I have cows!

[robinthegeek]

Never posted pics of my two girls, so here they are!

Daisy the zebu



Buttercup the highland/dexter



They are my pets and future little milk cows.

[InHisName]

Beautiful! How old were they when you got them? did you bottle feed them? Love the shaggy Dexter look....

[tailwagging]

[Dandelion Acres]

:banana02: Nice looking Cows, Congrats!!!

[robinthegeek]

Here's a better pic of Daisy, so you can see her pretty face. I got her from an auction, so I don't know anything about her. I think she's 2-3 years old. She's pretty skittish still, she'll come up for treats, and she's easy to handle. Once I've managed to catch her!



Buttercup is just a couple of months old. I give her a small bottle of goat milk once a day, so she's sweet and friendly. But she mostly eats grass and calf manna.

[lakeportfarms]

Buttercup looks very familiar for some reason

She sure is a sweet thing isn't she !

It's nice to see you on here ...

[willow_girl]

Daisy is adorable! I wish I had fallen in love with some cows that size. They sure would be a lot cheaper to feed!

[Timberline]

Love that Daisy. I have thought about trying a small Zebu, but I'm not sure how she would handle our cold, snowy winters.

[Callieslamb]

Congratulations! They are real cuties. How much milk are you expecting from Daisy?

[UUmom2many]

Fantastic! LOVE the photo (and your capris! :P )

I found a breeder here in the state and was intrigued. We want a cow for milking for personal use but also want many sheep for our fiber business and was worried we couldn't do it on 5 acres. This breed seems to work better for our size farm.

I'll second the question on milk production

[robinthegeek]

Okay, well I am no kind of cow expert, but I've read you can get a gallon per day from a zebu, plus what the calf gets. So not a whole lot, but she's just so pretty, and mows my lawn, and will hopefully give me some milk too.


So I think if there's a breeder near you, you should meet them and their cows! They'd probably be a lot more knowledgeable than I am.

[MARYDVM]

You might get a gallon plus a day from a great zebu milker, but most don't come close to that. Some don't produce more than enough to feed their calf.

[robinthegeek]

Originally Posted by MARYDVM

You might get a gallon plus a day from a great zebu milker, but most don't come close to that. Some don't produce more than enough to feed their calf.

I've read that too, so we'll see how it goes. She should calve early next summer, I will definitely post on the adventures of milking my zebu!

[tailwagging]

I only got 1/2 gallon from mine (plus she fed her calf). but it was sooooooo good!

[UUmom2many]

Well, we buy 2 gallons a week or there abouts for drinking and cooking but we eat a lot of yogurt and cheese. I just figured we'd get used to drinking what we had on hand instead of being so frivilous with the milk.

I read somewhere that 3-5 Zebu's could pasture in the same area as 1 Jersey, so even if I bred and upped them to 2 to get a gallon a day, we still wouldn't need the pasture space.

I'm going to get in contact with them after I read my guide to cattle book