Lack of good pasture and other ?'s

[Jenn]

Goats are different. They have a higher/faster metabolism than a cow. The have different nutritional needs than a cow...I've been told more like a horse. I have little experience with horses, so I can't compare. There's an article I posted somewhere, I'll see if I can find it, comparing nutritional losses through milking...a cow loses 3% of the iodine it consumes into its milk...a goat 94%.

When a goat browses, they are very selective if they have the chance. They seem to have prehensile lips.<L> They will eat tree buds, individual leaves, rose brambles, thistles (flower buds and all). Goat naturally select the most nutritious part of a plant. A cow grabs a clump of grass with her tongue and takes the whole bite. A cow will eat tree leaves a such to, but not to the extent a goat will.

There have been studies done with feeding mulberry to various forms of livestock. Dairy goats in the study milked more on 100% mulberry leaves than with concentrates, cows milked less but still produced milk.

Goats NEED shelter from wet, they have much thinner skin and don't have the oils in their hair that a sheep has. Cows go out in all sorts of weather, goats will not.

Their increase metabolism means they also tend to need higher doses of medication per lb than most other animals. But this same higher metabolism means they can eat things that would kill or make sick other animals. They aren't immune but because they are more salad bar eaters (little bite here, another bite over there) they are less likely to over do it.

Goats are much more susceptible to parasites than a cow, partly because, IMO, they tend to get fed like a small cow instead of what they really need. They are herbalists, they milk better on honey locust, roses and curly dock than hay and alfalfa. They will strip bark off a tree to get at the minerals stored there.


Why do I have goats...or why do I still have goats? Because they have wonderful personalities, at least mine do. They are smart, calm, quiet with wonderful dairy temperament. I had a goat who was loud and not very bright...I sold her and relished the quiet again.<L> They also complement the cows in a better utilization of the forage available. I used to have a rapidly multiplying thistle and honey locust problem, not anymore.

I use a metal milk stand and milk from behind. It's easier on the back and you can protect the milk better. I have NEVER had a goat pee or poop while milking. They rarely even go while on the stand, if they do, it's usually because I didn't give them time to go before getting on. A goat usually eliminates soon after getting up from lying down. I trim hooves, medicate while their on the stand. Drenching a goat is SO much easier than a cow.

Goats are more accepting of change than a cow, more flexible. They are more herd oriented too. When our fence was down, before we got the cows, we used to walk into the woods with a portable chair and sit and read. The goats would browse and stick fairly close, if we got up and moved, they followed. When it was time to leave,we just started walking and they would come running behind us. PUPPIES!

As for the taste of the milk, it should be sweet and creamy. Milk problems are either nutritional issues, handling issues or from leaving the buck with the does. Bucks are stinky when in rut!

Oh, and most dairy goats are seasonal breeders. I say this because my first goat was sold to me as bred and in milk and "show quality". She was none of the above.

Gosh, did I leave anything out. ;D
-Jenn

[eric]

Jan 25, 2009 15:09:35 GMT -5 thezillas said:

There is a lowline angus bull and a limosine(kinda big, IMO) bull we've located within 40 minutes of us.

Have you thought through timing and transportation issues? (These are things I haven't altogether figured out yet. They're also potentially more good reasons to choose goats.) Are you going to bring the bull to your cow? Do you have your own trailer? Can you safely contain a bull? What might a bull tear up while you had him? Do you have good facilities for corralling, loading, and unloading? If you were planning to take your cow to the bull, how are you going to milk her while she's there? Will you leave her there for a month? If you want to leave her there just for her heat, how are you going to know when that is? (It's often not easy, especially with just one cow.) Are the bulls' owners willing to cooperate in whatever plan? 40 minutes isn't close, but I suppose a little extra time on the road is a minor inconvenience.

[eric]

Thanks, Jenn, for sharing all the great information on cows vs. goats. I thought I'd share my thoughts, too, although my goat milking experience is very limited -- I have kept goats (starting with kids) for a year now. One of the biggest advantages of goats is that some things that cows just can't digest are nonetheless nutritionally very high quality feeds for goats that can digest more fibrous stuff. I'm thinking, for instance, of blackberry brambles, poison ivy, sericea lespedeza, greenbriars, multiflora rose... I'm sure you'll have different species in northern Wisconsin, but I expect the principle will be the same. If you were to take inventory of the forages you'll be able to grow (especially over the short-term but quite possibly over the long-term, too), and then ask the question: how can I most efficiently (with the least purchased inputs) convert these potential forage plants into milk, I suspect your answer would be goats. Goats also have the advantage for the independent-minded homesteader that if you do want to feed them grain, they can make much better use of less processed (whole grain), homegrown feed than cows.

