Well…I have exciting news.
We are getting a new cow!
A beautiful (to me anyway) Jersey heifer (a heifer is a female cow, usually younger, that has not yet given birth). She is due to calve fairly soon though we don’t have an exact date for that—-just a general idea as to the when. We have our fingers crossed for a heifer, not a bull, but we will take a live healthy either one.
Of course as you can imagine we are dreaming of milk. Well…actually cream…and lots of it. Which is one of the reasons why we chose a Jersey this time instead of going back to the Dexter as we had before. We wanted and desired a higher amount of daily milk than the smaller Dexter supplies. We also want it with a once a day milking instead of twice…hence the larger Jersey.
It took us a while to find our new girl. We searched high and low. In the Georgia Farm and Market Bulletin ad section, Craigslist, Bestfarmbuys.com, Keeping the Family cow website and a number of other farmer/livestock related sites. We called and emailed and viewed many many cows. So many that it started to get confusing since I would remember things about cow A but think the information belonged to cow B—or vice versa. Prices of course varied from very cheap to very high. Many, unfortunately, were not in good shape. And health is the most important, number one criteria, you should consider when choosing. Even before price. No matter what species you are choosing.
Many had bad feet, bad backs or bad udders. Like the older girl I drove 2 and ½ hours one way to view after speaking to her owner for quite a while long distance. Her udder was a mess. It hung low—way below her “knees” (that would be hocks in cow speak), had no boob “cleft” to speak of and her teats pointed North, South, East and West when they should all just point down at the dirt. Not only was her udder shot…but her calf didn’t look as good as he should have. The farm was very well taken care of but I think this gentlemen who professed to never milking his cows just didn’t know a good milker—or he was pulling my leg.
Some were too expensive….Like the full blood but not registered Holstein with a Jersey cross heifer at side. They wanted $2000 for both of them. That was a bit out of our price range and though I am not hung up on registrations…..for that money I would prefer it. She looked like a nice cow with a very cute heifer and from emails between the two of us it seems her owner takes excellent care of her. She also told us that she is very very docile. Docility is one thing we were looking for since we will be hand milking. Not that we were hung up on having one already halter trained and tame, but starting with an extremely friendly female would be a bonus. (By the way…that girl is still for sale in the Nashville Tennesee section of Craigslist if you are interested)
Finally we found one that seemed promising and spent most of Saturday driving to go see her and a few of her friends. We found some very nice heifers ready to calf over the next three months and had the opportunity to peruse the small group and choose the one we liked best. No they are not halter trained…nor are they handled. But over all they fit what we wanted from a cow: healthy, well cared for, in good condition, ready to calve, and with the build we were looking for.
Now our cow leans a bit, in my opinion, to the look of a beef type cow but with an awesome and well attached udder. And udder with a beautiful cleft up the middle of her udder ( or boob cleavage if you want to call it that) almost like she has on a great push up bra. She is not quite as “dairyish” in the face and build as some of the other girls though. But that is what we liked and felt would fit what we wanted and needed. And so my point, going back to the title, is that there is no perfect cow. Or sheep, or horse, or pig or chicken. What is perfect to one….may be horribly ugly to another. Or at least less pleasing. Or not even work for them.
If you ever choose to manage the procreation of livestock you will over time get a variety of body styles. You will also get a variety of personalities and genetics that influence health, looks and longevity. I know that if you read on line and in books they make it sound as if there is a “standard” look to most all of these animals. And with some there can be….especially when you start narrowing down the genetics more and more. However if you or the farm you choose to buy from breeds and then keeps their own males (and females) they, or you, will have a variety to choose from. Because no matter what they say….it is not that easy to mix up your genetics but still breed the “same” animal over and over cookie cutter style. And anyway…is that what we would want? We chose and bred our rams for a variety of reasons. One ram might be kept because he had the most awesome fleece. Another might have had a coarse fleece but been running in almost full fleece on a 90 degree day with no panting. So as you can see…two good reasons to keep two different males and breed both of them to females that might need improvement in one of those areas. However if someone was breeding for meat…they wouldn’t care about the soft fleece ram at all. And if someone lived in Canada..the running in the heat wouldn’t mean the same thing for them as it does for us here in the South. Different farms….. different needs.
