Post by mollybelle on Aug 31, 2010 20:27:15 GMT -5
Interesting idea. We were unable to make it to the open house to view the cows prior to bidding, and wondered at the wisdom of buying dairy cows after only seeing pictures on the internet.
Luckily for us, the cows are just fabulous. The pictures were pretty good, showing most of the parts we would look at anyway on a cow. Their temperaments are fantastic, calm quiet cows who took the 5+ hour travel in stride, unloaded easily and started eating with no fuss.
We have high speed internet access, so we could monitor "our cows" easily, but how many dairy farmers don't have internet access, or possibly slow access depending on their location?
When we arrived to pick up our cows, there was a man there who had been bidding over the phone. According to him, he was told by the auction company to call back at 8 p.m. to place his final bids. When he called back, bidding had closed on several cows he was interested in.
One of the cows was the Jersey we bought, which he offered to buy as we were loading her up. I didn't want to sell her; she's just what we were looking to add to our herd, but it did seem slightly unfair that he hadn't had his shot at bidding, and the cow would have sold for a higher price.
Overall, it was an easy and positive process for us. There was an uncomfortable moment while we were trying to get one of the cows loaded, and one of the helpers decided to persuade the cow by using vice grips on her tail! My hubby stopped him before he could touch the cow, but really--how completely unnecessary!
I'm going to milk the girls in a little while, hopefully they are cooperative in a new environment! ;D
Luckily for us, the cows are just fabulous. The pictures were pretty good, showing most of the parts we would look at anyway on a cow. Their temperaments are fantastic, calm quiet cows who took the 5+ hour travel in stride, unloaded easily and started eating with no fuss.
We have high speed internet access, so we could monitor "our cows" easily, but how many dairy farmers don't have internet access, or possibly slow access depending on their location?
When we arrived to pick up our cows, there was a man there who had been bidding over the phone. According to him, he was told by the auction company to call back at 8 p.m. to place his final bids. When he called back, bidding had closed on several cows he was interested in.
One of the cows was the Jersey we bought, which he offered to buy as we were loading her up. I didn't want to sell her; she's just what we were looking to add to our herd, but it did seem slightly unfair that he hadn't had his shot at bidding, and the cow would have sold for a higher price.
Overall, it was an easy and positive process for us. There was an uncomfortable moment while we were trying to get one of the cows loaded, and one of the helpers decided to persuade the cow by using vice grips on her tail! My hubby stopped him before he could touch the cow, but really--how completely unnecessary!
I'm going to milk the girls in a little while, hopefully they are cooperative in a new environment! ;D