First of all
Okay, DH and I have donkeys and goats and chickens and I grew up on a holstein dairy farm and parents still raise replacement heifers, so very familiar with animals and somewhat with cattle. But just looking at "other ways" to do things.
We are getting two Dexter heifers, one from Feb and one from April and a Holstein/Angus steer from Jan (he'll be for the freezer and the girls will be pets, milk if I need it and raise baby beefs - we can take them back to the farm where we are getting them from or I can get them AI'd to a Dexter). The Feb heifer and the steer will get picked up this Saturday, the April heifer at the end of the month.
The small herd they come from appears very healthy, but they do nothing other than deworm them 2x a year. They are all from private purchases and don't have any sale barn animals.
I can get vaccinations from my neighbor/friend that has a large dairy, but what would you recommend for these girls/guy? They will be our only cattle, but there are dairy cattle literally all around us.
Would we be able to breed the February heifer late next summer?
We have TONS of pasture, which is what they are used to, and I will also feed the two heifers a bit of medicated calf grain (which I hope to get from neighbor/friend as well) and the steer will get his fair share too so he grows fast.
I'm so excited to finally get some little cows! The heifers were only $200 each and the steer $175, which we made our buddy buy as he wanted to go halves on butchering, we just gotta feed it up.
Appreciate any advice, Jenny