The next biggest advantage to goats, in my mind, is their size. You can man-handle a goat, if need be. You can haul a goat in the back of the pick-up, even in a large dog crate in a car. A billy is so much safer than a bull and so much easier to keep (in terms of feed costs), too.

On the flip side, the reasons I'll sooner give up my goats than my cow are that I just really like the slow, sweet ways of my cow. (My goats are sweet, too, though.) Although, I found myself preferring to drink the goat's milk when I had both at the same time last year, I see it as a huge advantage that the cream separates easily with cow's milk, which means butter, among other things. I also suspect I can get more milk per minute of chore time from a cow than from goats, mainly because you'd have to handle multiple goats to get the same amount as milk as you'd get from one cow (only getting one cow in position, only cleaning one udder, etc.) On the other hand, the milk seems to come out of a goat's teat faster/in bigger streams than a cow, but that would definitely depend on the cow and the goat. Goats also keep themselves, particularly their udders, cleaner than cows. However, more milk can be downside. Right now, for instance, I'm getting much more milk -- milk that I'm having to feed that much more to get -- than I need or want. Finally, goats, particularly in the hot, humid Southeast, are more susceptible to parasite problems than cows. In order to keep my goats through the warmer months without developing worm problems/without using deworming medications it seems I have to rotate them weekly and I have to then let those rotations rest for a very long time (much longer than it takes the forage to regrow). With my cow, I'll come back around to the same rotation just as soon as the grass has grown back enough. I think I could even get by keeping my cow in a single paddock year-round, if the paddock were big enough. Oh, one more thing: goat things (breeding, milk production, etc.) operate on seasonal schedules, whereas cows can really be kept on about any kind of calendar. Then again, my cow might have saved me some troubles if she had timed her calving like a goat (matching her greatest nutritional needs with better forage.)

[eric]

I forgot to list another major advantage of a cow relative to goats, namely fencing/containment. It's a whole lot easier to fence in a cow or stake her out than it is to contain goats, although goats are mostly manageable enough.

[thezillas]

Thanks for the thoughts Eric. Yeah, the seasonal breeding thing with goats is kind of a big downer, IMO. I really want the flexibility of breeding whenever works for us. Another reason is volume-if I have to get multiple goats to produce my necessary 2-3 gallons/day (we'd be supplying my in laws as well), the work load goes up. We have chickens too, so any extra milk (it's hard to imagine there would be any with two families) won't go to waste. Butter, yogurt, sour cream, cheeses...the possibilities for use are endless.

We do have access to several trailers, we have lots of freinds with horses. I should add that one of the bulls is only a mile or two down the road, so the plan was to do a "day trip" to visit as soon as we knew she was in heat. She would return with us that evening, hopefully bred...This is assuming we would know she was in heat. It seems like some cows are very vocal and obvious, and some are not. We hope for one in between ;D

We're pretty sure that there used to be cattle run on our property, that it used to support livestock to some extent. There is an old barbed wire fence line out on the front property line, and when we cleared the trees for the house site, the bulldozer turned up an old rusty cowbell...So my hopes are that if we concentrate on restoring the soil fertility and figure out what to plant for our zone (3b), that the land could once again support a cow.

I found the Soil Fertility book Jenn referred to at soilandhealth.org if anyone else is interested. Lots of good info on that site.
~Cynthia

[Jenn]

You would need at least 2 goats anyway, they do not do well alone, but that would give you your 2-3 gallons. It's interesting Eric brought up milking out faster. I hadn't thought about it like than but I think he's right. I had thought cows were harder to milk but maybe it's really less milk per squirt. I think it might be faster to milk out 2 goats than one cow, but maybe because the goats are trained better.
However, if your hubby likes Brown Swiss, they are wonderful.<G>
-Jenn

[kellyj]

At the risk of stating the obvious I'd add that to improve your property a cow is a very worthwhile investment- they may not be able to eat everything on your property now but the compost you gain from the hay you purchase now will in a fairly short time allow your property to produce better foraging material for your cow.

I grew up on a farm but just this year bought my own cow. In the weeks prior to her arrival I had panic attacks thinking of all the things that could go wrong - so far things have been great though not flawless - I have loved every minute of it - even the challenges.

