Jackson MI - Bred Jersey Heifers

cshire · #1 02/11/12, 09:25 PM

http://jxn.craigslist.org/grd/2833145204.html

This guy had 3 Jersey heifers, bred for spring calves for sale.
Now he has only 2.

Not sure we are ready for the commitment of a family cow, but here we go.

Passing along the link to any other Michganders wh may be interested.

**gone-a-milkin** · #2 02/11/12, 09:50 PM

Congratulations and good luck with her.
You should give us a pic of her and tell us her name.

Callieslamb · #3 02/12/12, 06:14 AM

What do they look like? I mean - are they in good condition? Were their dams on site? Are they AI heifers that have been AI-ed themselves?

cshire · #4 02/12/12, 07:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gone-a-milkin

Congratulations and good luck with her.
You should give us a pic of her and tell us her name.

Her name will be Ruby Too. Ruby for her reddish color, and Too because we already have a dog named Ruby.

She is staying at the sellers place for another week while we line up a stock trailer to borrow, get some hay in the barn and put up a hot wire paddock. We'll post some pictures after we get her home.

cshire · #5 02/12/12, 07:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Callieslamb

What do they look like? I mean - are they in good condition? Were their dams on site? Are they AI heifers that have been AI-ed themselves?

I have now experience with dairy cows, but they look to be in good condition. They are not starving. They are getting nice clean hay twice a day and about 1/2 a bucket of a sweet grain mix. They are certainly not as skinny/bony as the cull dairy cows I have seen at the auction barn - they look pretty fat and happy.

I couldn't really get a good look at their udders due to them being a bit skittish with strangers, and the udders being up tight to the body as they have never been in milk - first breeding. I can confirm they had udders (keeping it simple for me) and they weren't dragging the ground like the cull cows.

No dams on site. The story is that the seller got these calves from a local dairy farm that was moving from a Jersey and Holstein mixed herd to an all Holstein herd and did not want replacement heifers. He has a goat herd and had extra milk at the time and saw an opportunity. He also had a Jersey bull he kept long enough to service these heifers. Bull is now gone.

He says his original plan was to keep and milk them himself, but he has now decided to focus on his goats as they are easier to handle keep him busy enough.

I'd be interested to hear opinions if anyone with some real experience takes a look at these cows. I think we did good and got a sound cow.

Callieslamb · #6 02/12/12, 04:44 PM

I'd love to look at them but they are a bit far for me. Can you post a picture? I have never really seen bad jerseys. Some have been in bad condition but that wouldn't scare me away from a good deal. I did have a chance to buy one from a herd close to here, but they had used the same bull for 10 years and all the cows seemed to be way heavy in the back quarters.

I hope your Ruby Too does very well for you.

cshire · #7 02/26/12, 09:09 AM

Finally got her home. Ended up renting a u-haul trailer as all the horse people i knew had either gotten out of horses or borrowed trailers.

Here she is. She has a pile of straw in the barn to lay in and get out of the wind. She currently has about 1 acre of last years garden, turnip patch. This acre will get planted to a clover/pasture mix this spring.

We will also fence off another acre in teh woods behind the barn. I will try to establish some pasture here as well, but will need shade tolerant varieties. It is not thick woods, but still pretty shady. The hope is to be able to feed her off pasture during spring, summer, fall with maybe some supplemental feed, and only have to bring in hay for 3-4 months in the winter.

Jackson MI - Bred Jersey Heifers - Cattle

Jackson MI - Bred Jersey Heifers - Cattle

Callieslamb · #8 02/26/12, 01:31 PM

She's a cutie. I see the ad is gone now. If you only have to feed hay for 3 months, I'll want to come take lessons. I feed from Sept - May. Sometimes, if I'm lucky, I can sneak a few weeks into Oct of grazing - if it rains. Good luck with her.

myersfarm · #9 02/26/12, 03:41 PM

If u put her on fresh planting she will pull plants up by the root. You just have only 2 acres. What state are you in

cshire · #10 02/26/12, 05:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by myersfarm

If u put her on fresh planting she will pull plants up by the root. You just have only 2 acres. What state are you in

We are located in SE Michigan, Jackson County.

We have 7.5 acres total. Approx 1.5 for house, garages, front yard, etc.
1 acre in front of barns where she is now. 1 acre in pretty thin woods behind the barn - I did get some annual rye grass established there last year, but there were areas that were too shady fro rye that stayed bare. 1 acre of low, open area where a small stream runs thru. The grassy areas are dry enough during late summer that they should be grazable. And finally 2+ acres of thicker woods with not much ground cover - we may thin this some to make some openings.

Sounds like I will be buying more hay than i anticipated?

Callieslamb · #11 02/26/12, 06:22 PM

It just depends on how much grazing you have. I usually have 1-2 steers and six sheep. They graze on 2 acres - 1/2 at a time and we have 3 we will be making into hay. I count on 1 bale of hay a day, but in a very cold year, they might need more than that. When I had a milk cow- she ate about 2/3 of a bale a day. It all just depends on the cold, the wind, the cow and the hay. I usually lose my pasture in dry weather, so I have to count on feeding hay 1 extra month. Last year, it was 2. This year, we plan on adjusting the grazing area:hay area by how fast it's growing. So the first cutting will have more hay and the 2nd will have less so they will have more area to graze. Hopefully, we will only need 2 cuttings. I'd like to not feed hay until October. We've also talked about growing something specifically for that late summer/early fall grazing time - radishes, sugar beets, even corn stalks. We're still learning and have a long ways to go.

I'd think 1 acre of good grass would do a cow as long as you get the rain to keep it growing. One acre might not be enough if it's not well established grass yet or if it's shared with the trees. But she will enjoy the shade of the trees. If it is established pastures, an acre might grow too fast for her to eat it early in the season, so you might consider mowing parts to prevent it from getting too tough. That's how we "rotate" our pastures right now. We just mow a section every week or so depending on how much they are grazing. Hopefully we are keeping the weeds from going to seed this way. Maybe we're keeping the good stuff from reseeding too?

I am not sure how well they like rye grass. She looks great. When should she calve?