Though sometimes frustrating (or intimidating) when making a purchase, especially of a breed you are not all that familiar with, having that selection allows for a range of choices. Example: When we went to view our girl a few of them were already sold. The sold girls had, in my opinion, a few faults that we would not have chosen. One “sagged” a bit in the pasterns (a pastern is like the wrist of the animals leg—right above the hoof area) which would mean more hoof trimming since they will not as easily get naturally walked off. Not a horrible issue….but we have done that before and decided that hoof trimming is one of our MOST hated chores no matter the species. One female was too narrow in the chest. Again, not a big issue…but we do look for a wider one for health and mostly: meat. Wider chest means more lung capacity for good health and more meat especially when you have males born that will be eaten. The sold ones were however going to a small hand milking cow co-op. And all of them were very friendly, licking my husband and standing with us almost the whole time. I can see why the buyers chose those animals.
So when it is time to choose your animals do a bit of research. But do realize that you may never get the “perfect” animal. There are plenty of on line guides to tell you what to look for when purchasing an animal both conformation wise and health wise. Study them…but don’t consider them the bible of your choice. Remember, you can over time breed the type of animal or breed that fits you and your farm best but then….it may not always fit another’s farm.
How exciting.
Our perfect cow is the one the neighbors have that we buy our milk from. I’m perfectly happy letting them take care of them and paying them for raw milk. If they every get rid of their cows, I may look into it.
How wonderful! Congratulations!! Aaaahhhh, cream!
It is interesting how you note she looks more “beefy”. Our hay guy raises replacement heifers for commercial dairies. He gets them as young heifers, inseminates them, confirms pregnancy, then returns them. The Jersey heifers he has had always look more beefy than mine….and have longer legs. So I’m wondering if this is where many of the commercial dairies are going with their Jersey genetics.
Can’t wait to see pictures of your new girl! Please post some when you get her!!
Congrats on finding your perfect cow, and enjoy that glorious cream! We had Jerseys before we switched over to goats, more apt for our own scale. Goats are our perfect cow! Haha. One of our Jerseys was prone to milk fever, a condition we did not fully understand, and we eventually lost her to milk fever last summer. After we lost her, I did some more research, and came across the prevalence of milk fever (hypocalcemia) in Jerseys, one site said 4 out of 5 Jerseys get some level of milk fever after calving, but this was on a commercial dairy site, so it may have just as much to do with the feed (high concentrates for milk production) as the breed. And I also found that the reason why is that Jersey milk is the highest of cow’s milk in calcium as well as other vitamins, minerals and butterfat. Which is a wonderful thing, but it also means that the Jersey’s can be more prone to mineral deficiencies when they are lactating and calving.
Just a head’s up. You can get a calcium/magnesium milk fever treatment from a vet or dairy farmer, or there are homeopathic treatments to give prior to and during calving. The thing about milk fever that I did not understand is that although it is a lack of calcium in the blood stream, it is really a metabolism issue. Giving access to too much calcium (minerals or legume pastures) prior to calving will slow down the rate of calcium metabolism by the body. If this metabolism slows down, when she calves and freshens with milk, it can put a huge demand on calcium, more than the amount that can be absorbed by the intestinal tract, and a healthy cow will metabolize that calcium from the bones. Milk fever can happen fast, from the first symptoms of listlessness, trembles and lack of appetite, our Jersey was down and in shock within an hour, and dead within 12. Against all logic, the way to prevent milk fever is to limit the cow’s access to calcium at least two weeks before calving, taking her off rich pastures or soybean meal (high in calcium), and cutting mineral supplements. In this way, her body’s metabolism of stored calcium is active and high.
I hope this helps, there’s lots of information on the net about milk fever, I didn’t save any of the links I found, or I would have pasted them in.
Enjoy that delicious milk and butter!
