Post by buxombeefcowdairy on May 16, 2007 16:10:57 GMT -5
Rita Mae is still not letting down. She does not appear to be drying up, but her production is down to a paltry quart per milking, which is enough for drinking and cereal but not ice cream . My 'family' is just my husband and myself, no kids.
I called a really nice fellow about a cow yesterday, he has a certified organic dairy with close to 200 grade Jerseys. I was thinking maybe of a cow who had lost a quarter, maybe whose production isn't up to the rest of the herd.
What he has to sell is a cow who had a very bad case of mastitis when she freshened (30 days ago), and became so sick that they had to use antibiotics to treat her. She made a full recovery, and is now producing 50 pounds a DAY. They can no longer sell her milk because she was treated with antibiotics, even though the legal withdrawal period is well over it does not qualify for organic milk.
50 pounds, though, Yikes. It isn't legal in Oregon to sell raw milk, and I just don't know what I would do with all of that milk, even considering her production would go down if her feed wasn't so rich.
If I do buy a cow, she will have to be from an outfit like this, who is fastidious about herd health. They have a closed herd, and test for Johne's disease and other risks that we do NOT want to have in our beef herd. (Our bull sales are our bread-and-butter, many buyers buy from us because of our herd's health status. We don't take cattle to shows or sales.)
The price is right, a two-year old gentle Jersey in high production for $800.
I have some health problems, and getting out of bed in the morning is really hard for me, though I can putter around my chores for hours in the evening. I don't think it would be fair to her to adjust her to once-a day milking, would it? I could let one of our beef calves nurse her and share-milk, but my husband would be concerned for her udder. We also don't want to have a bull calf confined, he needs to be with the herd and learn his manners from the other cattle.
Our fall-calving herd will also start calving in late July, and we usually end up losing at least one calf, so I could easily find another 'beef-dairy' cow then.
I called a really nice fellow about a cow yesterday, he has a certified organic dairy with close to 200 grade Jerseys. I was thinking maybe of a cow who had lost a quarter, maybe whose production isn't up to the rest of the herd.
What he has to sell is a cow who had a very bad case of mastitis when she freshened (30 days ago), and became so sick that they had to use antibiotics to treat her. She made a full recovery, and is now producing 50 pounds a DAY. They can no longer sell her milk because she was treated with antibiotics, even though the legal withdrawal period is well over it does not qualify for organic milk.
50 pounds, though, Yikes. It isn't legal in Oregon to sell raw milk, and I just don't know what I would do with all of that milk, even considering her production would go down if her feed wasn't so rich.
If I do buy a cow, she will have to be from an outfit like this, who is fastidious about herd health. They have a closed herd, and test for Johne's disease and other risks that we do NOT want to have in our beef herd. (Our bull sales are our bread-and-butter, many buyers buy from us because of our herd's health status. We don't take cattle to shows or sales.)
The price is right, a two-year old gentle Jersey in high production for $800.
I have some health problems, and getting out of bed in the morning is really hard for me, though I can putter around my chores for hours in the evening. I don't think it would be fair to her to adjust her to once-a day milking, would it? I could let one of our beef calves nurse her and share-milk, but my husband would be concerned for her udder. We also don't want to have a bull calf confined, he needs to be with the herd and learn his manners from the other cattle.
Our fall-calving herd will also start calving in late July, and we usually end up losing at least one calf, so I could easily find another 'beef-dairy' cow then.