Fair Price for a Jersey Cow?
 

Have a chance to buy a Jersey, due in spring with her 3rd calf, bred to a good Jersey bull. She is a beauty. They are asking $1200. Is that in the neighborhood of fair? We raised our last Jersey as a calf, and we have a couple Holsteins, so I'm not sure on prices any more. We have been looking for a Jersey for over a year, they are hard to come by around here. I really want her, it just seems like SOOO much money.

If you check out the Capital Press, the weekly Ag newspaper in our area, you will find them anywhere from the $800/900 range and up to $1200. That is when you can find them. A few years ago it was common to find family cows in the Capital Press, since the economy went south I have not seen nearly as many. I suspect people are holding on to them as a provider of food in tough times.

We have purchased 3 milk cows in the past few years when we lived in the Willamette Valley portion of Oregon. We never paid as much as $1200, but we did pay near that much. If this cow is a good cow with no udder issues IMO she is at the top of the price range but not out of line.

BTW what part of SE Washington are you in? You might be able to find a commercial dairy cow who is healthy, but not as strong a producer as a dary needs to make her profitable.

I bought a very nice 3/4 Jersey 1/4 Holstein (extremely good blood lines) a year and a half ago for that much in western WA. She was bred to a spectacular Jersey bull as well...turned out I got a heifer too WOOT
Anyway, I would say a qualifying "yes". Meaning she must have a great udder and very good conformation as well being well behaved at milking. Of course she must be in good health too.
Good luck!
Trisha (now in North Central WA)

Depends on what part of the country you are and how many Jerseys are avaliable. Seems like it would be on the top of the price range but if she is bred (confirmed) to a nice Jersey bull and healthy and money would not stress you out financialy it may be just the thing. Personally I would offer a lower price but not low enough to insult them.

Oregon Julie - I am near Walla Walla.

Trisha - Great point about milking behavior. I think we'll ask if we can be there for milking in the morning.

Starjj - I did actually think about offering $1000...couldn't hurt.

Kinda steep for an older cow. But, the market is what it is.

Bret, this is not an older cow, it would only make her around 5, thats just when they are getting to be good family cows. I have a cow that is 11 and doing well, and wouldn`t sell her for much less. You have to take all things into perspective here, Is she healthy, registered, broke to lead, calving problems, amount of milk, Bred, quite, nice to milk, friendly, easy breeder, heifer history, lactation history, dry history. That is what I would look for, then it is just a matter of if you need her and can afford her. Some 5oo dollar cows can end up costing you alot of money. If she is going to be around for another ten years thats not so bad. It`s a crap shoot anytime you buy an animal, but if you have done all you can to check out histories, you have done all you can. Hope this helps some. >Thanks Marc

I forgot, I have some cows that are fantastic milk cows, but are not ever going to be family cow, they just aren`t the same type cows.>Marc

Great post Marc. $1,200 is very fair if she is a good cow. Cross's go for much less around here (I'm in the Willamette Valley) so if money is an issue you could look around some more but a purebred Jersey, bred back, proven, very fair price. Of course different cows have different purposes and what you are going to use her for makes a huge difference in what you end up buying. I have a friend that has a small dairy, my own girls show their jerseys, and you want just a family milk cow, so we all want/need different things a cow. Just make sure she is good for YOU :)

When my Dad got out of the dairy business years ago I hated store bought milk so much, I took one of my hereford/holstein stock cows when we weaned the calves off in the fall, and started milking her. She wasn`t much to look at, but milked like heck, and was a sweetheart. She gave three gallons a day, not bad for an old stocker cow, but the milk was just as good as a prized Holstien or Jersey.>Thanks Marc

we did that too marc. when just moving to this area, i wanted a milkcow in the worst way! so the landowner pulled some 10yo angus/holstein cross out of the pasture, figuring the 'city girl' will give up soon. (i wasnt' a city girl but in this area, i was.) she was not very happy but i did break her to milk and dang! she gave tons of milk, raised 9 calves on her that summer plus more for us than i could handle! she was easy to milk too.

Marc, around here 5 years is considered an older cow. Not OLD, but older. 5-7 years would be an aged cow on some of the 24/7 3X daily farms! Those guys might only get 2 lactations out of an animal. That's stupid IMO. 3rd calf should put her in that 5-7 range.

If well taken care of(I don't mean babied, just properly handled), a 5 year old cow is just hitting her peak years. Thats considered still young on our dairy farm.
If a good cow, I would be asking the same $1200 if she were mine. If she wewre milking and open, it would be the $1000.

Double check that YOU can milk her by hand did her owner milk her by hand are her tits big enough to get a hand on are all four quarters working ? a good gentle healthy milk cow would be worth it a kicker or wild cow that you have to hog tie (and some that only have been locked in a stancion and the auto milkers throuwn on are dangerious to milk) to milk are worth only hamberger prices at that price she schould be a great producer that is a joy to milk .any faults and the price goes down fast . less than zero in my book bad habbits are hard to correct .my brown swiss is easy to milk but only while she is eating her grain ration otherwise she wount stand still ,I can live with this her calf grows into a great beef(I,v only crossed her on a angus bull)and otherwise she is gentle and calm I paid 900$ 3 years ago For her and a 2 month old steer calf .I dream of a milker like my uncle had when I was young .just walk up in the pasture speak to her pet her set the bucket down and go no problem no grain no tieing or spicel stall .might I sugest that you make a stall for milking just for safety and convince

We had a purebred Angus that had a LOT of milk for the bum we grafted on to her. DH discovered when he was milking her out at first that she wouldn't really complain.

So for a while there, we had a black Angus milk cow. ;)

Marc whaddia u mean her milk tasted as sweet as holstein or Jersey. Holstein milk DONT taste as sweet as Jersey/Gurnsey/Brown Swiss by a LONG shot/

Third calf sounded like a good age to me, although it would be helpful to know why they're selling her. Rather than offer less and lose out, and you decide she's the cow for you, ask if they could work with you on getting her bred the next time. Win-win for both of you.

She'll have a girl to keep :princess: or a boy to eat.

Peg

this thread is a tad old, so what happened? didcha buy the cow???

I bought a jersey about 6 years ago for $1000. I would say it is a fair price.

We paid $1200 for our Jersey just last winter. She was bred and gave us a beautiful little heifer calf. She's been the sweetest most docile cow. Yeah, I'd say $1200 is fair.

Considering I paid $200 for a jersey back in 86. It still seems high, But that is what it is. Youll never see a Jersey again worth bringing home for $500/1000 likely, 2yr old and easy milker. I never hear gurnseys or Brown Swiss priced. Id think they would be more, as they give as good a milk and ALOT more of it,

Around here (Ohio), the price of dairy cows varies with the price of milk. The more money the dairies are getting for their milk, the higher the price will be for a cow.

I've seen nice jerseys go through the Woodburn auction for 6-800, bred. They were older and listed as broken mouth, probably in the 5 yr and older range. A good bred cow on craigslist or capital press will run you around $1000.

6e--- I am hoping that you got the nice Jersey over at Toronto??? That lady called me and begged me to take her because the cow was wild and she couldn't do anything with her. We went over and she was a gorgeous cow and just a sweet heart. Came right to me and let me handle her all over but just DID NOT LIKE that woman at all....gentle as could be for me and hubby but as soon as the owner came in she flung a fit. LOL!
Of course, I was flat broke and couldn't buy her..... The lady had owned her for about 2 days and had hauled her up from about 100 miles down in Oklahoma.