# Dairy Cattle Breed Questions



## DixieCowgirl23 (Jun 11, 2014)

I have been exploring different dairy breeds to buy.
I have found a few different ones that I am interested in.
The few question is: Does anyone have a favorite breed that they would suggest?
I don't want one that produces a lot of milk because my husband doesn't drink milk that often. 
It will mostly be used for baking, cheese making, butter, etc. 

I have found a few breeds that are dual purpose, which interests me. But they are endangered species, like Dexter and Red Poll. Can they still be butchered for meat even though they are endangered species?
Thank you for your time!
God bless!!


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## Agriculture (Jun 8, 2015)

Cattle are not an endangered species! A lot of people today seem to confuse the difference between breed and species. It's not all that difficult.

What you are thinking about is the concept of endangered _breeds_. I say concept, because since awareness of the issue began in the 70's, the situation has evolved from where some _breeds_ were indeed in danger of being lost to where today it is simply a marketing ploy used by breeders who are trying to sell animals for more than they are worth and livestock conservancy organizations which are trying to sell memberships based on fairy tales. Today there is almost no such thing as a legitimate breed which is really in danger, which can't be found or replaced somewhere. Yes it might take a little money and effort, especially for transportation and logistics, but still doable. Maybe a handful of chicken breeds, a rabbit or two and the rare hoofstock, but the situation is far from as dire as they would have you and your wallet believe. That is one reason why they are continually "discovering" more old breeds that need to be resurrected. Few of the latest hot breeds have any historical background or documentation to back up the claims that they were once viable and useful breeds back in the old days. Often it's just an obscur reference, such as someone's great grandma mentioned some animals which she remembers from her childhood and she attributed a quaint breed name to them. And gullible people eat it up without bothering to research or even wanting to know the truth.

But I digress. There is no such thing as an Endangered Breeds Act, no law which prohibits anyone from slaughtering any breed of livestock covered by it which they may own, no matter how rare or uncommon, no matter who claims it to be and no matter what official sounding list it appears on. In fact far too few individuals of some of these so-called heritage breeds are slaughtered than should be.

Another myth which they perpetuate is the dual purpose fallacy. All cattle are dual purpose, in that they are all made of beef and all the females will produce milk, barring health or rare physical issues. Beef type and dairy type are two completely different extremes, and one style is not conducive to producing the other. When you mix them or settle for a middle of the road type you get poor production of either. These old breeds were that way before the knowledge existed about selecting for the two radically different extremes in body type which were conducive to producing one or the other well. So since they are and were all made of beef and all produced some milk they were considered dual purpose from that perspective alone, not because they were really any good at either.

I hate to say it since it is the poster child for the heritage breed movement and has become the epitome of all that is wrong with it, but it sounds like the Dexter is what you want. It will produce some milk, hopefully, if not too highly inbred by people who reproduce them who claim to be breeders but who don't have a clue what they are doing, and they all are made of beef. If you can find one that hasn't been spoiled rotten or has a dam who is a mental case. A non-heritage beef cow will also make some milk and produce more beef more efficiently. A half dairy half beef cow bred to a full beef breed would be ideal for what you want while being much more efficient. If you like the concept of breeds, old, rare, whatever, then get one, knowing that you're getting the short end of the stick, but enjoy it for what it is, not what some dreamers romanticize it to be.

Finally, there is a difference between butchering and slaughtering. The two are not interchangeable. The more you educate yourself the better your chances of getting what you want that will fill your needs, without making expensive or frustrating mistakes.


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## barnbilder (Jul 1, 2005)

I know a lady that milks beef cows. A lot of the continental beef breeds were as much "dual purpose" as any of the so called heritage breeds. She breeds them as heifers, the ones with good attitudes that give a decent amount of milk stay in her milking herd, the ones that are a little too fractious are sold to a beef operation, the ones that don't have enough milk, are culled. She has a pretty nice string of hardy cows that can make a lot of what calories they need from hay and pasture, don't drown her in milk, but definitely give enough to be worth while. The dream of the backyard dairy cow enthusiast, at a fraction of the cost of the fancy breeds. Started with angus and charolais orphan calves. Didn't have to drive half way across the country to buy something for an extremely high price based on heraldry, accolades, and etc. At the end of the day, the ones she culls do pretty good on the commercial market, and because they are commercial cattle, she doesn't feel the need to pass them off as high priced breeding stock to the next guy to recoup losses.

Now you can get a dairy cow, if milk is what you want, but that is a lot of milk, day in and day out. Jerseys have a lot of butter fat, better for yielding cheese and butter, but be prepared for a lot of milk.