Chiot’s Run…that is the “perfect” cow
I have to admit…I would not have decided to get one if we didn’t already have a person who absolutely wants to share milking chores. He shares chores…for free milk. Works for us. That way we still get some time off for travel. That also is why we had trouble finding a cow…no one wanted to sell the calf with the cow. We want the calf so we only have to milk once a day not twice.
Kristin…I am sorry I couldn’t post pics sooner. I forgot to take them!! Excitement I guess. I will as soon as we get her.
I don’t know if beefier is where they are going…it just happens to be where we did. The gentlemen we purchased from actually had a variety of body styles so….not sure. Even his main herd had a wide variation. However it is we are happy with her body style though there were a couple of girls with very dairy style faces—quite attractive. I don’t really think the “style” matters as much as we like to think it does—though it is easy to have a visual favorite isn’t it? I’d just prefer good feet, backs, udders etc in the long run.
I’m soooooooo envious of you getting a cow! I keep fantasizing about having a house cow (but then I realized that will require more than just fencing…). So, it continues simmering on the back-burner of my continuous evolving wish list. I look forward to photos and hearing how you go with it/her!
HDR
Freija Fritillary…Thanks for the heads up. Milk fever is something we have to worry about in all animals…even dogs. I know I always worried about it with our sheep but have never (knock on wood) had an issue. Though we do keep preventive medicines for the “just in case” situation. We are pretty concerned about nutrition —even to the extent of having liver testing done each year on our sheep —and try and make sure we have a fully balanced blend available to all of our livestock (pigs/chickens/sheep/cows). We actually mix our own minerals since we need to add selenium, copper and cobalt. Part of the issue is ph in our soil which we have worked on but also high sulfur and iron in our soils and water. I think that the imbalances –which contribute not just to milk fever but a host of other illnesses—that occur in commercial herds/flocks have a tendency to come from a “one size fits all” mentality. Either that or they choose to use chemical forms of nutrition instead of natural. We use kelp and also prefer natural high yeast selenium for our animals versus sodium selenate which is the most commonly used form.
Anyway…as you are aware we have to pay attention and not take anything for granted with livestock
HowlingDuck…..Oh the cow thing “simmered” here for a long while too. When I finally decided (being the main animal care giver/vet/handler) to concede and get a new cow I had not only my husband but some other friends without acreage literally jumping for joy. So…the excitement does run wild here. But you are correct—it is more than just a fencing issue isn’t it?
Hi there Dancingfarmer –
certainly more than just fencing – having sufficient time, access to fodder, money – & also land to cope, are big issues, too! I’m sure we could all very easily get carried away & then find out we’ve got more animals than we can manage.
We’ve got 36 acres here (Wales, UK) of which 25 acres is organically-managed pasture; & find that during the summer we’ve got too much grass whereas we really do struggle in the winter – as even though our herd of BT goats is housed overwinter (it’s far too wet for them outside): the sheep & horses never seem to have enough as the ground gets so poached with all the precipitation.
We used to be able to spread some superb seaweed fertilizer on the land but sadly it’s no longer available; so we have to wrack our brains for viable alternatives. It’s a serious problem so if anyone has any advice we’d be grateful!
So far (touch wood) we’ve had no problems with milk fever – but I keep a bottle of ‘Calciject’ on hand, just in case. About three weeks after a goat has kidded she’s at her at her most vulnerable to all sorts of issues; so I find myself watching them all like a hawk! Whilst we have around 100 goats here (of which 30 are milkers, the rest are followers ranging from this year’s kids to our three Stud Males) I know each & every individual personality, by name; & am thankfully able to spot the moment any one of them appears to be going ‘off colour’.
The biggest problem we seem to have here, is mastitis: no rhyme, no reason & despite careful management still crops up in a few cases, every year.
But I know what you mean about “the ‘perfect’ animal”; horses for courses, as they say! Breeds, conformation, type….all have to fit the individual bill. As I mentioned we have three Stud Male goats here: each one different; every one an improver – depending of course, on which doe he serves. Some matings could be a disaster; others, sheer poetry – which could subsequently lead to literally generations of bad or good goats.
Again it’s all about knowing your animals – & ensuring you do the best for them, their breed, & your need!