Angus vs Jersey for beginner?

I've heard that too. We have two Jersey calves that we've been raising for a year now. They're still not big enough to butcher, but I am wondering if that statement will be true of these guys. I've heard it's really tender, but I don't know why it would be more so than any other meat.

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"Be still sad heart, and cease repining. Behind the clouds, the sun is shining. Thy fate is the common fate of all. Into each life, a little rain must fall." -Longfellow

By any chance would you happen to have a link for that "cow stall" (just in case)?

Another thing, I woke up this morning really praying and wondering if we are making the right decision so soon into our endeavors at homesteading. I am now wondering about the cost. I asked a dairy farmer about the costs and he told us about .38 to $1 to feed his girls, but someone here mentioned something about high costs. How much does it really cost to have cows? Especially if you only plan to have one for dairy and the rest to butcher (let's say one dairy and two to butcher per year for now)? We plan on raising "grass fed" cows, as this is what is selling (and what we would want to feed our children) in our circle of friends.

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~Jen
Married to my best friend and mother of 5.

We plan on having them in a barn although we were told they do not have to be in the barn every night. We also plan on feeding mostly pasture and some hay. We were told it would also be a good idea to give some grain (especially the dairy cow when bred and in milk), but that we don't have to. We are still studying, visiting friendly/loving farms and asking lots of questions (any books you want to recommend would be great). We are very new to all of this. Our goal is to raise our animals with lots of love and as natural as possible.

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~Jen
Married to my best friend and mother of 5.

Cows don't need a barn. Just a windbreak so they can get out of the wind if needed.
You will want a dry place to milk however.

jlgoinggreen
I am a beef producer and I promote forage feeding. I strongly suggest you get into position to house/contain and feed PRIOR to getting any bovines. We have a sticky at the top of this forum regarding rotational grazing or IMO natural feeding. I will be glad to assist in answering any pasture questions that arise.

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Agmantoo
If they can do it,
you know you can!

I'll see if I can find it.

When we were milking, I figured up the cost of our grain to feed her and it cost us about $2 a day to feed our dairy cow when she was in milk. That was just the grain. And we were getting about 2 and 1/2 to 3 gallons of milk a day. So still cheaper than what's in the store. The rest of the time she grazed. In the winter or when the critters are dry, we don't grain. They just get prairie hay and that's running about $30 a round bale.

Cows really don't need a barn and a lot of the cows where we are don't even have wind breaks. They do enjoy it when they have it, but where we're at is large expanses of prairie and not much else. But when milking, a barn to pull the cow into is important. It stinks having to milk in the rain which I've had to do once. But if they have a place they can get into, they will use it sometimes.

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"Be still sad heart, and cease repining. Behind the clouds, the sun is shining. Thy fate is the common fate of all. Into each life, a little rain must fall." -Longfellow

Thanks. I would love to take a look at it.

This gives me some peace. $2 a day for about 3 gallons of milk for a family of 6 is a big savings actually in our home. lol Milk is still at $3 almost $4 per gallon in our area. I guess I am at the "cold feet" stage. We already lost a pig (our first loss) and I just do not want to bring an animal to my farm that will suffer. Our piggy escaped and got trampled by some cows in a neighbors farm.

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~Jen
Married to my best friend and mother of 5.

Awesome! Thank you. I will take a look at that sticky. I do not plan to bring anything into our farm unless we are prepared for it (well as prepared as a newbie can get, some things I'm learning you will learn in the process). We are actually in the preparing stage. Studying and getting the place ready. My husband just took two weeks off of his "day" job and we homeschool, so kids will be helping. Everyone in the family will be out working/preparing what we have left to prepare/set up before hand. If we do purchase anything it will not be brought home until we are ready for it, even if we have to pay more.

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~Jen
Married to my best friend and mother of 5.

Well, that's one of those things that I don't care how prepared or experienced you are, accidents happen and you're going to lose critters on occasion. That's just farm life. Our dumb boar hog got out with the horses here a couple of weeks ago and the horses took a dim view of him being in their pasture and were all taking turns kicking the snot out of him. I managed to get him out. I think I was more worried about myself going in there than I was the pig. I figured served him right for getting out in the first place.

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"Be still sad heart, and cease repining. Behind the clouds, the sun is shining. Thy fate is the common fate of all. Into each life, a little rain must fall." -Longfellow

This is the link to the article that shows a picture of the "cow stall" that they built that protected her from flying feet.
http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/lewis99.html

Our cow, bless her heart, I don't even have to tie her. She just stands there and lets you milk her. UNLESS she has a cut on her teat. Then she's a mad woman. LOL

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"Be still sad heart, and cease repining. Behind the clouds, the sun is shining. Thy fate is the common fate of all. Into each life, a little rain must fall." -Longfellow

Thanks! This website is awesome.

BTW...I took a look at your website. Good job on it. I also read your farm blog....I had to laugh at how you brought your goats home. We brought ours home in the back of our SUV.

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~Jen
Married to my best friend and mother of 5.

Thank you. I haven't had a chance to write in it. Just too busy. I need to though.

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"Be still sad heart, and cease repining. Behind the clouds, the sun is shining. Thy fate is the common fate of all. Into each life, a little rain must fall." -Longfellow