Jersey cows

What will the end purpose be for these calves? Milk, Meat, or Pets? New born calves are commonly sold, and are nearly always male. No milk from them. Unless they are nuetered would be dangerous for pets. For meat holstiens would be a better choice.. Holstien calves are much more plentiful, and easier to find. New born calves need milk replacer for a couple months to get them started. Starting calves can be very trying as scours is a common problem. They can die if not given the proper treatment, and doing that isn't simple without experience. Getting a calf over two months old would simplify his care. If the calf is in a small area, the kids can soon have it eating out of their hand. The more they are messed with the tamer they get. Teach them to be tied right away, but let them loose most of the time.

 

Hi Kev, I have a 1/2 Jersey heifer calf that I am toying with selling as soon as she is weaned (she is three months old now, just starting to eat hay and grain reliably). She has been raised on her momma and is fat and sassy. Her mom is a good family milk cow, has a good butterfat content and yes we make our own butter and ice cream.

You can PM me if you are interested. We're in Michigan (NW Lower Peninsula) so I understand that would be quite a haul. If I do sell her, I'd like to see her go to a homestead, I wouldn't let her go to a commercial dairy.

 

No matter how used to your kids a cow gets, please do not forget that a cow is a large animal that can kill in an instant!

Small children should never be allowed around cattle at all, an older ones, only with close supervision. I do not even allow my teens in with the cattle, unless I am right there.

Jena

 

Hey Jen, I rode bulls when I was a teenager...lol. We raised black angus, and had one cow that was mean as a snake when she calved. The calf tagging procedure went like this (I was around 10 yo) we drove the truck out to the pair, I jump out of the pickup and run like the devil was after me (of course she was!) while dad and big brother tagged the calf. Hopefully there were trees nearby. Hey kev, I am in MN too and looking for a jersey cow, let me know what you find and if anyone has something for sale.

 

Have either of you fellas thought to contact your local vet or county agent to findout who raises dairy cows in your area? A lot of dairy farms have a few jerseys in their herds just to up their butterfat content. D.F's are paid by weight, butterfat and docked for higher somatic cell content. I belive Guernsey would be your second best family cow choice.....or you could just go with a nubian goat or two. Those goats will produce a heck of a lot of milk!! My mom was constantly making cottage cheese as the 3 of us couldn't keep up consuming what 3 goats would in a day(2 sanaans & 1 nubian).

 

I haven't really given this a lot of thought, but I guess if I sold Libby-Belle as a weanling, I'd be asking $300 for her, if she's going to a homestead or family farm.

Her momma is a grade Jersey cow I bought already bred from an Amish dairy that had to close because the milk hauler dropped their route. She is about the sweetest cow imaginable; I've never had to tie her up to milk her ... I just take a pail of grain out to the pasture and she comes running. I'm told the bull she was bred to was 1/2 Jersey, 1/4 Guernsey and 1/4 Belted Galloway (if you can imagine that!)! Libby-Belle has a Jersey face, and coloring except for some white patches.

I'd love to keep her, but I just bought/rescued a Holstein cow that was culled from the farm where I work ... I'm not sure my cowshed is big enough to hold all 3! And I sure don't need to be milking 3 cows, yikes!

If I sold her, I'd want the option to buy her back if things didn't work out for any reason ... I'd hate to think of any of my "babies" ever going to slaughter.