# Good dual purpose cow?



## DixyDoodle (Nov 15, 2005)

My horse hay guy showed up today and we got to talking about cattle, since he's a dairy farmer (holsteins). 

I told him about how we were debating on getting a jersey in the spring (or a goat, the votes aren't all in yet!). He said, "Oh, you don't want a jersey! They are too delicate in the winter!" He said I would be best to go for something like a lineback (belted galloway) because they are not only dual purpose (dh would prefer meat cows), but hardy as well. Plus they will not give you an overload of milk that a larger, strictly-dairy cow might.

Ohhhh, now what? This is what I would like, if I had a preference, I would like a cow that:

--is easily tamed and handled
--can withstand the Canadian winters without too much trouble
--isn't too large---we only need a cow that can provide a decent amount for us, a four member family
--that is economical in terms of feed and care

Do you think if we did buy, should we get a mature been-there, done-that cow, or go for a young heifer to raise up? My neighbour said it takes about 2 years for a cow to get to breeding maturity, and it would cost about $2500 to raise the cow to this point. Sound about right? Is there a limit to what age I should buy? What is considered too old for a milking cow?

I do have a neighbour that has jerseys. I didn't even realize he did because most of his property is hidden behind the bushes, and my hay guy said he probably also has to keep them inside most of the time due to their delicate nature. He also told me that if I bought a jersey heifer, if I spend more than $50 for one, I paid too much. I was under the impression that jerseys were expensive to buy. Am I missing something here?

Or should I just buy a goat? LOL I would do that as milk is milk to me, but it is doubful that my one son would drink it, so that would defeat the whole purpose of having "homegrown" milk.

Your thoughts?

DD


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## jerzeygurl (Jan 21, 2005)

my jerseys are outside all winter, it was 4 degrees last nite, we often have temps below zero in the day time 


a good dual purpose would be a jersey angus cross


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## Haggis (Mar 11, 2004)

I live in Northern Minnesota, and while there are some colder places in Ontario it gets cold here too; we've had our Jerseys in full milk at more than fifty-below-zero, and they've done just fine. By the by, no cow can give "too much milk" but there are a great many crofters who at a loss for what to do with anything beyond what they need for the kitchen table. A cow is the hub of the smallholding, she will peacefully eat her grass and chew her cud while giving the crofter manure aplenty for the garden, and milk products for nearly all the homestead residents: pigs, chickens, her calf and extra calves, the farmer and children; and if she's good enough, the neighbors will be 'round to trade for some of her milk as well.

If you want the very best dual purpose breed go with a Holstein cow, she is the pinnacle of balance between beef and dairy; everything else is a move toward beef, a move toward cream, or a giant step towards just having a small edible pet that gives a little milk.


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## tinknal (May 21, 2004)

If they breeding stock were more readily available I would be looking at Dutch Belteds.


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## Up North (Nov 29, 2005)

A Jersey, a Guernsey, a Milking Shorthorn, an Ayrshire, a Dutch Belted, a Normande, a Dexter, or a Cannadinne(Black Jersey) are all good cows.
Why not go with a good healthy young cow that is trained to milk, as from the sounds of things it is a buyer's market for dairy stock in Canada.
I wouldn't get hung up on one breed. Buy good healthy stock, give 'em good care, and any breed can do well for you.


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## Ralph in N.E.Oh (Sep 14, 2006)

Great reply by Up North!


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## ozark_jewels (Oct 7, 2005)

Good reply by Up North. And Jerseys are *not* delicate in the cold.....don't know where he got that from?? We use our Jerseys for meat and milk and are very satisfied.


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## IMContrary (Sep 22, 2004)

If you are Canadian, try a Cannadiene, a native breed to Quebec, rare and needing to be propagated.

Here is the address for their Canadian breed association:

SociÃ©tÃ© des Ãleveurs de Bovins Canadiens,4865 Boulevard Laurier Ouest, Sainte-Hyacinthe,
Quebec, Canada, J2S 3V4 .

You can also see pictures and read about them on this site. 

http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/cattle/canadienne/index.htm]

and here is a list of Canadian breeders I've found.

http://www.rarebreedscanada.ca/breeders-network.htm#cattle


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## DixyDoodle (Nov 15, 2005)

> a good dual purpose would be a jersey angus cross


Finding that in my area might be difficult. I'm in holstein country! Quite a few black angus around, few jerseys that I know of, and verrrrrry few jersey crosses. That cross would be the best of my and the dh's worlds though!


