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A Jersey and her calf...
Had a call, out-of-the-blue from a farmer I had spoken to earlier in the Spring. I had mentioned my interest in finding a family milk cow, and lamented as to how hard it was to find one here in the mountains of WV.
Well' he called today and said he was selling one of his cows. It's a 3 1/2 year old with her two month old second calf (a bull). He's asking $2500 for the cow and calf. She 100% Jersey, but not registered. I scoured C/L and various dairy site to see if I could nail down a price. They're all over the spectrum, from $750 - $3500. What's a fair price to pay, in your opinion? I'd love to have her, and I have an immediate market (black of course, I live in USSWV :( ) for as much milk as I can produce. What say you, good homesteaders? ~Mark |
dairy cow prices are way down..that seems really high to me figuring the bull calf right now is worth $150 to $200....that just seems really high with the market the way it is now...if the calf has been sucking for 2 months WITHOUT HIM MILKING HER......she will not give bunches of milk only the amount the calf has been taking.....YOU HAVE TO TAKE IT FOR HER TO MAKE IT...or she will only make that amount
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some people advertize on CL with those really high prices looking for a newbie that wants a good cow and only thinks the $3500 cow is better than the $1000 cow for no other reason than the price
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these are prices here now from sale barn but check by a vet to be good
Replacement Cows: Fresh Heifers and Cows: Approved – 1100.00-1500.00, ind Jersey 950.00 Medium – 850.00-1100.00, Jersey’s 560.00-770.00 Common – ind 675.00, Crossbred ind 400.00 Milking Cows: Approved – 975.00-1200.00 Medium – ind 890.00, Crossbreds 560.00-880.00 Common – 510.00-875.00, couple Crossbreds 460.00-500.00, Jersey’s 350.00-450.00 Springer Cows: Medium – 620.00-875.00, Jerseys 600.00-785.00 Common – 500.00-550.00 Cows Bred three to six months: Medium – Crossbreds 600.00-725.00, ind Jersey 610.000 Common – Jerseys 425.00-525.00 |
Thanks for the info MF.
I'm unfamiliar with the sale barn format. What is approved/medium/common...? Under milking cows, Jerseys are 350-450... is that dollars?! |
approved nothing wrong with anything
....medium might be a little old or little skinny or have a working teat that maybe sticks out ...common might be light in one quarter or even a three teater... YES thats DOLLARS for the whole cow..not by the pound |
I think they are asking about twice what the cow is worth or perhaps more.
Just my opinion. |
Supply and demand. He knows you've been looking for a while. I'd check the sale barn prices in your area and see what they are going for. Then offer him a bit more.
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Definitely sounds high. Bull calves are worth nothing here. You would lose money sending them to an auction. This is her second calf, but has she been milked before? Is he milking her with the calf on her? Do you know anything about her history or milking background?
I would ask some more questions. Find out how much milk she typically makes (if he doesn't know, that's a red flag) if he knows how much butterfat is in her milk, if she has any history of mastitis. Is she coming from a commercial dairy farm, or does he just raise a few cows (nothing wrong with raising just a few cows, but commercial farms are more likely to test their milk on a regular basis). Prices may be lower here than they are where you are, but $2500 around here would buy you a really nice registered jersey with no problems. |
A great gentle Broke to hand milk should sell for around 1000$ 11 or 12 is still not to bad when yer getting the calf ... be extra carful Make sure she is milkable a dangerious kiking or wild cow is useless and will ony bring 35 -50 cents as a butcher cow there are a couple in our local bargan finder paper in sw Va. I got my brown swiss milking and a 200 lb. calf for 900$ 3 years ago and have had plenty o milk every calf has been a cross from a beef bull (VEry convinent and free to use around here ) and have great meat in the frezzer ;although it ties me down a lot milking 10 months a year i enjoy the bounty of dairy products there are some nice gentle cows out there be patent and keep looking get all your prep work done a nice stall to milk in gates in the right places !/2 gallon glass jars a good strainer electric butter churn ice cream maker ;all show up at flea markets and on ebay all the time agian watch out for over pricing due to antque status a good stainless steel semless bucket is a great time saver at th 2 times a day cleanup makes this a much more enjoyable task
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Almost there!
