Post by JT on Nov 13, 2020 13:41:52 GMT -5
My wife and I recently got into homesteading, and I wanted to share our experience with our homestead and Dexter milk cow.
We moved to Kentucky about a year ago and we were able to get a house with about 4 acres, mostly rolling pasture (though very poor quality) and some woods.
We started with some egg and meat chickens in chicken tractors last fall and winter. As spring rolled around, we got our garden going and decided to get two feeder hogs (as we were doing the GAPS diet and realized we needed more organic meat sources).
Well, one thing led to another and before we ever thought we would be ready, we found an ad on craigslist for Dexter cattle in our area, raised with no interventions, 100% grass fed, with rotational grazing practices. We visited the farm a couple times to pick out the cow we wanted. We ended up with a 9yo mama with a heifer calf (we also got 2 hair sheep for meat and to have multi-species on the same ground). The cows were being used for meat and were unhandled, though fairly gentle and used to humans. And the mama was already bred-back, which was a nice bonus We picked her because she had the best udder and teats.
In preparation, we had to fence in the whole property (5 strand electric wire perimeter fence) partially to keep out the pesky neighborhood dogs, but also in case the cows get out of their daily paddock, which has been a lifesaver on a few different occasions (we do rotational grazing with premier 1 sheep netting). We also built a milking stanchion, and a mobile shelter with a free-choice mineral feeder attached. we do the ABC buffet style mineral program with 16 different mineral choices, salt, kelp, DE, and activated charcoal.
Finally, the cows arrived and we began our rotation, moving them everyday. after letting them get used to our property and us, we put them in a stall and began stanchion training, which for us first time cow handlers, went pretty well once we got them hooked on alfalfa lol. There were definitely a lot of learning opportunities, haha.
Then we finally started milking! We got about 1/2 gallon a day only milking in the morning and calf sharing the rest of the day. We let her dry off in October once she weaned her calf as she is getting to ready to calve again soon! I think once we start milking again we will hopefully get closer to a full gallon because we were having some issues with her not letting down all the milk, which I know she will always hold some back for the calf, but I think she should give a little more (any tips to help her let down would be appreciated).
We also got a bull last month to breed her again after this next calf is born. Our plan is to butcher the previous years calf, and once we get into that rhythm hopefully we will always have a freezer full of beef
Neither of us had any farm experience, but were able to figure it out with a lot of research and some hard work. Our biggest influencers have been Justin Rhodes, Joel Salatin, and Greg Judy.
Anyways, hopefully this is an encouragement! It has been a really big blessing for us as we have grown about 70% of our own food over the last summer...both for health reasons and for sustainability as our country discovered this year just how fragile the food system is.
We moved to Kentucky about a year ago and we were able to get a house with about 4 acres, mostly rolling pasture (though very poor quality) and some woods.
We started with some egg and meat chickens in chicken tractors last fall and winter. As spring rolled around, we got our garden going and decided to get two feeder hogs (as we were doing the GAPS diet and realized we needed more organic meat sources).
Well, one thing led to another and before we ever thought we would be ready, we found an ad on craigslist for Dexter cattle in our area, raised with no interventions, 100% grass fed, with rotational grazing practices. We visited the farm a couple times to pick out the cow we wanted. We ended up with a 9yo mama with a heifer calf (we also got 2 hair sheep for meat and to have multi-species on the same ground). The cows were being used for meat and were unhandled, though fairly gentle and used to humans. And the mama was already bred-back, which was a nice bonus We picked her because she had the best udder and teats.
In preparation, we had to fence in the whole property (5 strand electric wire perimeter fence) partially to keep out the pesky neighborhood dogs, but also in case the cows get out of their daily paddock, which has been a lifesaver on a few different occasions (we do rotational grazing with premier 1 sheep netting). We also built a milking stanchion, and a mobile shelter with a free-choice mineral feeder attached. we do the ABC buffet style mineral program with 16 different mineral choices, salt, kelp, DE, and activated charcoal.
Finally, the cows arrived and we began our rotation, moving them everyday. after letting them get used to our property and us, we put them in a stall and began stanchion training, which for us first time cow handlers, went pretty well once we got them hooked on alfalfa lol. There were definitely a lot of learning opportunities, haha.
Then we finally started milking! We got about 1/2 gallon a day only milking in the morning and calf sharing the rest of the day. We let her dry off in October once she weaned her calf as she is getting to ready to calve again soon! I think once we start milking again we will hopefully get closer to a full gallon because we were having some issues with her not letting down all the milk, which I know she will always hold some back for the calf, but I think she should give a little more (any tips to help her let down would be appreciated).
We also got a bull last month to breed her again after this next calf is born. Our plan is to butcher the previous years calf, and once we get into that rhythm hopefully we will always have a freezer full of beef
Neither of us had any farm experience, but were able to figure it out with a lot of research and some hard work. Our biggest influencers have been Justin Rhodes, Joel Salatin, and Greg Judy.
Anyways, hopefully this is an encouragement! It has been a really big blessing for us as we have grown about 70% of our own food over the last summer...both for health reasons and for sustainability as our country discovered this year just how fragile the food system is.