> If you are Canadian, try a Cannadiene, a native breed to Quebec, rare and needing to be propagated.


Well, I only want a family cow. I suppose a rare breed would be costly. Also, I am in an area where Quebeckers are not really looked fondly upon generally speaking, I don't really care either way. But that would be an odd thing to propogate in my area, definitely going against the grain around here!  

So jerseys can withstand colder weather? That was my main concern. We get some really bad days here (not too often, fortunately) that can run a good -35C.


> Why not go with a good healthy young cow that is trained to milk, as from the sounds of things it is a buyer's market for dairy stock in Canada.


What do you mean by young though? And what should I look for and avoid?


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## Up North (Nov 29, 2005)

By a young cow I mean a cow that has had 1 or 2 calves. Look for a balanced udder free of any hard quarters or damaged teats, look at cow's rear leg hock joints- are they swollen, scraped up, or damaged?
Oh, and if the cow you look at has been milking for 100 days or more since she last calved, ask about her breeding status.


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## DixyDoodle (Nov 15, 2005)

> Oh, and if the cow you look at has been milking for 100 days or more since she last calved, ask about her breeding status.


Why is that? :shrug: And how long will a cow produce milk for me before the amount drops off substantially or stops?

And re: her hocks. Do you mean if she's banged up, perhaps she is difficult to milk? Again, would getting a heifer be better in this respect, so that you can raise her up yourself and get her used to being handled frequently. I don't mind waiting for awhile before I can milk.

Age-wise: what do you think would be too old to get for a milking cow if I were to be offered an older cow? 

In any case, if I were to get a cow from the neighour, a vet check would be mandatory first. I don't want someone unloading an unbreedable cow off on me.  I could also have the vet check that she stands well for milking though, too, couldn't I? Well, I mean he would at least be a fairly decent judge of that?

DD


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## Slev (Nov 29, 2003)

you know, another spin on the Cannadiene option might be that looking at the resale value of a "rare breed" being more valuable that your common cow. If it were me, I'd rethink the Cannadiene option, at least to get a real price and not just suppose hey cost too much. (but that's me)


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## Haggis (Mar 11, 2004)

Rare breeds of any sort only have value to someone looking for that particular rare breed; if surplus stock has to be run through the auction ring the owner might not get a bid, or no bid above hamburger prices. Replacement stock is very expensive, hard to find, and often far away. The gene pool is nearly always small, often too small.

If a crofter wants to keep dairy on the thrifty side, staying within the dairy breeds locally available is the way to go; exotics of any sort are tricky business, and only profitable to a very few folks. On the other hand, if a body lives where a rare or exotic breed is more "common", it might not be a bad idea to go with such a breed.


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## Up North (Nov 29, 2005)

DixyDoodle said:


> Why is that? :shrug: And how long will a cow produce milk for me before the amount drops off substantially or stops?
> [If a cow has been "in milk" 100 days or more, she should have at least been bred and a breeding date recorded. 40 days after breeding date a vet can preg check to see if she took. If a cow gets bred back before 150 days, then she can milk a reasonable lactation of 305 t0 375 days, be dried off for 50-60 days, then calve again and start the process over. 150 days + 270 days gestation = 420 days - 60 days dry = a 360 day lactation, just for an example. A cow that breeds back later can milk longer - up to 500 days in some cases, but your economic return will dwindle beyond 365 days. Lots of Large Holstiens are milked 380-480 days, but that does'nt fit your low input low maintanence cow you desire.]
> 
> And re: her hocks. Do you mean if she's banged up, perhaps she is difficult to milk? Again, would getting a heifer be better in this respect, so that you can raise her up yourself and get her used to being handled frequently. I don't mind waiting for awhile before I can milk.
> ...


Good Luck


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## jerzeygurl (Jan 21, 2005)

most of your dairy stock came from colder climates, holstiens are from the northern europe, and jersey from the isle of jersey british isles i belive, neither places known for warmth...

if you can't get an angusxjersey, you can always make one it seems like the ingredients are there...we bought an angus calf for 400 (on grass not a bobbie) bred with him 2 cycles, and sold him for 1000...angus bulls are easier for beginers to deal with, but as they mature they are fence jumpers, so be rid of him then( they are worth to much here to butcher) we butcher our jersey bulls after 2 cycles, very good meat


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## Trisha-MN (May 10, 2002)

We have a Jersey and Jersey Angus and they do well with our cold temps but the Jersey can sure run stubborn at times  Another breed I'm thinking about looking into are the Scotch highlands.


