Reason to go from goats to cows?

It's not a dumb question! Better to ask now than regret later....

I've put my two horses together with my cow/calf pair. The horses don't like the cow or the calf and pin their ears and will chase and kick if the cow gets too close. As long as they are in a big enough area so the cow can stay clear, they do okay. I wouldn't feel comfortable leaving them in a paddock or other small place though.

I don't keep them together now, but when the pasture is up, they will graze in the same field.

I had goats last summer and the horses didn't like them either, but everyone managed just fine in the pasture. In the barn or paddock at least the goats were quick enough to stay away from the horses. They did okay together, but not great.

A lot will depend on your gelding and his temperament. If he's alone, he might like a cow or a couple goats as a companion.

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~Carla~

We just added a Jersey/Holstein cross cow (purchased from a local mega dairy) to our milk goat population. We'd never been able to separate the cream from the goat's milk, so wanted the cow's milk so we'd be able to make butter, whipped cream, sour cream, etc. We still drink our goats milk and make kefir and yogurt with it. Yesterday we made butter for the first time and it turned out great! We'll be keeping both. And we do utilize all our dairy products raw.

Shhhh Julieq.....

Don't ask.... Don't tell.... ... Ya don't want the cattle forum, pasteurized milk police down on ya now.... Do ya?.....

We have both as well.

I just wanted to say that we keep two geldings and our bucks with one of our cows.

The horses get along with both cows. One cow likes the goats. The other does not.

We can not keep our two cows together because they hate each other. I think it all comes down to the temperament of your individual animals.

None of our cows have calved yet, so I can not compare the milk. Our Dexter eats about as much as a Nubian, and I expect her to give a comparable amount of milk. She is great at clearing brush. She browses every bit as well as the goats.

I expect to get much more milk from our Jersey, but wow, I was not prepared for how much more food she needs. it's a big shock after only feeding goats and a Dexter.

Thanks for the answers and I appreciate the thread too, Bricore. Flint (our gelding) has actually spent the first half of his three year life with calves and cows and did fine with them. He never really "fit in" with the horses when he was pastured. Since we have had him home for the last year he has only the chickens and we humans of course. I almost have my dh convinced with a dairy animal and just couldn't decide between goats and cows so glad Bricore asked. There is a six year old jersey cow in milk who just lost her calve for sale under $900.00 but I haven't heard back from them and there are several Nubian dairy goats for sale too. I am working on trying to figure which would be best for our set up and how they would all get along with our gelded quarter horse. There is a lot of good info on this thread and I am thinking eventually having both goats and cow would be nice. Was also reading on another thread in here about someone who bred their Jersey with a Dexter, which I never thought of. Dh has a brother an hour from here who raises Dexter and Beefalo so if we could breed to his bull that could work.

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"Mama always says stupid is as stupid does" Forrest Gump

"It is discouraging to think how many people are shocked by honesty and how few by deceit." Noel Coward's Blithe Spirits

I've had many experiences mixing horses and cows and they have all been unfortunately bad when it came grain feeding time unless I put forth the effort to actually separate them during the eating. The horses gobble their's up and then pin back their ears and start launching hooves at the cattle to get some of the cow's leftovers.
If they're in a pasture environment things have always went fine as long as it wasn't a young colt who had developed a cow chasing habit. I've never been able to break them of that so they get shipped in short order if they chase the cows.
I do have a couple equine at the insistance of my kiddos and can hardly wait until their cowboying days are over. I don't ride anything that "thinks" on it's own anymore and will try to put up with them for the kid's sake.

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Francismilker

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

well Flint had spent a lot of time with calves when he was a young colt and he never got into the chasing habit. We have had him home for the last year so I wasn't sure if being with a full grown dairy cow now would be different. He only gets his grain in the stall. We have never given him grain until he is put up so I was figuring if I could get a set up with shared pasture I would still have him go into a stall every night with hay and grain. I was thinking I bring the cow in for grain before we let Flint out in the am and after he was put up in the evening. The way our property is set up they wouldn't be in a large pasture. I was hoping I could get by keeping them in two, two acre plot rotation. ? But I might just go with the goats first too....I don't know. ? Just reading and absorbing all the info on here.

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"Mama always says stupid is as stupid does" Forrest Gump

"It is discouraging to think how many people are shocked by honesty and how few by deceit." Noel Coward's Blithe Spirits

I had goats for milk and brought them with me when I moved to Wyoming from California... after the first kidding season I decided that I needed a cow instead. Around here, if it's not beef cattle, people don't want it. I ended up giving away most of my kids to 4Hers since I don't have the room or the need for more goats. I cut myself down to pretty much just the favorite goats and got a Jersey cow. It helped my decision too that my husband won't even try the goat milk or goat milk products. Anyway, I've learned a few things about cattle.... my cow, and her calf like to eat garbage more than the goats... it's real windy around here and a lot of stuff comes flying in from everywhere. I have to be very careful to keep baling twine, loose fencing, plastic bags, etc away from the cow. The goats do some of this too, but not nearly as much as the cow. As far as waste.... if my goats are fed free choice they will pick through and leave what they don't want, but they'll finish it all if I don't give them more. My cow, on the other hand... wow, that is a wasteful animal. She flings her hay everywhere when she's eating, then she poops and pees all over it, and when she's done picking through, she'll have a pile of hay left and start hollering for more food, I have to let my goats in her pen to clean up after her. 5 goats plus their kids were much cleaner than one cow, the goats will poop their little relatively non-messy berries and pee outside their shelter and then go to bed inside.... The cow will poop her big plops of manure, then pee in it and make soup, all inside her shelter and then lay right down in the soup. She will also walk across her pen from a clean spot, to a dirty spot and lay on a pile of manure. I do find it easier to deal with just the one, albeit much larger, animal than a bunch of smaller animals. I had one calf to sell as opposed to 8+ kids. I milk one animal once a day and have way more than we need, but when she "gets a bug up her butt" and shuffles around, I can get a lot more hurt if she steps on me. Ummm... yeah, sorry kinda went off all crazy there, anyway lol, that's the gist of my experience.

Thank-you everyone,
You guys are great. Well after reading this, getting online reading some more, and talking with my family....I am going to sell the goats and get us a cow.

Thanks again!

Dora Renee' Wilkerson

Glad you were able to make your decision. Now, have you decided what kind of dairy cow you will get?

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"Mama always says stupid is as stupid does" Forrest Gump

"It is discouraging to think how many people are shocked by honesty and how few by deceit." Noel Coward's Blithe Spirits

I tend to agree with your decision, Dora-- I have milk goats and beef cows, and the cows are just so much less work. For all the old wives tales about them eating anything, I find goats to be much less hardy than cows, plus the hoof trimming, etc,

Good luck!!

Susie

I forgot to mention the feeding part. My daughter separates all of the animals twice a day for feeding.

She wants to make sure there is no fighting, and if anyone goes off his feed, she wants to know right away.

I have no idea how they would get along if she did not do that.