I stumbled upon an old Trade paper that had a dexter listed for sale...in my eentsy-teensy little town! I excitedly dialed the number, but was told they had sold the Dexter. The lady then told me her husband had just bought a Guernsey with a month old bull calf at a nearby auction house. I thanked her and hung up. About 5 minutes later, she called and said her husband would be willing to sell the cow! I went and looked at her yesterday. The bull calf is not more than a month old and looked very healthy. The cow wasn't keen on having you near her, but I think that's understandable considering it's a new place and she's been shuffled around a lot in the past week. I was able to hand milk her a little and got milk out of 3 teats. The fourth I coudnt get milk from and it felt like a small knot in the teat. The teat was chaffed, like the calf had been nursing it, so I'm not sure if it's viable or not. With the calf, he's asking $650.
The other lucky find for me was a 700 Jersey cow Organic dairy 30 minutes from me! I'm going there tomorrow to looks at a few of his cows. He has a 2nd freshening cow that injured her leg and can't be milked on concrete. He said she'd be a perfect family milker as we have a dirt floor in our barn. He has several others that will freshen in Spring as well as a few recent. He hasn't laid out any pricing yet. What do you guys think? ~Mark |
The dairy cow sounds interesting because you will be able to ask questions and learn about her health history, calving, and milk production, we have had very good luck with the two we bought from a dairy.
The Guernsey would need to be checked out a little for mastitis and and illness that she might be carrying from going through the auctions, but if its a small town you might be able to track down the farmer that sold her at the auction and get more info on her too. At the very least have her tested for diseases and make sure you aren't dealing with mastitis. Buying a cow is kinda like dating-- just try to get as much information as possible before you jump off that cliff and then just hope for the best. |
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If you decide to go that route, I'd ask for milk and health records, find out what vaccinations she's had and see if you can milk her before you buy. Good luck! I hope this one works out for you. |
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I really believe your best bet is getting a cow from a reputable breeder or a dairy where the animal's history and health can be verified. |
Oh, man...Oh man!
In a bit of a panic now! Just back from the Organic dairy where we went to look at some of their Jerseys. We found our cow!! She's a 3 1/2 year old, freshened almost 3 months ago with her second calf (and is possibly bred back), and is giving 40 pounds a day of 6 1/2 percent butterfat organic milk. Up to date on all shots and a clean history.
So we're now running around trying to get our milking supplies organized. We'll be hand milking her for the near term, so we'll use a plastic bucket until the stainless stell pail arrives. Biggest dilema is how to store the 5 or so gallons each day. What we can't use will just go to the pigs. Should we just dump everything from the fridge in the morning and use the fresh, or save it a day or two and only put it in the fridge when we're low? Zoinks! Why didn't I plan better??! |
Pretty exciting, huh? I remember setting my alarm clock for 4:30AM to go milk because that's what she was used to at the dairy. That didn't last long. LOL
I remember wondering what to do with all the milk. Yes, I actually dumped some out <gasp>! Okay, you don't really want to bother with refrigerating milk just to pour it out in the morning. No reason to use the energy chilling it if you aren't going to drink it. As long as your milking pail is clean and you clean her up good before you milk, you'll be able to keep it fresh for several days. I would suggest giving it to the pigs right after milking and when you run low in the house, bring in another batch. You can pour the pigs milk into a big container and let it clabber. The pigs will really enjoy it that way. If you have chickens they like the clabbered milk too. Congratulations! Pictures when you get a chance. When is she coming home? |
Congratulations! around here it's hard to find hefiers or cows, got my 2 holsteins haven't been able 2 find 2 more of anything. 40 lbs a day, sound like time to look for a milk machine and a chesse maker. LOL
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Mason Jars
I store the milk we drink and for cheese in 1/2 gallon mason jars. The rest for the pigs goes into buckets to clabber.
Have fun. Getting a new cow can be stressful but it will all fall into place. |
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Really contemplating the milking machine. We'll see how it goes with hand milking. Given the price of a stainless 16qt pail with a lid, I might just buy the machine! |
http://www.countrysideorganics.com/p...&cat=10&page=1
She's currently on pasture and hay silage. We have tested hay and pasture, but the pasture is fading fast with winter approaching. Our hay is 16.4% moisture content, 10.9% protein, 7.3% digestible protein, along with some other parameters to lenghty to list. If I fed a scoop (maybe 2.5 pounds 2X a day) of the cattle feed at milking and hay, would that suffice to keep her healthy? |
sounds OK but every cow is differint if she is shiny and in good condition and yer getting a good amount of milk great . sometimes you can go with a little more grain or good silage and get more milk but why push her if its not nessary or grain is expencive some cows like big dairy bred Hostiens put almost every thing they eat back into the milk production and look boney all the time but they eat a lot and burn out young, brown swiss and jersys are easyer to feed and (espicialy in the swiss cows) tend to stay healthy for many years LET THE EYE OF THE MASTER FATTEN THE STOCK
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Milk!!!