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## mamagoose (Nov 28, 2003)

Dixy,
I bought a Red Poll a month ago and am perfectly pleased with the once a day milking and my gallon a day. She doesn't eat any more than any cow we've had that was just growing or pregnant and she's a pretty big girl, concensus is 1,100 lbs. 
I would expect her to produce more if we had been milking her with her calf on since the calf was born, but we got her at weaning. She's a good-sized beefy cow and DH wants to breed her to a Jersey, so we'll be experimenting with crossbreeding this fall. 
She came from a farm where the owner's father once had a milking herd of Red Poll and she is a descendant. He said when the boys went off to college he lost his help, so he went in the direction of producing beef only. I'm sure there are herds more adapted to milking. 
I prefer at least a dairyXbeef for a family cow. I think they are more similar to the old dual purpose homestead cow. It's hard to find long teats in a fullblood Jersey, etc., and from all the info I've gathered they are just asking for mastisis problems, whereas we rarely had to cull a cow for an udder problem when we raised strictly beef cows. I also want to raise a substantial beef calf from her since that's what we're used to. 
We had a JerseyXAngus heifer who wouldn't breed and she sold for around $.42/lb (all 1085 lbs of her as a 2 yo) at the stock sale a year ago. I agree it is a good cross and they are at least heterozygous polled. 
There are several Red Poll members listed here
http://www.clrc.ca/cgi-bin/list.cgi?_list=memberprov&_association=19&_province=ON
Red Poll are on the threatened list of the American and Canadian Livestock Conservancy. 
My Rosie has a shorter, more of an Angus shaped head than those pictured. 
Here is a website on "rare" Red Poll cheese
http://www.teddingtoncheese.co.uk/acatalog/de327.htm
http://www.teddingtoncheese.co.uk/acatalog/index.html
Good luck!
mamagoose


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## michiganfarmer (Oct 15, 2005)

Haggis said:


> .
> 
> If you want the very best dual purpose breed go with a Holstein cow, she is the pinnacle of balance between beef and dairy; everything else is a move toward beef, a move toward cream, or a giant step towards just having a small edible pet that gives a little milk.


I love holsteins, but I think the reason for that is my fond memories of my childhood growing up on our dairy farm. 

My problem with holsteins is most of them are desended from stock that has been bred for generations for milk production. Their bodies, and reproductive systems come second to milk production. They will milk themselves right down to a rack of bones, and they will not breed back unless you have specialized high energy feed. 

I had that trouble when I was milking cows in the mid 90s. I dont think a holstein is a good homesteading animal just for that reason. A lot of holsteins will give 80 lb a day. That's 9 gallons per day. Witht that kind of production they need 10lb of corn per day. 3,4, or 5 lb of specialised dairy suppliment per day,and all the top quality hay they can eat to keep to keep their energy needs met, and then you still might have trouble getting them bred back. A holstein cross might be ok, but I sure would not buy a holstein from a dairy farmer who has been breeding AI because I dont think a homesteader could feed her enough to keep her body condition up.

I have butchered many many culled dairy cows. They dont have much muscle mass. They are all guts, legs, and udder. Thats what they are bred for. I dont think holsteins make a very good beef animal. 

My first thought is an angus holstein cross, or mabye a jersy/beef cross. All three are good hardy breeds that will stand a lot of cold.


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## linn (Jul 19, 2005)

Well stated Michiganfarmer!!


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## Haggis (Mar 11, 2004)

All cows may be termed "dual purpose", if they give milk, and they can be eaten, they are by difinition "dual purpose". I say that Holsteins are the very best dual purpose breed because they give the most milk of any "butcher" animal; their bulls calves are much sought after by the beef industry. Holsteins are the most common breed on the planet for just that reason.

There are a great many dairy breeds, some common in certain locals, but scarce in others, many of of them are rare breeds or miniature/novelty breeds, but there are only five serious milk cows commonly used in the dairy industry, and of them only one is equally a part of the beef industry: 
- the Holstein-Fresian, gives lots of milk, and has a very good, much sought after butcher calf

- the Brown Swiss, gives less milk, but richer milk than a Holstein of milk, and has a good butcher calf

-the Jersey, gives less milk than a Holstein, more milk than a Brown Swiss, and richer milk than either, they do not have calves sought after by butchers

(These last two are not too common but they are to be found with a careful look.)

