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Originally Posted by piglady
I am so totally new to dairy breeds so please forgive my ignorance, but are all dairy cows supposed to be this skinny. We have beef cows and would panic if they were showing ribs. How will I know when my dairy cows are fat enough (1/2 holstein and 1/2 jersey)?
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Yes, dairy cows look skinny as opposed to beef cows. You want to see ribs and hipbone on a dairy cow. Not "skinny", just "dairy". A fat dairy cow is an unproductive dairy cow.
Now as to Joan, she actually has a good bit of weight on her for a Jersey. The pictures show her right after calving......think pricked balloon.
She will not look that ribby in a week as she starts looking like a cow in milk rather than a pregnant-bellied cow with nothing to fill the pregnant belly anymore.
Ok, here are a few pictures to show the difference between skinny and dairy(goats and cows):
Dairy goats. Notice the hair is smooth and healthy, eyes bright, healthy full rumens....these are productive dairy does in good health.
Skinny Dairy goats. Notice the rough, sparce hair, the bones showing *everywhere* with no meat at all, and the lack of rumen or body capacity. These goats were starved. The widest part of their body was their hip bones.
She was born at 5:00 am yesterday morning with my sister and I in attendence. Not a problem. She is a good-sized Jersey calf, Joan made it look easy. Big feet and long head, I thought it was a bull calf.
