The theory is that a cow is the centre of a homestead. Despite my farm life being wrapped up in my goats I have to agree with that statement. Having lost our sweet Molly 18 months ago - a jersey cross guernsey - we decided to get another cow. This time a pure jersey. We raise calves and it is far more natural letting a cow adopt them than bottle raising them. So we recently began our search.
We imagined that living in an area which is equally divided between grape farming and dairies meant it would be easy and inexpensive to find a jersey. Little did we imagine! The only time a dairy cow is available for sale is when she is very old or has a damaged udder, and then the price is extremely high. Until we found HER!
Because we would like to make butter a jersey with high butterfat content is the best option. Jersey's are well known for their heat tolerance, very important in our extremely hot climate. While a jersey bull has a reputation for being the worst tempered the cows have a docile temperament. Immediately on meeting our girl we could tell she was a keeper.
Sarah comes from another homestead whose animal are part of the family. And we don't have to mortgage the mountain to buy her. Being only two years old she is pregnant for the first time, hopefully with a little girl cow. Everyone is very excited about her imminent arrival. I hope that she will be as special an addition as our Molly girl was
We had a jersey nurse cow. Best investment we ever made. Yours looks beautiful
That is so encouraging! Thanks for sharing @bowentroyer! Did she actually let them drink? Or did you have to milk her and bottle feed? Friends who have jerseys all say they adopt the calves and encourage them to suckle
Last years ours raised six different baby calves. It can be a little tricky to get they calves started some just went right to sucking but others that had been on the bottle before seemed to forget. We would tie our jersey up against the side of the pen then help the calf to figure things out. We would do this a few times until they were nursing on there own.
We also we separate her from the calf for about half a day then milk her by had so we could have milk;)
Keep us posted on your progress with her
Thanks for the advice! She's only due to calve in a couple months time, for the first time. But I'll keep you updated
Welcome Sarah👐 you'll be famous and goes to the moon, soon 😉 and she's pregnant 😨 that's fast or she's already pregnant when you took her home @buckaroo😉
We haven't brought her home yet @cicisaja. She must calve first as we don't want to risk transporting her while she's so heavily pregnant
And her calve will be your too? Look at little farmer buckaroo... she's in love with him too I think
Absolutely!
Our milk cow when I was kid was a jersey cross. She was so gentle we would take turns riding her in to milk. The best milk ever.
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What a special memory @andre-ager. Thank you for sharing
Lovely to see such a gentle beast coming to your homestead! Love the picture of your son with your new Jersey!
I just about bought a milk cow (wanting it especially for the cream) back when I was making cheese from the neighbors extra milk. I had it picked out and making the final arrangements to be able to keep a cow at our place when it hit me that it would be a lot of work for we weren't set up properly and it would tie us down having to milk it daily so I backed off from the idea.
Hope you it is a girl cow you get as her offspring to build your dairy herd. Again wishing I was closer to be able to buy some cream or butter from you.
Here it is illegal to sell raw milk and all the dairies have a quota they have to fulfill when they sell to the milk board, they get fined if they go under and fined if they go over but they can't sell their raw milk privately. So strange!
Technically selling raw milk is illegal here too @porters. It is ridiculous. I tried to get certification when I still had a huge flock of goats. But the paperwork and regulations, not to mention expense was ridiculous! But you are right about being tied down. That is simply the reality of having livestock on a homestead. We had to weigh up the pros and cons. Of course it helps that all the parents live here. The theory is that we get away occasionally but it seems my husband and I are the reason that our parents can go galavanting regularly!!!
Welcome to the family Sarah! She's so cute @buckaroo! I hope she surpasses your expectations, I'm glad you found her 😊
Thank you Lynn! She is adorable. Once she has calved we will fetch her and her baby. It's too risky to transport them now
Oh of course! It will be so great to have them in your loving hands :)
Howdy there buckaroo! wow, she's a beauty! And she's pregnant, God bless you!