-the Ayrshire, gives less milk than a Holstein, less milk than a Brown Swiss, less milk than a Jersey, they do not have calves sought after by butchers

-the Guernsey, gives less milk than a Holstein, less milk than a Brown Swiss, less milk than a Ayrshire, less milk than a Jersey, and richer milk than all but the Jersey, they do not have calves sought after by butchers

As to what one must feed a cow to keep it producing milk, as with chickens, milk production is based on dry matter intake and protein levels. If one has very good grass, and very good hay (high in protein) then grain (in the form of corn, oats, or barley) can become a negative influence on milk production. In a perfect world the milk cow wants something like 15% protein, and she doesn't care if it's all grass or hay; the grain would be fed for heat and balance. Dairy farmers who have very high protein forage do not feed copious amounts of grain as do those who find it easier to pay the feed man for their milk.

I would enjoy having a few Holsteins if my land allowed it, but I have low ground: wet in spring, wet in fall, and a 1500# Holstein would poach my paddocks far more than 900# Jerseys do.


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## Up North (Nov 29, 2005)

Michigan Farmer - I agree with your summary on the Modern Holsteins. High Grain Prices will make it financially painful to keep them in good body condition. The next few years will show the value of the Old World Colored breeds that can carry their flesh with only modest amounts of grain supplementation.
My view on Dairy - Beef cross is this: IF I were to breed or milk such a cross(and I planned on actually milking it), I would *prefer* a Herford/Dairy over Angus/Dairy Cross. Why?...Herford has more milk and less Kick.


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## linn (Jul 19, 2005)

I am currently milking a Jersey/Red Angus cross. She gives about 4 gallons per day at peak production. She is gentle and produces beefy calves when bred to a beef bull. I AI'd her to a Jersey last year and got a beautiful little heifer.


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## michiganfarmer (Oct 15, 2005)

linn said:


> I am currently milking a Jersey/Red Angus cross. She gives about 4 gallons per day at peak production. She is gentle and produces beefy calves when bred to a beef bull. I AI'd her to a Jersey last year and got a beautiful little heifer.


that sounds like a good cross to me


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## genebo (Sep 12, 2004)

DixieDoodle,

It sounds like your milk needs aren't so great that you'd be forced to go with a dairy breed, so one of the dual purpose breeds would be a good choice. That way, you could get your freezer filled with high quality beef at the same time.

Cattle prices are depressed in Canada right now, so you should be able to pick and choose. Get either a trained milker, which will cost you more but may be well worth it, or a young heifer from a gentle breed. If you choose a heifer, get one from the earlier maturing breeds, so you can milk sooner. If you choose an older cow, be sure to go visit before buying, to make sure you can handle her.

Dexters and Highlands are both very hardy and make great beef. The Dexter is a gentler breed. That's important if you're hand milking.

As pointed out, some dairy bulls are eagerly sought out by butchers. That's because they can get them so cheaply. 3 day old dairy bulls regularly sell for $5 to $50 each around here. When brought to slaughter weight, they bring considerably less than good beef cattle. I wouldn't let the thought of selling dairy bull calves for profit enter into my decision.

You can find listings for Dexter cattle for sale in Canada at:

http://members.allstream.net/~jbush/

A search for other Canadian cattle associations should also put you in touch with reputable breeders.

I like the Dexters because they are so gentle and easy to be around. They're easy to train. I love the taste of their beef.

There's a lady near here who is milking Hereford cattle. She gets a higher percentage of butterfat for making cheese and butter. She just has to milk more cows to get the same amount of milk. She only milks them a few years before replacing them, just like a dairy cow.

On the other hand, it's not uncommon to milk a Dexter well into her teens. My oldest Dexter is 11 this year. She just gave me a calf and shows no signs of her age. A lady posted on a different board that she's milking an 18 year old Dexter.

Genebo
Paradise Farm


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## poorboy (Apr 15, 2006)

I milked a milking shorthorn for awhile,great dual purpose cow. Raised and broke to milk a couple of jersey x hereford cows, good easy milkers and their calves sold good. Lord deliver me from anything with any angus blood in it to milk :help: .
My alltime favorite was the milking shorthorn, my jerseys were great milkcows but their calves didn't bring near as much as the shorthorn's or the jersey x cows. A jersey hereford cross would be my first choice for a family ap cow.JMHO :hobbyhors


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## michiganfarmer (Oct 15, 2005)

IM glad to be reading this discussion. Im looking for a family milk/beef cross. 

