I drove out to look at 2 Jerseys today: 1 is a great 7 year old cow, the other, an 8 year old cow has a high cell count but has always been used as a nurse for other calves. $1000 for the pair. Or, $550 for the 7 year old, and $500 for the other. Either or both, the farmer doesn't care. Haggis @ Wolf Cairn Moor
The posibilities, can yopu use them both? and would it be economical to purchase both? It sonds like a good deal,except if they were only used as nurse cows how would they take to being milked?
We have agreed to take the 7 year old cow; due to freshen again on January 4, for $550. The farmer milks all of his cows by hand. We are up in the air over the 8 year old with the high cell count. She has always had a high cell count: some years part of the milk has been sold to a creamery, some years the farmers family has used some of the milk for the table, other years all of the milk has gone to feeding calves. She will nurse any calf without a struggle. Her price is $500. The farmer also has a 3 year that has just freshened for a bit more. She has a blind quarter, but otherwise is fit as a fiddle. This morning he called and mentioned a second calf heifer due to freshen in December; also Jerseys. We are definitely at a crossroads here. My wife and I use at least five or six gallons of milk a week. We have five grown children, 9 Grandchildren (with another on the way, and various in-laws, out-laws, and flux-in-laws who all use a lot of milk and butter. There are a number of local familyâs who have expressed an interest in purchasing milk from us should we wish to sell a bit. Adding to our equation is the fact that 4 of our 7 Milking Devon heifers and cows will be freshening in 6 to 10 weeks. We do want to have a Jersey or two about the place for their rich milk; but how many is too many? Twenty minutes to milk a cow by hand and âNcows X 20 minutes = ? hours a day milking twice a dayâ. I donât want to have to try to go back to work just to feed cattle either. Jeesh!!! What to do? What to do? How often does one find so many Jerseys at such good prices? In the end weâll most likely buy the one Jersey and wait for our Milking Devon cattle to kick into high gear. Haggis @ Wolf Cairn Moor
Haggis, if I were you, and had the room , and the money, I would buy her. If you find you don't need all the extra milk, you could buy a couple day old calves and foster them on to her.
That's a good find Haggis, cheap for milk cows these days. You're going to need a milking machine pretty soon. There was a question on the thread yesterday about cell count. Here's a good write up: http://ianrpubs.unl.edu/dairy/g1151.htm . Did the farmer say how high the cell count was? Has he had the milk cultured to see what type of mastitis might be present? There is one type of mastitis, Staph Aureus, that is very, very, hard to get rid of. There is also the possibility of mastitis speading to your other cows through bedding, etc. Will you be pasturizing the milk? Even if you do it would be good to have a vet take a look at them and possible run some tests. If it was me I would definitely have a Johne's test.
JS The cell count on the best cow is always under 100 but on the older cow the cell count has always averaged from just under 300 to a high of 500. I have read the man's record books and he is a deeply religious individual so I trust him as much as I would anyone. We may steer around the high cell count cow and buy one of the other's he offered for a bit higher price: one is a 3 year old with a blind quarter, the other is a second calf heifer his 12 year old daughter hates. The high cell count can be treated, but one would lose the milk while the medicine ran its course; and it is a spendy affair. The farmer is currently receiving a premium for his milk from the creamery due to his low cell count. Any cows that we might bring home would be isolated from our general herd until a vet cleared them of nasty bugs they could be hiding. Haggis @ Wolf Carin Moor
Haggis, sorry for intruding on your thread, but I gotta ask...... Jackpine, where you from, I'm near Milaca. Al
Haggis, if you MUST have more cows :haha: I'd stick with the 7-year-old. For one, you're going to be drowning in milk when all those Dexters freshen. And because some are not used to being milked yet, it could take longer to milk them. Also, if you get a Dexter who's really ornery about being milked, you could always use her as a nurse cow, making the other Jersey redundant. OTOH, a cell count between 300-500 doesn't sound too bad to me ... I know we have a handful cows at 5,000+ (yikes) in the commercial herd where I work. And the price for both cows certainly is reasonable. I paid $550 for my Dawn (bred to a mixed-breed bull) but my boss said she'd probably bring $1,000-$1,200 at auction.
Haggis, it sounds like you're dealing with a conscientious individual, that's a good find too. Have fun with the Jersey, they are my favorite breed. Just watch out for milk fever after calving. Al, I'm in NW Todd County, in the Bertha area.
I ended up buying a third choice Jersey who had just freshened for $750 and the first choice for $525. After bringing them home and milking them for a few days the Jersey at the end of her lactation was dried off "early", and we are just milking Dorsey, the third choice. She is giving enough milk to provide for 10 families and a bit for our chickens. Lucy, the $525 cow, is due to freshen on January 4, but had been milked for 10 months or more. Dorsey gives around 5 gallons a day times 7 days equals a lot of milk, and one top of the milk each gallon has a bit more than a pint of heavy cream that churns out to 1/2 of sweet butter.
why not get a drop calf, put him on dorsey??????? can either take later to cold storage, or to market tingo
