What should I do? I need some advice.

[faithwingnut]

I'll try to make this as succinct as I can!
Our family, for numerous reasons,will be starting the GAPS diet this coming month. This means no dairy at all except for small amounts of homemade sour cream, kefir, ghee, yogurt and butter for at least a year. This means no MILK at all.

So, we have Gretel (5) our very first cow, who is due to calve with her third calf late this month/early next month. She is due with a Charlois and we were planning on keeping it to eat if it's a boy. Currently we are buying 2 gallons of milk a week from a lady down the road we sold our sweet Maisy to and could continue to do that indefinitely. This amount would allow me to make what I need and I could always buy more.

Eventually, we were planning on selling Gretel as we have a replacement heifer who will calve May 2016, just about the time we'll be able to drink milk again.

So, I'm not sure if we should sell Gretel now or next year when our replacement will calve.

My husband is sentimental about getting rid of Gretel and so am I but we don't need 2 cows and it seems wasteful, money wise, to keep Gretel, do all the work of milking her just to sell the milk with out our family benefiting all that much.

My choices
1) Keep Gretel until May 2016, selling the excess milk or buying pigs to grow out.
2) let Gretel calve, keep her calf on her for 4 months and then sell her(freezing all the excess milk for the following year to make needed items)
3) sell Gretel now, pregnant, and use some of the money to buy a steer calf for meat.

Keep in mind we have no pasture(wooded land) and hay prices are very expensive($20-24 for a 100 lb.)
I'm just not sure it's cost effective to keep her another year if we can't drink the milk.

Thoughts? Any and all appreciated since my husband and I are having a hard time deciding.

[AnnB (NE)]

Personally, I would buy another calf (or two) to put on her. No milking, and those extra calves can be sold, which will (should) more than cover the cost of feeding her.

Ann B

[finallyfarming]

Or pigs to sell! Either way, you will have so much extra energy from eating so well that the extra work will be a breeze! Good luck and I hope the new diet accomplishes what you need it too.

[Nonesuch Melissa]

I hate to be the naysayer but I would NOT keep her. I'd sell now if you are absolutely sure that you will not be using her milk for over a year (not something I'd sign up for but I am not you )

My reasons would be all the things that could go wrong in calving, with her or the calf, or with bottle calves, or later as a fresh cow or just a live cow. Right now, for you, she is all risk and no benefit. For someone else her potential benefits way outweigh her risks. Couple that with the fact that prices are excellent for family cows right now and most of all that some other family could be benefiting from her milk.

My $0.02

[aww12]

I would sell her now. The market is strong now, next year she will be 5, and the things could happen to her in the next year to make her a more valuable cow are outnumbered by those that would decrease her value. With the price of your feed I don't see how you could do better than trading dollars if you don't need her milk.

[northstar]

ditto

[AnnB (NE)]

I'll admit, I have a hard time letting go of a good cow! I'm more likely to put extra calves on her than to sell her.

But, others have raised some valid concerns - I lost 2 good cows last year. One died calving, as did her calf. The other got out and gorged on grain and the neighbor's freshly sprayed corn field. She died so quickly that the vet says she was poisoned by whatever the neighbor sprayed his corn with. Luckily, her 5 week old calf that was with her the whole time, was just fine (he recently came home from Janene's, her Daisy raised him).

But yeah, there is a definite risk in keeping her.

Ann B

[northstar]

My reason for selling would be that you want to sell her anyway. But I also wouldn't want to transport a cow so close to her due date very far. Lots of options.

[kammycow]

Here is another far fetched idea...lease her to someone. They would be responsible for feed, vet, care, milking, etc.. you retain ownership of cow and calf, they benefit from her milk for her lactation/time of lease. You could write a possible sale of her to them at a later date if both parties wanted that. I would have a lease written up that covered all the bases. Of course you would need someone close enough you could drop by and see her often. This would have pros and cons like everything else in life, but just an idea....

[faithwingnut]

Jan 6, 2015 15:49:15 GMT -5 kammycow said:

Here is another far fetched idea...lease her to someone. They would be responsible for feed, vet, care, milking, etc.. you retain ownership of cow and calf, they benefit from her milk for her lactation/time of lease. You could write a possible sale of her to them at a later date if both parties wanted that. I would have a lease written up that covered all the bases. Of course you would need someone close enough you could drop by and see her often. This would have pros and cons like everything else in life, but just an idea....

This is a great idea but I'm not sure my husband willbe OK with that.

[jenna403]

Questions: How attached are you to Gretel? How good of a cow is she including temperament, confirmation, udder etc? Is she a hard or easy keeper? Will she foster calves? How saleable is she? How will you feel if she is sold and then you choose not to continue with the GAPs diet (or your body is not tolerant of it)?

Keep in mind that your heifer may not take to AI. Or she could slip her calf. Or she could die on you. No guarantees with either of them. I'd have more doubts about an open heifer than a proven cow.

But I also understand what you're saying with hay prices. A full grown lactating cow will eat a whole lot in a year. Maybe write out the numbers so that it's right in front of you.