My dad has an angus/holstein cross that is bred, and due to freshen in May. He is going to let me milk her as long as I leve him enough milk for the calf. I want to make all of our butter, ice cream, and supply us with the gallon and a half of milk per day that we use. 

There is a bred dexter cow on here for sale close to me for $800 that Id like to buy, and try, but money is tight. From what I hear $800 is a pretty fair price for a bred dexter. Ive seen pictures of her. She has good body condition, and is close to 4 feet tall. She looks well taken care of. If I had the money, I'd buy her even though Im kind of partial toward jersy for a homestead cow, and Ilike the sugestions about a jersy/herford cross.

I really want a nice quiet milk cow that will throw beefy calves


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## Blossomgapfarm (Jan 23, 2007)

And then, you could go with a good milk goat or two. Smaller, easy to handle, loving personalities and have beef for beef (goat meat is wonderful as well). If your son ever tries the milk, he will find that it is just as good a cow's milk. I have heard that Toggs produce stronger milk - great for making cheese, but not as good for convincing someone that goat milk and cow milk are equal. You might check out the goat board for more opinions. No offence intended to the cow people  I would love to have a Jersey or Jersey cross but goats are great too.
Dawn


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## jerzeygurl (Jan 21, 2005)

i sold a 1/4 holstien 1/4 jersey 1/2 angus cross heifer at auction as a weanling,about6-8 months old for about 700 bucks...

many beef breeders want something with holstien because mamma can raise big calves with all the milk...so no trouble getting rid of them


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## melwynnd (Dec 25, 2004)

poorboy said:


> Lord deliver me from anything with any angus blood in it to milk :help: .


Now poorboy, they aren't all bad!! We milked a full Angus for several years. However; if you do want to handle an Angus like that, she needs to be bottle fed and bonded to people. It was great having her though since we could just throw her out with the herd if we didn't want to milk or bring her in a couple of years later to milk. She also made a decent foster cow. We got two or so gallons of rich milk a day with the calf locked up overnight and full market value for the calves.


Sherry


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## francismilker (Jan 12, 2006)

A good dual purpose cow is ANY cow that will stand and let you milk her and also have a calf once a year to sale or slaughter. I've drank Jersey, Holstein, Milking Shorthorn, and Ayshire from the Dairy Breeds, and have never had any better milk than that of a "non-kicking" Angus that was hand raised as an orphan. Depending on what your homesteading experience and your milk needs are, (Do you and your family drink 4 gallons plus per day, do you intend on making a lot of butter, cheese, etc.?) you may consider a "beef" breed for a dual purpose cow. 
I was part of a large family that could consume a lot of milk as well had a mother that was pretty handy at utilizing every last drop of all that the old milk cow could produce. On the other hand, today; my family of four can nowhere come close to using the four gallons of excess milk after my old Jersey feeds two calves with once a day milkings. It has resulted in either a lot of wasted milk, or a lot of happy feeder pigs. 
One thing to beware when getting into the homemilking theme: all of the friends and neighbors who go on and on about how they'd love to have access to raw milk don't always come through. The generation we live in today will hardly drink it if you milk it, strain it, jar it, and deliver it. 
These are not arguemenative statements, just my "two-cents".


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## Haggis (Mar 11, 2004)

My brother lived as a share cropper on a beef/tabacco farm for many years ( so did I for a season during hard times), and while he was there he was milking an old Jersey (he had a wife and 3 bairns). One day the owner of the farm dropped off a new bunch of Angus cows for brother to tend, and there was a surprise among them. That first evening, when he called his Jersey up to the barn, an old Angus cow with her udder bulging full came with the Jersey. Brother milked the Jersey and left the door open to the milk stall to see what would happen, and that old Angus cow strutted right on in for her turn. She milked as pretty as you please.

The next day brother called the owner to tell him the news and ask if he intended to sell the cow anytime soon; he wasn't going to be selling her for some months and he added, "You just milk all the buffalo you want."