Best Wishes, KellyJ

[thezillas]

Thanks Kelly for the encouragement, sometimes we miss the completely obvious!!! I had heard of people letting the cow slather a paddock with manure, then keeping her off it and letting the grass grow... basically the cow self seeded the paddock!!

Our property is flat, but not really, because the woods are pockmarked with old decaying stumps. These stumps, I suppose, are adding organic matter back to the soil. So if we take out some of the trees, leaving a few for shade, do we need to try to completely level out these spots?? My husband is planning on starting to cut in another month or so, when the snow gets a little easier to wade through. Could we cut the trees,rake, and then broadcast seed or do we need to try to pull stumps and level all that? Won't they decay and add back to the soil eventually? I do realize we won't get a great germination rate, but I don't see any other way to do it without hiring machinery. If it's only an acre or two at first, we can do alot of raking by hand, I'm thinking. Like a big garden?

Also, if I got a few loads of horse manure from the neighbors and spread that (by hand of course!!), should I spread it BEFORE I seed, or after to help cover and germinate?? Use it to fill in the low spots?? I suppose the manure itself will have some seeds in it as well....sounds like fun. I'm sure the chickens will be happy to help me spread it out!

Someone please tell me if I am being completely overoptimistic about this working, cause I'd hate to do all that work for nothing. I know it will take a while, and our pasture/ paddock may never be truly lush...

Also also, how much space to plan for one year's worth of hay (365 days worth)? Right now we have a 8x25 lean to planned on the side of the garage, for either square or round bales. If we got rounds, we would borrow our neighbors skidsteer to unload the bales off the truck, then feed by wheelbarrow. Is that enough space? We can still add more!!

Kelly, I hear ya on the panic attacks...I just really want to go into this well planned. Starting from scratch with the "barn" and fencing is nice in ways, but never having done this before, I feel like I'm going to miss something REALLY important. I've dealt with horses alot, but not milk cows. Thus the mountain of questions for ya'll ;D

Thanks guys!
~Cynthia

[Jenn]

You do not need level pasture unless you want to hay your fields. You do not even need to seed the pasture unless you have too much bare ground. You will get volunteers from the seed bank. The only thing you need to plant are fences for the first few years.

-Jenn

P.S. Nubians breed year round I am told, they are not a swiss breed. Why is seasonal breeding a draw back, just curious?

[spiritedrose]

If you can take the stumps out, that would give you a little more "pasture" room, just because stumps can take forever to decay, especially in a drier climate!

If I were you, I'd probably spend a couple years really enriching the soil with manure/grass clippings/leaves/compost/chicken manure/shavings/straw etc. (yours or from someone else) before seeding.

Then, reseed sections at a time, giving them time to mature before putting animals out there. You might try seeding in some clover, too, which would really give you a plush field!

You'll want the field level enough that you can clip your pastures. We rotationally graze our cows, but even so, we have to clip the pastures and it keeps our fields in top shape all year long. (Promotes new, succulent growth)

[thezillas]

Thanks for the tip on Nubians. I guess I like the idea having the flexability to breed whenever we need to, not just 4-5 months out of the year. The dry time would be our vacation, so it'd be nice to be able to plan it when WE want, and not HAVE to dry off in midwinter. Course this would work fine if we were always traveling to Florida in January. I also appreciate the persistace of cows' lactation-they seem to be able to stay in milk longer, from what I've read.

Anyways, this is getting to be areally long thread! Thank you to everyone who took the time to wade through it and reply. I think I got my ORIGINAL question answered...now, on to the other 999!!! Mabey I should start a new thread, ya think??? I'm getting to know the search function pretty well.

Thanks so much,
~Cynthia

[eric]

I'd be pretty reluctant to time my cow's lactation around vacation plans if it meant working against the seasons. It's hard enough to keep a cow (and calf) healthy and well fed in season, especially if you're trying to do things economically. It would be one thing in a big confinement dairy with all sorts of special tools and feeds and facilities, but on a small, family scale it makes so much more sense to me to cooperate with the seasons. My feelings on the subject are especially strong because I just seriously compromised the health of my cow by breeding her to freshen mid-winter. I'm sure there were ways I could have avoided the problems, but why fight an uphill battle when you don't have to? Even if you can avoid serious problems, it's still going to hit your pocketbook that much harder.

