Good price??

allenslabs · #1 02/07/05, 03:03 PM

I have found a 1/4 Jersey and 3/4 holstein heifer that will be 1 yr old this month and is pretty gentle....... really she looks like a Jersey but the white like a holstein (she has the brown of the Jersey and then the white) and isn't large or anything like the Holstein frame. Anyway they are wanting no less than $600 for her and I didn't know if that was good. He said she shouldn't get much bigger and will be able to be bred now or could wait 3 months till she's 15 months but he said that would cause her to not grow any bigger if I got her bred now so I oculd have a smaller cow. I would get her bred to a jersey bull for sure as I like the Jerseys. This is an amish fella who has her and he has just her and her mom and he's raised her as social. Put it this way...... her mom (1/2 jers, 1/2 holst) just followed me and kept licking me! HAHA!! And the yearling was just as nosey. Anyway...... would LOVE some input as I need to make a desicion before tomorrow afternoon as he leaves for a week on wedn morning and he said he would like to know before he goes. Anyway..... thanks a lot!

willow_girl · #2 02/07/05, 03:44 PM

That doesn't sound like a bad price to me!

I'd insist on having her tested for TB and Johne's first, though.

allenslabs · #3 02/07/05, 06:36 PM

What is johns? What do they do to cows? I've never heard of having them tested for those. Learn somethin new every day! HAAH! Dairy cattle are TOTALLY new to me! I talked to my hubby and he thinks he's gonna be able to find something cheap at a sale or something as that's what a cattle trader said but those cattle are generally there for a reason. Some might be nice but there is generally something wrong with them. He thinks we should just pay 350 for a calf and bottle raise it and save 250 but by the time we bought replacer and feed I would think it about even. So I'm gonna have to hold my own and take a stand on this one cause I think it would be better to get one that's already older. But thanks for the info!

willow_girl · #4 02/09/05, 04:09 PM

Johne's (pronounced YO-knees) is a wasting disease caused by a bacterial infection. There is no cure for it. A cow can carry (and spread) the disease for years without showing outward symptoms. It is transmitted via the fecal-oral route and also to calves via milk. The same bacteria that causes Johne's in cows has been found in the intestinal tract of people with Crohn's disease.

I lost a cow to Johne's, a heartbreaking experience. It can be detected by blood and/or fecal tests. There is also a newer ELISA test which can detect it in milk, which obviously is not applicable to your sitution since the cow isn't in milk.

You are right that the cows at the sales are probably there for a reason! I have bought a couple cull cows from the farm where I work, but I was familiar with their histories and even then was taking a gamble.

An exception might be a herd dispersal sale, but even that is really not the place for a novice. Or even for an experienced person looking for a family cow, as it's hard to gauge how easy a cow will be to milk by hand, or how docile it is, by how it acts in the ring.