The heritage breeds are in no way endangered, they have become the status symbol of the modern back to earth suburbanite turned farmer. The thing to remember, in the event that you need to liquidate some cattle, (broken leg, run out of pasture, decide it's no longer fun), commercial style cattle are easy to find a market for to sell at near or in some cases more than purchase price. With heritage breeds, you won't be able to dump them on a local weekly commercial market and get back anything near what you paid for them. You will have to do some marketing, might have to wait to arrange sale, deal with "tire kickers", and they will still be eating feed.

But if you want some cool, status symbol, eye candy, go heritage. Nothing snazzier than a couple Randall Linebacks or some such grazing in the front pasture. But don't think that you are "saving" anything from extinction. That has already happened.


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## Miss Kay (Mar 31, 2012)

We started out many years ago with a couple crosses between Holstein and jersey heifers. We raised them on bottle and they milked good but we never liked their personality or the way they looked. So, when we moved we sold them and once settled down here, we looked into several different options but ended up with guernseys. We've been raising them for many years now and have 4 generations on the farm and absolutely love them. We milk once a day (yes it is possible) and feed only a few cups of grain during milking. We have great Bermuda grass nearly year round so they do well on grass only. We keep a steer when needed for the freezer and he is raised on mother's milk and grass and killed at 24 months. The meat is well marbled, tender, and extremely tasty. I want nothing else now that I've tried it.  

I love the personality of the Guernsey. They are very docile, easy to train (much smarter than a horse), do well on a grass only situation, and breed back well. Ours give us 4 gallons a day on grass alone. If we milked twice a day and feed grain, they would do much more but I'm not interested in that. We do not keep a bull but use artificial insemination. We use sexed semen except for our oldest cow and have had great results. Our heifer calves sell very well and at good prices. 

Guernsey milk is the best in my opinion. Our cows are tested to be A2/A2 and we only use A2 bulls. The color is a little yellow and we like that. The milk makes yellow butter and great cheese. I've tasted raw milk from several different breeds and much prefer guernseys. 

Now for the downside of guernseys. They are hard to find unless you live in the north east. They are expensive when you find them. If you find a cheap one you are getting a cull and will have problems. I looked at it as an investment when we bought our first one. She has paid for herself and the trouble to bring her 2,000 miles many times over. I was willing to go anywhere in the US to get the cow I wanted and was willing to pay what it took. So I guess you could say if I could have any cow breed in the US but only one breed it would easily be a Guernsey.

If you think you want one, I would contact the association and they can help you find one no matter where you are. Let us know which one you settle with.


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## Lady89 (Feb 22, 2014)

barnbilder said:


> I know a lady that milks beef cows. A lot of the continental beef breeds were as much "dual purpose" as any of the so called heritage breeds. She breeds them as heifers, the ones with good attitudes that give a decent amount of milk stay in her milking herd, the ones that are a little too fractious are sold to a beef operation, the ones that don't have enough milk, are culled. She has a pretty nice string of hardy cows that can make a lot of what calories they need from hay and pasture, don't drown her in milk, but definitely give enough to be worth while. The dream of the backyard dairy cow enthusiast, at a fraction of the cost of the fancy breeds. Started with angus and charolais orphan calves. Didn't have to drive half way across the country to buy something for an extremely high price based on heraldry, accolades, and etc. At the end of the day, the ones she culls do pretty good on the commercial market, and because they are commercial cattle, she doesn't feel the need to pass them off as high priced breeding stock to the next guy to recoup losses..


This is what I plan to do when I get the land for cows


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## TxGypsy (Nov 23, 2006)

My best milk cow was a Jersey Holstein mix. She gave good tasting milk and had teats long enough to milk! My first cow was a pure bred Jersey and was pure torture to try and milk due to teat length or lack thereof. Also she gave so much cream that even after skimming the milk always tasted greasy. 

What I ended up doing with my Jersey Holstein mix was raising calves on her to use the surplus milk. I would pen the calves up in the evening then milk out all I wanted the next morning and turn the calves out to run with her all day. When they got big enough that they were getting rough on her udder I weaned them and got 2 more calves to put on her. I'd milk her extra in the morning and give the first 2 calves bottles until the 2nd 2 calves were taking up the slack. I normally raised 4 calves per lactation on her. 

This gave me all the milk I wanted without having to make cheese every day to deal with the excess. I butchered a couple of the calves for myself and sold the other 2 calves. The 2 calves I sold paid for all the feed, vet bills, having the 2 butchered and purchasing all the calves. So I got all my meat and milk for free.

You could also give extra milk to pigs and chickens. I had a bucket that sat in the utility room that I would pour milk into that was past it's prime, left overs from cheese making, etc.. At first I put a bit of buttermilk in it to solidify it a bit. I left a bit in it all the time. It developed it's own culture after a while and would firm up liquid milk very quickly. The chickens loved it! I didn't have pigs at that time, but I'm betting they would love it as well.


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