which the husband thinks is poisonous, hence: the addition of Guinea to the family, LOL! Thankfully, I can tolerate the cow milk in its other various forms – love my dairy products, LOL! I mostly just make butter out of the cream & use the milk & clabber for all of the cooking, but . . . hope to try my hand at making hard cheese here pretty quick!
& oh yes, I’ve been contemplating scaling the goat herd down considerably & adding another cow or two b/c I haven’t managed to talk the area cheese plant into buying goat milk in the 7+ years we’ve been out here, so . . . if ya can’t beat ‘em . . . LOL.
Of course, I’d prefer to stick w/ Guernsey but they’re pretty hard to come by, so . . . we’ll see what other opportunities present themselves! There’s the occasional cow/heifer available in the neighborhood, but . . . haven’t been able to afford to outright buy another one & nobody’s interested in swapping for goats b/c this Amish community we live in the midst of is pretty anti-goat for some reason!
So if anyone here has a nice milker/springer/etc. they’d like to trade for some nice dairy goats by all means - please get ahold of me, LOL! Not really picky abt breed as long as she’s all dairy, genetically & physically sound – healthy & gentle-natured, blahblahblah - the usual "gimme" stuff. Big visions of hopping into the American Guernsey Association’s Genetic Recovery program & breeding everyone up to papered Guernseys, y’know. . . .1,000 years from now when I win the lottery & can get my hands on all the equipment & semen & etc. I need, anyway, LOL.
Okay, I’ve rambled on long enough. Looking forward to ”meeting” everyone & learning as much I can, here! ;D
Thanks,
Sarah
I’m Sarah & live w/ my husband, Mike & countless other creatures of many species on a small farm in extreme southern Michigan. - Barrrrely in Michigan, right on the Ohio & Indiana borders. *waving at neighbors in OH & IN*
We try to be pretty self-sufficient & raise as much of our own food as possible – & do a lot of buying/bartering from other like-minded folk for the things we don't raise/grow/etc. ourselves.
Dairy goats are the primary focus, but we have lots of free-range fowl running around, keep pigs, raise the occasional deacon on the extra goat milk – then pasture – for the freezer annnnnnnnnnnd added our first milk cow to the family just over a year ago! ;D
Her name is Guinea & she’s a Guernsey, purchased from a friend/neighbor whose father is our area “Guernsey breeder” & whose family has a small, Grade-B dairy (Amish). She was a 5th freshener, 5 months fresh when we bought her & opn. She was AIed by another commercially dairying neighbor (“English” w/ Holsteins) for a February calving & . . . is starting to look pretty plump around the middle!
Thus far, she’s been an easy-keeping, low maintenance gal, but . . . I’m starting to stress abt being pretty clueless abt how to properly maintain a late-gestation cow. Eek! That’s why I’m here, though – to wade thru the archives & learn as much as possible, LOL!
As for all that wonderful milk . . . I’m lactose intolerant – hence: the beginning of the dairy goat venture, LOL – so use goat milk for drinking, which the husband thinks is poisonous, hence: the addition of Guinea to the family, LOL! Thankfully, I can tolerate the cow milk in its other various forms – love my dairy products, LOL! I mostly just make butter out of the cream & use the milk & clabber for all of the cooking, but . . . hope to try my hand at making hard cheese here pretty quick!
& oh yes, I’ve been contemplating scaling the goat herd down considerably & adding another cow or two b/c I haven’t managed to talk the area cheese plant into buying goat milk in the 7+ years we’ve been out here, so . . . if ya can’t beat ‘em . . . LOL.
Of course, I’d prefer to stick w/ Guernsey but they’re pretty hard to come by, so . . . we’ll see what other opportunities present themselves! There’s the occasional cow/heifer available in the neighborhood, but . . . haven’t been able to afford to outright buy another one & nobody’s interested in swapping for goats b/c this Amish community we live in the midst of is pretty anti-goat for some reason!
So if anyone here has a nice milker/springer/etc. they’d like to trade for some nice dairy goats by all means - please get ahold of me, LOL! Not really picky abt breed as long as she’s all dairy, genetically & physically sound – healthy & gentle-natured, blahblahblah - the usual "gimme" stuff. Big visions of hopping into the American Guernsey Association’s Genetic Recovery program & breeding everyone up to papered Guernseys, y’know. . . .1,000 years from now when I win the lottery & can get my hands on all the equipment & semen & etc. I need, anyway, LOL.
Okay, I’ve rambled on long enough. Looking forward to ”meeting” everyone & learning as much I can, here! ;D
Thanks,
Sarah