[3cows]

Will the GAPS diet be permanent, or do you anticipate reinstituting dairy into your meals after the year? If the answer is yes, and she is a proven, healthy cow, I would keep her, share milk with the calf, leaving it on her 24/7. By the time it is a couple months old, it will be able to handle all the milking chores, if you like, or you could separate it a couple afternoons a week so you could have milk for the house. At the end of a year, you still have a cow that you know and love, and if you let it nurse until you dry her off for the next calf, you will also have a thousand pound milk fed calf that will be the most delicious beef you ever tasted. (Ask me how I know this!)

For me, it would make no sense to part with a cow that I know, only to have to try to find another great one in a year.

On the other hand, if you will not be adding milk back into your diet in the future, you may be better off selling now while prices are good.

[christybell]

I would sell her. If you don't intend to keep her in the long run, sell now. Prices are good and you don't know what the future will bring. Every single time I have dawdled on selling an animal it gets hurt and is no longer marketable. From my past I don't hesitate to sell one that is not a "forever" animal.

[faithwingnut]

Jan 6, 2015 19:18:05 GMT -5 jenna403 said:

Questions: How attached are you to Gretel? How good of a cow is she including temperament, confirmation, udder etc? Is she a hard or easy keeper? Will she foster calves? How saleable is she? How will you feel if she is sold and then you choose not to continue with the GAPs diet (or your body is not tolerant of it)?

Keep in mind that your heifer may not take to AI. Or she could slip her calf. Or she could die on you. No guarantees with either of them. I'd have more doubts about an open heifer than a proven cow.

But I also understand what you're saying with hay prices. A full grown lactating cow will eat a whole lot in a year. Maybe write out the numbers so that it's right in front of you.

We are the most attached to Gretel, she was our first.she is an amazing cow, perfect in the stanchion with hand or machine but not a lap cow. She definitely has a mind of her own. She is as sturdy as they come and a very easy keeper.
I've never tried to foster calves on her.
I'm not sure how sale able she is but in this area I'm fairly certain I cou,d sell her within the week, easily.
I HAVE thought about the repercussions of the GAPS not working out but it's SO important for 5/7 of our kids I will do anything to finish it out.

Thank you for your questions! They help me work more things through in my head too!

[dunderi]

Here's a question, if you love Gretel and you have two cows... sell the other one perhaps? I don't see the point of raising a heifer until May 2016... She might be a good milker, she might not. All she's going to do for the next year is eat, and produce nothing... while you spend good dollars on milk from someone else's cow down the road... effectively "paying to feed twice the cow for half the milk"

At least keeping Gretel on, you'll still have your ghee, and your milk kefir, and think of the tonne of butter you'll be able to freeze for the future - not to mention having the access to enough milk to mess around with things like those hard cheeses that require a long time to mature. You'd be fully stocked by the time your diets all come back up to normal.

If Gretel is the proven entity, keep the good cow. Raise a couple of poddy calves (plus your beefy charolais!), or pigs, chickens, lambs etc on the milk - whether for your own freezer or to sell on... (i have NO idea what GAPS is but unless its a vegan thing i'm sure your family would benefit from the milk via it's being consumed by the other creatures, which you then eat)


my point is i guess, that you can always breed / buy more heifers, if you already have a good cow. keeping on a heifer now doesnt ensure a good cow later. so if you're only going to keep one, keep her, especially if she's thrifty - 5 isn't an old cow by any means if she's got no issues.

[nina]

I would sell. There's nothing wrong with holding on because you are sentimental, but...your practical side is telling you she needs to go. Someone else will benefit in the here and now, while you are looking for stop gap measures that are not really what you want to do or you would not be torn as what to do. Hay not only has gone up where I'm at some farmer's are short for the winter. I'm struggling to find decent hay right now as seller's only want to do big shipments. If you make the decision to sell once she is gone you won't be stressing. You probably "made" Gretel the good cow she is and when you're ready for the next one you'll know exactly what to look for and can take your time shopping for her replacement. I'm all for having LESS to worry about.

[marlana]

I completely agree with dunderi. I would keep Gretel, use her milk as you need it and buy pigs or another calf to raise with the extra. Sell the heifer, who you will be feeding with no current return. 5 years is not that old, and she is a good cow for you-that is worth a lot. You can always get a replacement cow in a year or two.

[christybell]

Well, after what Dunderi said, I find myself agreeing with her. That just makes sense all the way around! I just read another post about an 18 yo beefer so, in comparison, 5 sounds like a spring chicken!

[faithwingnut]

Well, you are all making me question my decision to sell Gretel at all! I guess it is wise to wait and see how a replacement works out before selling a really good cow. I admit, I have enjoyed the break from milking chores and like the idea of getting the milk without the chores for a bit. Also, we are starting the process to ad on to our house and I see it as a way to save money too. Unless, of course, we can pay for her food with the pigs/calf/milk sales. However, I love cows so much that getting rid of all of them is not an option anymore. Both DH and I never want to be without a cow.

So, clear as mud, right? Ha!

[dunderi]

even if you take the emotion out of it, I can't see me feeding one cow to be buying milk from someone else...

Unless you've more spare dollars than I do, anyways.

a Charolais cross calf should be able to take a goodly amount of her milk after the first couple months - you should be easily able to only milk once a day.