[FlipFlopFarmer]

Is this a good price? Seems a little on the high side but I live in Molalla and would like to buy from a local person. All of the other ads I find don't list a price.

"JERSEY Springer heifer due to calve in April, $1,100. MOLALLA, OR"

I would rather not purchase one that's about to calve - due to my inexperience.

Also - what are some good questions to ask an owner when you're looking to buy?

Thanks!
Carla

 

[uncle Will in In.]

Springing heifers sell higher than fresh cows. The main reason being farmers aren't afraid that they are being sold because the owner for whatever reason was not satisfied with their preformance as a milker.. An Indiana auction sells cows and heifers every week and post the sale prices in a farm paper I get. They only show holstiens selling but the springing heifers brought from $1000 to $1650 last week. They would be half again bigger than a jersey. Fresh Holstien cows brought between $975 and $1435.
If your heifer is a well bred animal with a high producing mother, $1100 would be far from cheap but not beyond reason.
Breaking a heifer to milk could really put your determination to test. If you have not done any hand milking before, it could be beyond your ability to do it. Also some cows are harder to squeeze the milk out of than others. Buying a cow broke to hand milk gives you an oppertunity to milk her before buying her and seeing how hard she milks and how gentle she is while she is being milked. Be sure all 4 teats give as much milk as the teat across from it. Some will milk a little heavier from front as opposed to rear teats, or vice versa. Find out how long she has been bred. A vet can sleeve her and give you a close estimate. Calving and starting milking will be a little easier when the weather get a little warmer..

 

[FlipFlopFarmer]

I called about the Jersery last night - turns out that the guy is just down the road from me a few miles. I talked to the Dad - the son is the owner of the heifer. The son used to work at a dairy farm and has since left there and has this heifer for sale.

Anyway - here's the list of ?'s I am going to ask.

1. Age of the Heifer?
2. Any health problems with her?
3. Any health problems or birthing problems with Mom?
4. Vaccine records? Current Vet?
(P.S. Don't most people vaccinate their own cattle?)
5. Current diet
6. I know she was bred with another jersery and is due in the beginning of April - any other details that I need to know about here????

What would be other questions that I should ask? Thank you all for your help!

:worship: Bless you all for your endless knowledge!

Carla

 

[jucal]

I paid $1500 for my registered Jersey when she had just been bred by AI and was only 2 months bred. She had been confirmed bred by ultra sound. She was my first milk cow and I was so lucky with her. We learned together but she was so easy. Of course she had been halter broke when she was young but had not been worked with for a long time. She is so gentle and goes right in the stanchion and stands very still. I have since bought a fresh Jersey cow for $800 and she is wonderful also. I bought both of them from different individuals. I would never consider buying from a sale barn something that I would work so closely with. You just never know what you will get at a sale barn and most of the time there is a reason why they are at the sale barn rather than sold to an individual. I hope if you do get this heifer you will be as satisified as I have been.
Good Luck
Judy

 

[FlipFlopFarmer]

Anything that I am leaving out though that I SHOULD ask about???
Being new to this a seller can smell a newbie a mile away and I don't want to get taken advantage of by not asking the right questions.

1. Age of the Heifer?
2. Any health problems with her?
3. Any health problems or birthing problems with Mom?
4. Vaccine records? Current Vet?
(P.S. Don't most people vaccinate their own cattle?)
5. Current diet
6. I know she was bred with another jersery and is due in the beginning of April - any other details that I need to know about here????

Carla

 

[Paula]

You should ask if the heifer has had a brucellosis test (or vaccine,) a TB test, and especially, a Johne's test. If she hasn't had these you should get a vet to do them all before you buy her. Have them test both blood and stool for Johne's. We have Jerseys and Dexters, and we got burned a couple of times buying Jerseys who turned out to have Johne's. One of the cows was fat and healthy at the dairy, but the stress of moving her brought on the Johne's. She pooped all over our barn and contaminated everything while we waited for the test results to come back. Johne's is a disease that can lie dormant for years, then surface when the animal is stressed. It causes malabsorption of nutrients and diarrhea, and is spread in the feces. The organism (mycobacterium tuburculosis I think) can live in your soil for a year or more. The cow literally starves to death no matter how much you feed it, at the same time contaminating your property. It's a widespread problem, especially on dairies, and in many areas it's just starting to be recognized for what it is, so a lot of dairies don't have testing and eradication programs in place yet. First calf heifers who have been exposed to Johne's often look fine till they freshen, then quickly go downhill.
As an interesting side note, we've read of several cases where cows or bulls have had what appeared to be fatal cases of Johne's, were taken off all feed except good pasture and all the kelp meal they wanted, and recovered completely. A couple of the animals were even autopsied at death and showed no signs of the disease! We now feed our cows nothing but grass or hay, free choice kelp, and free choice loose white salt. The milk cow also gets some alfalfa hay or cubes and makes as much milk as she ever did on grain. She never was a huge producer, but makes much more than we can use - around a gallon and a half a day.
Oh, one thing you should check the cow for is teat size. It takes forever to milk out a cow who has tiny teats. Trust me, if you ever buy a milk cow with small teats who you plan to hand milk you will regret it. Been there, done that too :no:

 

[FlipFlopFarmer]

Thanks for the info Paula. The heifer that I was looking at sold already. Apparently that person didn't have as many questions as I did - they just bought her. I'm still looking for a jersey - so more questions to ask for next time.

In regard to the Johne's test - how long does it take to get the results back?

The people I was talking to about the heifer for sale gave me the name of their vet. Maybe I should go that route....Instead of calling around looking for people who are selling maybe I should start with the vet and talk with them about people with jerseys. They are more likely to know who takes care of their animals giving me a better chance of getting a healthy one.

Carla