I also don't know about the persistence of cows' lactations versus goats. I know some goat dairies maintain a year-round milk supply by breeding their goats on an alternating 2-year cycle, such that each goat is milked for about 1-1/2 years. I think a lot will just depend on the particular cow or goat.

I suspect one advantage you'll have with cows is that a cow will do better with just hay and grain than goats. I suspect goats will make much more out of the kind of seasonal forage you'll have available, though.

It sounds to me like you're just really partial to cows, though. I am too

[catherine]

Hey girl! I've been away doing farm work and just trying to catch up. We started with a fairly similar set of circumstances in December of '07. Our pasture was really rank and overgrown with rank grass, huge wild roses and young trees. The back half of the property is dense woods with a thick undergrowth of yaupon and cane. We are near Houston Texas, with all it's heat and humidity. Our fencing was limited to a 5 strand barbed wire perimeter fence with no cross fencing. So, we searched and studied and decided we needed animals that could handle lots and lots of browse, and take heat and humidity and parasites in their stride, with minimal fencing. Goats need more fencing than we have, and my kids don't like their smell (have friends with a goat dairy), though the milk is awesome. Among all the cows, we wanted smaller ones that wouldn't consume as much forage, but that would eat a wide variety of food stuffs, and be parasite resistant. The more we looked, the more we came to see the old historic heritage breeds as having the hardiness and thrift we needed. Besides, we really liked the idea of helping save endangered breeds! We looked into Dexters, Dutch Belteds, Jerseys, Guernseys, Milking Shorthorns, Milking Devons, Swiss, and Ayrshires. Oh my...they were all lovely. Swiss, Milking Shorthorns and Ayrshires were too big. Jerseys and Guernseys produced too much milk and consequently have more serious metabolic issues. Dexters are no longer endangered. So, that left us with Dutch Belteds, which are gorgeous animals, and Milking Devons. It looked like we might luck into one small herd of the Belties, but then it turned out that they were wild and very inbred, and had no papers. Then, a drought in the SE led to a lot of pretty little Milking Devon heifers being for sale, cheap! So...that's how we got our herd of 11! We have fallen thoroughly in love with our beautiful Ruby Red Milking Devons. They are very parasite resistant (their REALLY thick hides repel flies wonderfully well), browse like a goat, and they are quite adapted to dealing with temperature extremes. They also have very few metabolic or calving problems. They were pretty skinny when they arrived in our pastures, but quickly filled out on our very rough grazing. We are in the middle of our own drought, now, but they are staying fat and sassy on all the browse down in our creek bottoms, plus some additional hay once a day and kelp, DE and Himalayan salt free choice, plus ACV and Basic H in their water. We've only milked the one cow we purchased, but she gave about a gallon on OAD milking while share milking with her calf. I supplemented her with beet pulp, Probios, and a flake of alfalfa hay at milking. I'm guessing she'd probably produce 2-3 gallons if her calf wasn't on her, too. Her milk was lovely, pure white and sooo sweet. It also seemed to be a bit homogenized, as the cream took time to rise. She's currently dried off from a 10 month lactation, waiting for her next calf to be born, and is in lovely condition.

We have been blessed with another cow, a beautiful Jersey girl named Elsie. She gave birth about 6 weeks ago to a Dexter cross calf. We currently have another JerseyXHolstein heifer grafted onto her, as well. So, feeding two calves, she's still giving us a gallon and a half of slightly golden colored milk with richly rising cream on OAD milking. Her milk isn't quite as sweet, but it's still totally delicious! She gets all the hay she wants, plus that beet pulp, Probios, kelp, DE, ACV mix and flake of alfalfa at milking...plus a couple or three handfuls of sweet feed (cuz we had it on hand for the adopted calf...as that's what she was on when we bought her). She's as fat as she was when she gave birth, I think! Note, she was raised on grass only, so that may be a part of why she's doing so well with very minimal grain supplements. I prefer grass only, yet would feed any animal we owned according to condition. If you are interested in being as grass based as possible, and want a high producing type breed, I would recommend trying to find a heifer that was born and bred on grass.

