Really basic cow questions..

[darbyfamily]

okay, this is just the bottom of the barrel kind of ...brass tacks...questions from a city girl going country.

I love cows, love to look at them, but have seldom ever even touched one, so lets get real here...

What do you DO with the cow manure? Im assuming most of it stays where it lands in the pasture...but from the barn, do you make a pile somewhere? do you toss it to the field? add it to the compost pile?

I hear mention of manure lagoons...but thats for larger farms, right?

And in the barn, you put straw down for them to lay on?

so you need a shelter, bedding?, waterer, feed trough or hay bale holder thingy?

I know I have time, but I like to do lots of studyin so Im prepared

i did this with our chickens and I think we've done quite well with them these last two years..

Anyway, sorry to sound like such a newbie, but I really appreciate ya'll sharing your know how with me.

Im still wavering between jersey/brown swiss/bigger cow types and Dexters...seems to me if you can get 4-5% butterfat from a dexter and get some good quality meat from one too, at half the feed, then why go with a bigger breed?

can someone tell me why? Also, I 'read' at least from Dexter supporters that they calve very well, with little problems and minimal assistance required, so what other breeds do well? I have a friend online from another state who lost two of her calves this year and one of the mama cows during calving, so which breeds have a harder time doing that? which ones need the least help? Is it a good idea to breed a dexter to a jersey or something bigger to get smaller calves for the bigger cow?

how important is it to have registered animals? if the kids want to show them in 4H or FFA, and also for resale value if you want to sell off the calves? How do you find out the best bloodlines? Im thinking time and talkin with lots of folks is the best way, but if you know little, just about everyone will tell you THEIR bull has the best bloodlines.

Thanks again look forward to reading the responses

[Tiffin]

I'll give it whirl with your questions as we are new to raising beefers (2 years) so had to learn also.
Manure: I muck the barn once or twice a day with a wheelbarrow and put it in a compost pile away from the barn but we also have a Patz cleaner that we run once in awhile. It dumps into our farm dump truck and then unload it in the bunk silo to compost.
Bedding: Hay and shredded wood chips.
Shelter: Yes, we have a barn that the cows have full access to.
Water: Water trough that we have a hose going into to fill.
Feed: Pasture during spring, summer and fall. Square bales of hay during winter which is thrown out to them, but we are hoping to use a feed wagon next winter to cut wasting hay down.
Dexters: We have 4 registered Dexters and 3 cross Dexter/Jersey. We sent our first Dexter steer to the butcher and have him in the freezer now. Delicious and have sold quite a bit so trying to make some money. Registered cows will give you more money if you should sell them. We haven't had a calf born yet but hope to next year.
Links on Dexters: http://www.purebreddextercattle.org/
http://www.dextercattle.org/

[Tango]

If your chickens are free range, they will take care of the manure...

[Ken Scharabok]

I assume you are looking for a milk cow. www.amazon.com has two books which might help: Keeping a Family Cow by Joann S. Gorhman and The Family Cow by Dirk Van Loon (Garden Way Books). You might see if your local library can get a loaner copy before purchase.

You also need to figure out how you are going to rebreed the cow each year.

[Gin64]

Most of the manure is collected in a pit and then spread on the feilds and my garden spot. Some of the dairys in the area do pile the manure. And no any new dairy has to have some type of a lagoon system. We just happened to get grandfathered in with what we have.

Were we are located we do not have housing for the cows. They are usually pretty smart about finding a good place to sleep. This also helps cut down the chances of getting mastitis, and stepped on teats.

Yes you need fresh water for the cow. As for the feed you can make your on troughs with lumber.

If I was you I would look at either the straight jersey or dexter. Both are great at foraging and are small enough that they do not have to be feed as much as the bigger breeds. Your dexter is a dual purpose breed so there for you get milk and you can even butcher. As to were the jersey is a little bit harder to put a lot of weight on. You really do not want a brown swiss in my oppion. All the ones that we have had , have been breeding problems.

The only time you need registered stock is if you are going to sell them. You can not eat the papers and you sure can not get milk from them. Our best cow is from a good pedigree but is not paperd. And as far as the pedigree just ask some farms other then the one you are buying from usually most will tell you.

[Sunraven]

Shelter is way overrated, as long as they have a windbreak of some sort cows do really well out in the weather. If you plan on milking I would want a barn with a stanchion for that setup so I could have a kerosene heater or something similar for the cold months. It's hard to milk when your hands are freezing. As far as the manure, spread on the fields or garden or if your cows are pastured you probably want a drag to pull through the pasture now and then to knock the piles down. Like someone else said in this thread, your chickens will also help keep the piles scattered.

Straw makes good bedding. Old tractor tires make good feeders. Other types of feeders would depend on how many cows you're feeding. I wouldn't want a hay ring with a big round bale in it if I only had one cow. If you're feeding multiple animals lots of space at the feeder is very important because the bigger or more dominant animals will push the others away from a crowded feeder. An automatic waterer is a real handy dandy thing and easy to set up but beware of freezing. But that's always an important consideration for watering animals, make sure you have a good supply that's not going to get frozen (and unusable) during the winter.

As to what breed to get, there are lots of different breeds out there and you'll hear all sorts of opinions on which is better. You'll get good or bad individuals in any breed. The most important thing is to know what you want in an animal- do you want lots of milk? An animal that will gain quickly to end up in the freezer or to sell? Multipurpose animal? Me personally, if I wanted a cow for milk and to produce me beefy calves for the freezer I'd want a crossbred animal, something like a Holstein/Shorthorn then breed her to a Shorthorn (beef line) or Angus or Angus cross. I'd milk her once a day then leave her calf on her the other 12 hours, if she was a good producer I would consider buying a second calf or feeder pigs to eat the extra milk. There's lots of different ways you could do things.

[ozark_jewels]

Originally Posted by darbyfamily

What do you DO with the cow manure? Im assuming most of it stays where it lands in the pasture...but from the barn, do you make a pile somewhere? do you toss it to the field? add it to the compost pile?

I hear mention of manure lagoons...but thats for larger farms, right?

And in the barn, you put straw down for them to lay on?

so you need a shelter, bedding?, waterer, feed trough or hay bale holder thingy?

The cows are pastured 24/7, 365 days a year. Even during the winter they get fed hay out in the pasture so the only time they are in the barn is the short time it takes to milk them. There is very little manure ever in the barn and what is gets picked up by a shovel or pitchfork and thrown out in the pasture. All the manure in the pasture is picked through by birds(guineas and wild birds), and then taken care of by the sun and flies. Its good natural fertilizer.
Manure lagoons are for larger farms yes, the average family farm has not enough waste to need one.
Cows do not need a barn unless you have very bad winters or absolutely no tree shelter for them to get out of the wind a bit. We never had barns for our Jerseys, in Ohio, Indiana or Missouri. We do have hollows and ceder trees they can get into if they want to. They didn't even prefer the barn when we opened it up during a snowstorm a few years ago. They instead went down to the hollow and stayed there. The only times we provide shelter is for young calves during winter/spring or fall weather.
No barns, so no straw needed.
We feed hay out in the fields in a round bale ring.
Our cows have ponds, but during the winter when they are frozen over and during the summer when they get scummy, we provide fresh water in large rubber stock tanks that are easily dumped and scrubbed out when needed.