OK, I need some quick advice...
I picked up "Emma" this afternoon around 3PM. She's been milked at 6A/6P, giving 48 pounds. I went out at about 5:30 this evening to hand milk...which is new to her and me! She did great! She would look back at me as if to say, " you're STILL there?!" every so often. It took me about an hour, and I got just less than a gallon. Do you think it was just all the "new" that caused the lower out put? I went until each teat wouldn't give a squirt unless I let it sit there for a few minutes. Oh, we drank fresh, warm milk, in the barn... I guess we'll be dead by morning. :hysterical: ~Mark |
If she isn't used to hand milking it will take a few days for her to let her milk down good for you. It will happen, just will take a little get acquainted period for her and you to get on the same page. Expect her output to be a little different at least for awhile, she has new people, new feed, new routine to get used to. Sounds like you got a great cow and I doubt you die by morning, takes at least a couple days LOL
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Oh congrats congrats congrats...a quiet barn and a cudding milker is my version of outpatient therapy. Revel in the smells and the quiet and the feeling of your face leaned up against her flank...oh joy oh joy oh joy for you.
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I like the way I smell after milking. Weird, huh? I think it reminds me of the smells at my Aunts farm, where I spent my summers.
Emma is an absolute gem. She allows me to spend far too long hand milking her without much more than an occasional look back at me. This morning, we got just over a gallon. Still no where near her production on the farm she came from. I milk her until shes out, but I'm still paranoid Im not doing a proper job. I broke down and ordered the Delaval milking machine. Her teats are small, and I think it's just taking me too long using my thumb and two fingers. |
How much of a feed change has she gone through? Takes a lot of grain to keep up the milk production.
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Her feed has stayed the same. The farm she came from is certified organic, so the farmer let me buy enough of her feed to keep her nomal diet until I get my own supplies. She gets 50 pounds of alfalfa hay, 5 pounds of rolled corn and 3 pounds of soybeans. We discovered she really likes the goats feed, so she gets a big scoop of that along with some sweet feed at milking time. Tonight, we got 2 1/2 gallons milking for about an hour. Total today was just over 4 gallons. I think she's starting to relax a bit more. She is SO curious. Always looking at different things and sniffing stuff. Our Highlands pass a lazy glance as you approach, almost content to let the world pass them by- unless you're carrying a bucket! That they see from far away and they'll meet you at the gate.
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Congrats on the new cow.
My first cow, Maggie, was not an easy milker and it took me an hour to milk a gallon. I think she would fall asleep on me, a few times I thought she was going to fall over on top of me. I miss her. My Yo was milking more, but she is late in her lactation and I can milk her faster, i am only getting a gallon a day off of her right now--maybe that is why I am milking faster. I am working on getting a new cow. (Have some coming up in the ranks, but not ready yet) Best of luck with her. Make lots of cheese and coconut ice cream! |
She meets the neighbors...
http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...201_150205.jpg She is the most curious cow I've ever been around. Always sniffing, licking, trying to eat everything around her. Nothing escapes her attention. She also goes a bit wild with her bedding, flinging it across the pen in her attempt to make it "just right". Pretty happy with her personality and demeanor. She is exceedingly patient with my hand-milking (machine hasn't arrived), although I'm speeding up! Tonight I did 2 1/2 gallons of golden milk in about 45 minutes. The cream is the best! When we skim the gallon jugs the next day, I would venture to say it's 60/40 milk to cream. We've made butter and "easy" cottage cheese so far. I love it! :happy: My son watching closely. I let him try every so often to get the feel for it. Soone enough, it will become his job. :) http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...201_182823.jpg |
She is a BEAUTY!
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Hooray! That is so awesome! Good for you guys. yep, it took my and frannie a few days to settle into a routine and get to know each other, before she was letting all her milk down. Now, it just flows....and fresh, home made butter is to die for. YUM! :)
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Congrats on your new milk cow! If you think she might be holding back, don't forget to bump her udder. I personally prefer hand milking, you will get faster at it as you get the hang of it and you build up the muscle in your hands. Clean up from hand milking is a lot faster too.
One of the cheapest places to get stainless steel buckets is from Jeffers - a 13qt pail is less than $12 from them. http://www.jefferspet.com/stainless-.../PET/cp/16034/ I used their 6 quart pail when I had my Dexters. |
Thanks for the advise on the pails!
btw... check out the HT 2012 calendar... THAT'S OUR FARM ON THE COVER!!! :nanner: Oh, and MAY too! |
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