I was pretty nervous about how things were going to be different with the Jersey. We don't know her parents, so there was no way of knowing if she would be a high producer or not. I was so worried about metabolic problems, even though she was a first freshener, but all my worries were for naught. Elsie has turned out to be a real gem. It seems that she's not going to be one of those that will milk off her back, thank goodness. She seems to be a medium sized girl, a little taller than our Milking Devon. She also seems to be a medium producer. That suits us just fine! I suspect that she'd be producing 3-5 gallons if she weren't also raising two calves. Also...when she's out with the herd, I've noticed that she nibbles on the yaupon, poison ivy, and cane with the best of them. Now, whether that's a learned behavior from hanging out with other bovines doing the same, or whether she would have done that on her own, I don't know. Milking Devon are noted for eating a wider range of browse than other cattle. One way or another, we've been truly blessed in our cows.

As to pasture, well, I think that your cow will likely eat a fair amount of your underbrush, esp. if you get one of the heritage breeds. They were expected to earn their living off the land, after all. If you are interested in checking them out, you might look up the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy (http://www.albc-usa.org/). As to the amount of storage room you will need for hay and such, you might look into finding out if you can get round hay bales that are bound in that plastic netting or covered in white plastic. I don't like that netting, but it does help keep the hay dry, and I assume that the white stuff does it even more. I've seen such bales on Walter Jeffries' pig site (http://sugarmtnfarm.com/blog/) where they look like marshmallows lined up! lol. I would think that Walter (who periodically posts on here, too) would be a great source of information for you. He's farming in Vermont on pure rock and maple forest. He's built up his pastures with his pigs, and they even root out his stumps for him (Joel Salatin does something similar). In fact, you might also look into having a couple of feeder pigs in conjunction with your cow/s. You see, the cow is said to drive the farm economy, and I believe it! Once you have a producing cow, she feeds a calf, your family, the chickens and fattens the pigs! Plus she can help you build your pasture! The money you spend feeding her is returned to you many times over!

Let's see...I got side tracked. The advantage of having such covered bales would be in not needing an expensive building to keep the hay dry! Also, you could perhaps have the bales deposited around your "pasture" so that when you were ready to feed that bale, the seed ladened manure would be dropped right where you wanted it to go! I've also heard of folks including grass seed in with their beet pulp/grain whatever mix so that the cow natural spreads the seed as she wanders. If you don't have a seeder, it's a real thought! Let HER do the work! Lastly, I think you might be very surprised at what seeds are already in the soil (the seed bank they call it). As your trees and underbrush open up, you may find quite a nice assortment of grass and forbes (aka weeds...which livestock can actually use medicinally, as they feel the need) coming up. However, you might want to spread something like annual rye grass (and maybe some clover) for a quickie temporary sod to hold the soil. I don't know if rye grass is right for your area, but you might look into it. You could throw it by hand, if needs be, or with a small handheld seeder. Just work it around your felled trees and stumps. That's what I'm doing, at any rate! I know Joel Salatin says that he and his crew never go out in his pastures without a pocket full of grass seed to throw on any bare spot! ;D

Sorry to be so long winded. It sounds like you are really excited and on the right road. Don't let people scare you off of keeping your very own family cow/s. Yes, they do represent a committment, but on the other hand, they aren't nearly as confining as I once feared. I heartily recommend that you look into having more than one cow so that you can have a constant supply of milk for your two families, and that you seriously consider sharing milk with the calves. That way, when you want to take your vacation (or some emergency comes up), you needn't have bred accordingly and/or have to dry the cow off. Simply let the calf stay with the cow 24/7 while you are gone and you are golden! You'll still have your milker in milk when you get home! Honest! Blessings in your endeavor. C.

[thezillas]

Just gotta ask, Catherine, what Basic H (Shaklee, right??) does for them?? My mother uses the stuff for cleaning, but I've never heard of it used for cows! I'll have to do a search on that next. Thanks for the encouragement- we are excited for sure. Thanks also for the tip on heritage breeds- planning on going to that website to check it out. I'd really like to find something well mannered for this first go round, no matter what the breed, though I do have my preferences in that area. Mabey I can find something from the Amish. I am also aware that this will cost me more than buying a confinement dairy heifer, but I feel it will be worth the money as we start out on the learning curve. Don't want to get too overwhelmed at the start!
~Cynthia

[catherine]

Hey Cynthia. Yes, Basic H is from Shaklee. Joel Salatin uses it as a natural wormer, along with DE, and we've picked that up from him. I rather imagine that it works like Safer's Soap does in the garden, benignly killing the bad bugs without leaving any harmful residue.

