What is a "Black Jersey"

Nothing necessarily wrong with cheap. You are suffering from the logical fallacy known as "value attribution". You are assigning value to something based upon the price, irrelevant to the actual state of the object. If they had a sickly, diseased cow with three teats and wanted $12,000 for it, would that make it a great cow?

I tried to sell some goats this year for $25 each and nobody even bit on them until I raised the price. They were simply breeding females that I wanted to get rid of as I'm exiting the goat market. I felt it was wasteful to take young female goats to slaughter.

So don't worry too much about the price. Consider that she's "priced to MOOOOve." If she's a good cow she's a good cow. If she's a bad one then she's bad at any price.

We have several 'black jersey's' in our herd. They are all good milkers. I'm wondering if there is a particular reason that you are wanting a purebred. In all honesty I prefer the 'mutts' they are less tempermental and they seem hardier all around. There are a couple of things to be concerned about if he continues to let the calf suck...first of all, unless he continues to milk her out twice a day the cow will slow down production to only what the calf wants, secondly I'd be a bit worried about mastitis. Is the calf a heifer? If so you would recoup some of your investment if you sell her. I don't know about your part of the country but up here bull calves are just about being given away. BIL took 4 to market 2 weeks ago and after fees he ended up with $5.00 a piece. That didn't even pay for the gas to get them there.
In any case...good luck getting your cow, be it this one or another.
Just as an aside, my parents bought an old Jersey cow that was going to go to slaughter because she didn't produce enough milk for the farmer. They had 'Tonya' for close to 10 years and she kept us well supplied with enough milk to drink and to make yogurt, butter and cheese.

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Do not meddle in the affairs of Dragons for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup

Found a link to this Jersey bull on the Select Sires website. He looks awfully black to me!

http://www.selectsires.com/bulls/Pho...nguage=ENGLISH

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Francismilker

"The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much" James 5:16

Holy Cow that is one black Jersey....Topside

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TOPSIDE FARMS

Brazo is certainly dark! Jersey bulls tend towards the darker end of the spectrum anyways.
The thing about a purebred Jersey who is black is that they will have a tan topline that lightens in the height of summer. Crosses with higher percentage Jersey show that same topline. Our 3/4 Jersey, 1/4 Norwegian Red and higher black cows have the tan topline.

This was Sissy, a purebred registered Jersey, at the school. This was the height of summer, so her color was considerably faded. She was darker in the winter;

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Roseanna
Morning Mist Herd
Journey's End Jerseys
Jerseys, Jersey/Norwegian Reds, Beef, Boers, Nubians & crossbreeds

Some people will put Angus bulls to Jersey heifers to make for a smaller first calf. I'd be suspicious that your 'black Jersey' is the result of such a mating, especially if the seller fudged a bit when you asked whether she was purebred.

I hate to slander someone I don't know, but I suspect the seller may have you pegged for a 'newbie' and may be trying to pull a fast one on ya! My advice would be to take an experienced dairy person with you if and when you go to look at the cow.

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"I love all of this mud," said no one, ever.

Did you guys notice that she said that the cow gave 1 gallon per day IN ADDITION to nursing the calf? Just wondered as many of you (and I was thinking the same thing) expressed concern based on low production.

Nursing a calf full time plus a gallon a day is a different story. If she is 1/2 Angus and 1/2 Jersey and giving 2-3 gallons a day when the calf is off of her - that doesn't sound so bad. When bred to an angus, her calves would be nice beef cows.

Yes, I had noticed that it was in addition to nursing the calf - which means that the cow was probably also holding back as they often do when they have a calf. A reasonable cow should be producing around 20 litres a day which is far more than the average family will be able to use unless they are into butter/cheese making or keep pigs. So, if I just wanted some good quality milk for the house and some beef in the freezer, both of which will save me dollars at the supermarket, even a low producing cow will pay for herself in a year.

There is one drawback in trying to foist a Jersey/Angus cross off as a pure bred Jersey, black Jersey or Jersey/Friesian cross - it will be polled. It will also have that heavier, squarer beefy look to it. If I wasn't so tired I'd root around in my photos and post one of my Jersey/Friesian cross cow, and calves out of my Jerseys by an Angus bull. There is no mistaking the difference.

Cheers,
Ronnie

Homeschoolmom, how goes the cow hunt? Update please....I'm dying to see a photo if she becomes yours....Topside

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TOPSIDE FARMS

Here is a quote from page 52 in "The Book of The Jersey", by L. Gordon Tubbs. "In the very early days the unimproved Jerseys were mainly "red in colour and white; occasionally what is called cream-coloured or that colour mixed with white. Sometimes they are black and black and white. To-day a Jersey cow can be almost any colour from practically pure white to jet black, and, although no particular colour can be said to predominate the most popular colourings for cows and heifers are various shades of both light and dark fawns. Pure blacks are by no means objected to_one of the most famous and influential cows of the breed, old "Sultane" was jet black."

Another example of a famous black Jersey was Dahlia 4th. She won numerous prizes and yielded 10,995 lbs of milk when calving at the age of 12 years.

I remember milking a purebred black Jersey 50 or so years ago, inky black with the typical light ring around her eyes and muzzle and a light colored under belly and legs. So, a black Jersey in not always a crossbred.