Brother went out and bought a half dozen weaner pigs to raise on all the extra milk he was getting, and during the day he'd let the the pigs run loose to graze in the paddocks with the cows; he lured them in at night with a rasher of grain. By the time the old Angus was dried off, he had some pigs ready for market. Milk fed to pigs is hardly wasted, it's money in the bank.


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## JulieLou42 (Mar 28, 2005)

My 3/4 GuernseyXRed Angus gives more than enough milk for the three of us adults...up to 4 gals. per day the first few months of lactation. And it's plenty rich with cream,nearly a quart per gallon. Her 1/2 Jersey steer is doing very well so far at 7 mo. and over 3# per day weight gain being maintained. We'll be eating him by the time he's 12 months, probably, at this rate.

People say they want your extra and love the raw milk, but do you think they'll come by your place to pick it up? Hardly!!! Most prefer the ease of getting it at the supermarket.

I don't have any other farm animals to feed it to ...yet! But my dogs love it. My Pyr doesn't hold her water on it very well though for some reason unbeknownst to me.


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## Mark T (Jan 7, 2003)

A question for the folks who milk crossbred dairy-beef animals: How well does the milk flow persist?

Due to a mix-up in communication between myself, my wife, and the AI guy, my Ayrshire got bred with Angus semen and the result is a pretty little black heifer. I was pretty bummed that it wasn't a Ayrshire-Holstein cross but my neighbor said she could be a good milker. I thought he didn't know what he was talking about, so I asked around in the diarymen's group and several folks had, at one time or another, had Angus-Holsteins in the milking string (for a while dairymen were breeding heifers to angus bulls for calving ease). Four of the five said that while production was okay (less than a purebred but worth more than the feedbill), but that the persistancy curve fell off after five months. Evidently persistancy over a 305 day lactation has smoothed the dairy breeds' production curves out. What has your observation been?


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## Oxankle (Jun 20, 2003)

What is this business about Angus cattle jumping fences? I have nothing on the place other than registered Angus cattle. Two sides of my place are fenced with two-strand electric fence 38 inches high, and all my interior fences are single strand electric. I have yet to have a grown animal cross a fence. Baby calves will crawl through, not understanding what is kicking them, but by two weeks of age they KNOW to stay away from the wire. On the other hand, I sold a five-year old bull and the buyer never penned him, just jumped him out of the trailer into the pasture. That bull walked thru two barbed wire fences and a couple of gates before they put up a hot wire. 

I prefer Jerseys for a homestead milker. That goes back to my childhood, but here I have three cows that can be milked in the pasture. Any one of my cows could be broken to milk in a week. It all goes to strain--there are wild strains of Angus just as there are crazy strains of Brahman or Holstein. 

It is said of an old man here that he can lay down a string of baler twine and his cattle will not cross it. His fences look as if they were put up sometime in the l7th century, yet his cattle stay inside. It is also said of him that any cow that crosses one of his fences is at the butcher the next week. Over time he has developed a very docile set of cattle.
Ox


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## Dutchie (Mar 14, 2003)

Oxankle said:


> It is said of an old man here that he can lay down a string of baler twine and his cattle will not cross it. His fences look as if they were put up sometime in the l7th century, yet his cattle stay inside. It is also said of him that any cow that crosses one of his fences is at the butcher the next week. Over time he has developed a very docile set of cattle.
> Ox



That is too funny, Ox.  

We raise Dexters. These are perfect for a small family because they produce only about 1-1.5 gallons of milk a day. We just butchered one of ours (yep ... he was wandering  ) and now have about 280 lbs of meat in the freezer which, especially with a pig or two, is more than enough for us to last a year.

Dexters are also very gentle and hardy.


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## jerzeygurl (Jan 21, 2005)

her is crazy the angus jersey













here is her milk with the cream skimmed after fridge all nite, note the cream line


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## DixyDoodle (Nov 15, 2005)

> We raise Dexters. These are perfect for a small family because they produce only about 1-1.5 gallons of milk a day. We just butchered one of ours (yep ... he was wandering ) and now have about 280 lbs of meat in the freezer


So a gallon and a half of milk and 280lbs of meat is average for Dexters? Are there different kinds of Dexters? That sounds about perfect for us though. We don't need gallons of milk.

The other thing here: I only have pagewire fencing. Is it a pretty good bet that a cow will push it over? Do I need to support it with some electric fencing? How many strands do I need if I did use it? Or maybe just one cow wouldn't do much damage? LOL Yeah, I think I know the answer already......


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