We've been really enjoying working with the endangered, heritage breeds. We now have rare Milking Devon cattle, Red Wattle pigs, Cotton Patch geese, and Delaware chickens, in addition to our other chickens, Self-Blue Muscovy ducks and Guineas. They give us all the joy any animal would watching them grow and multiply, but it's even nicer knowing that each newborn animal represents an "ark" of sorts, passing precious genetic diversity into a future which may one day despirately need that information. Plus...the animals are easy keepers and tastey, too!

Buying a confinement dairy animal may or may not be the easiest or cheapest route to your own milk cow. Also, the total cost can't be measured just at the sale. Remember, if an animal is more sickly or harder to keep in condition, you also need to factor in the additional cost of medical care, etc. The older breeds were bred to be easy keepers and require less maintenance while getting the job done (think Honda cars) whereas the more modern animals tend to require more delicate fine tinkering and higher octane fuel (think Ferraris) but boy oh boy do they produce if all is tuned just right! lol.

While I'm at it, there's one other point to plug while I'm advocating for rare breed milkers. There's a big debate about "A2 Milk". As I understand it, about 1/3 of the protein in cow's milk is described as either A1 or A2, with the later being considered the more ancient and more completely digested protein. Those animals that have been "tinkered" with the least tend to be the ones that possess the ability to make A2 protein. The modern dairy animal is a very unnatural creature, having been bred up to produce infinitely more milk than one or two calves could possibly consume. So...Holsteins tend to produce more A1 milk, Jerseys and other older breeds tend to produce more A2 milk. Some people say that A2 milk is great for lactose intolerant folks and helps prevent everything from autism and Type 1 diabetes to heart diseases. Others think it's all hooey. I don't know, but I figure that we chose our heritage breeds for many worthy purposes, and receiving A2 milk in my milk bucket is just one more side bonus! ;D

[onthebit]

Feb 13, 2009 0:05:14 GMT -5 catherine said:

Hey Cynthia. Yes, Basic H is from Shaklee. Joel Salatin uses it as a natural wormer, along with DE, and we've picked that up from him. I rather imagine that it works like Safer's Soap does in the garden, benignly killing the bad bugs without leaving any harmful residue.

We've been really enjoying working with the endangered, heritage breeds. We now have rare Milking Devon cattle, Red Wattle pigs, Cotton Patch geese, and Delaware chickens, in addition to our other chickens, Self-Blue Muscovy ducks and Guineas. They give us all the joy any animal would watching them grow and multiply, but it's even nicer knowing that each newborn animal represents an "ark" of sorts, passing precious genetic diversity into a future which may one day despirately need that information. Plus...the animals are easy keepers and tastey, too!

Buying a confinement dairy animal may or may not be the easiest or cheapest route to your own milk cow. Also, the total cost can't be measured just at the sale. Remember, if an animal is more sickly or harder to keep in condition, you also need to factor in the additional cost of medical care, etc. The older breeds were bred to be easy keepers and require less maintenance while getting the job done (think Honda cars) whereas the more modern animals tend to require more delicate fine tinkering and higher octane fuel (think Ferraris) but boy oh boy do they produce if all is tuned just right! lol.

While I'm at it, there's one other point to plug while I'm advocating for rare breed milkers. There's a big debate about "A2 Milk". As I understand it, about 1/3 of the protein in cow's milk is described as either A1 or A2, with the later being considered the more ancient and more completely digested protein. Those animals that have been "tinkered" with the least tend to be the ones that possess the ability to make A2 protein. The modern dairy animal is a very unnatural creature, having been bred up to produce infinitely more milk than one or two calves could possibly consume. So...Holsteins tend to produce more A1 milk, Jerseys and other older breeds tend to produce more A2 milk. Some people say that A2 milk is great for lactose intolerant folks and helps prevent everything from autism and Type 1 diabetes to heart diseases. Others think it's all hooey. I don't know, but I figure that we chose our heritage breeds for many worthy purposes, and receiving A2 milk in my milk bucket is just one more side bonus! ;D

Catherine; From what I understand even the Jersey ,having been bred away from her roots, produces A1 milk. It is believed to have been spread from the Holsteins genetics.

Texas A&M now has a genetic test for A2. I am going to have my cows tested and any bulls I use. Mine are Irish Dexters, who are believed to be A2, but, certain practices of 'improving' the breed may have resulted in some lines being contaminated with the A1 gene.

[catherine]

VERY interesting info.! Thanks! Hmmm...Texas A&M is just down the road from me. I'd LOVE to have my herd tested for the A2 milk. Great tip! Let's all have the tests done and compare notes, ok?!