# can you milk a beltie?



## darbyfamily (Mar 16, 2005)

Found out someone near here raises Oreo cows 

what goes better with Oreos than milk? LOL

Anyway, just wondering if they are any good for milking or really just for beef?


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## robin f (Nov 26, 2007)

if you can hold her, you can milk her, but she won't give a lot


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## darbyfamily (Mar 16, 2005)

Hmmm... upon some searching and reading, they're listed as dual purpose breeds, and suppose to be excellent for milking :shrug:

Thanks though


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## linn (Jul 19, 2005)

DH bought one at the sale barn this fall. She has a beautiful udder; but hasn't calved yet. Here is the website for the Dutch Belted Assoc. According to them, the Dutch Belted make excellent milkers.
http://www.dutchbelted.com/


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## peter_g (Mar 18, 2005)

Dutch Belted!! Yes! Good dual purpose cow! Here's a great website.

http://www.penndutchcowcare.org/
http://www.dutchbelted.com/About the Breed.html

Now the big thing is to know you're getting a Dutch Belted and not a Belted Galloway. Belted Galloway's are more of a beef breed than the Dutch Belted.


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## peter_g (Mar 18, 2005)

As a quick note however, you'll want to ask the person you're buying her from if they milk them (I don't know if they do), what's their lactation curve like (do they milk for 5 weeks and then dry off like a beef breed basically), what kind of production their herd has if they are milking them. The Dutch Belted cattle are pretty rare and conformity may be a problem. (Another words, they're trying to keep the breed alive rather than work on making nice udders, though there are probably some trying to do that as well)
Susan


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## robin f (Nov 26, 2007)

sorry i thought you meant the belted galloway, they won't give a lot of extra milk


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## Up North (Nov 29, 2005)

I think we better have better clarification. There are two kinds of belties. Dutch Belted and Belted Galloways. Two totally different kinds of cows even though they have similar coloring. What does the owner call them? 

I'll catch some flack for this but I don't think Dutch Belted are dual purpose. I know they are listed as that but from my experiences I don't think they are. Yes, they are great cows and milk well. I think they would be a great family cow and Yes, you can eat them or their offspring. But to me a dual purpose cow gives a decent amount of milk and fattens up really well just on grass. Dutch Belted do not fatten up really well on grass alone. 

Heather


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## peter_g (Mar 18, 2005)

No, no flack  Is this from experience?? I'm going on what I've heard from other people and what we've researched in the past, not from experience. So if you haven't been able to get Dutch Belted to fatten on grass alone then I'd love to know for future reference. We've been considering getting DB semen to cross onto some of our dairy cattle. However, you can fatten a lot of animals on grass alone if managed properly just maybe not as well or as fast as other breed more suitable.


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## darbyfamily (Mar 16, 2005)

they are listed in the breeders list on www.beltie.org so is that would be Belted Galloways

milk or no?


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## Up North (Nov 29, 2005)

That would be a beef breed. With your family size I wouldn't bother. However, I must say that we have friends that milk belted galloway/holstein crosses. They make enough milk to bother with milking. Of course they aren't going to be breaking any production records. LOL 

To answer Peter g's question. I'm talking from experience and from talking with a dairy farmer who is very well known in grass farming circles. The farmer I have talked with has had a long milking career and has milked pretty much every breed of cow there is. He has told me he has no use for DB's. He is running a 250 cow low-input grazing dairy herd. These girls have to milk well on pasture alone with very little grain. We are breeding a low input grazing herd as well. We would like to get to the point where we are feeding zero grain (or least have the option without having our cows fall apart if we do). So this is the thinking behind my opinions. I must qualify that I haven't worked with purebred DB's. My DB's are crossed with Holsteins. I do know what my Holstiens bring to the table so when you add the DB, a person can get a pretty good idea of what the DB is adding to the mix. On really good pasture they just won't fatten up. Yeah, they will put on some good condition and look great but compared to what I'm used to, they look skinny. This is comparing to primarily Ayrshire and some Normande in my herd. Those girls will get all out *fat* on really good pasture. DB's are just too fine boned to carry any mass at all. I've read in some of Hoffman's literature about zero grain DB herds but that's one of those things I would have to see it to believe it. I can see the breeds value but other than eye candy they don't work in our breeding program. 

Heather


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## peter_g (Mar 18, 2005)

Agreed on the Belted Galloway... it's a beef breed. 

Up North... thank you for the information! It's very helpful! We were considering crossing DB onto a MSXJersey heifer for her first calf this summer. Otherwise we were going to breed her either MS or Normande. We already have that semen in our tank.  I hear ya on the Normande! lol They can sure get fat easy! And on some awful pasture too. My understanding is that Milking Devons are that way as well but they cost a fortune. We have gone 100% grass fed milk here with certain Jersey genetics, Milking Shorthorn and Normande. No Holsteins though.. not particularly fond of them.

Susan


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## Up North (Nov 29, 2005)

Susan, you've got me curious. How many milk cows do you have? Is this just for family use or are you selling milk? You know that farmer I was talking about has decided to base his herd breeding program on Jerseys and milking shorthorn. We want to keep our core herd Ayrshire. I'm not fond of Holsteins either. We are in the process of breeding them out of the herd. It would of been too costly to just sell them all. I've met a couple of farmers now that will only use bulls from their own herd. They say it's the only way to get the gentics they want.

Heather


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## NWMO (Jul 26, 2005)

I have two belted galloway cows. I would agree, more of a beef breed, but I do know some beltie owners that use them as a family milk cow. 

The cows did a great job of raising their own calves, but I truly was impressed with the belted galloways udder appearance. It never appeared to be full.....but the calves grew well. Several people I know with belteds are crossing them with angus for a lean grass fed beef.


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## peter_g (Mar 18, 2005)

Probably not enough to be super experienced. lol We've milked five different cows over the last several years, but are currently milking 3 and selling the milk. Well, we're currently milking one until we start calving again in April. So far we've has 2 Jerseys, 2 MSs, and 1 Normande (who we found in some ones beef herd). Currently we have one of each breed and two heifers (a MSXJersey and NormandeXAngus) that will be ready to breed this year and join our milking lineup in '09. We can't afford to expand our herd quickly. So that's where we are at. We're actually looking to phase out the MSs somewhat and lean more toward Jersey and Normande (though crossing them won't have much hybrid vigor). My husband has had some interest in Ayrshires, but they are hard to find. Our Normande faired the best on maintaining a constant milk production no matter what grass was available and didn't lose too much body condition, so we were pretty impressed with her. She's old though, her udder is in shambles and we've been repairing her health holistically (She was in rough shape we we got her, she's much better now). lol We're hoping to get a few calves out of her before she's through though. So I guess we're in a breed up stage. lol Our Jersey is of older genetics though and faired extremely well on grass alone. Our MS is fairing well also.. she's the one we are still milking. She's only eating mediocre hay and doing rather well.

These are the 3 we are currently milking:


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## Up North (Nov 29, 2005)

Here's a site that I think you will really enjoy looking at. www.nicholsdairy.com The Nichols are really nice people. I'm hoping to be able to go visit them some time this spring. We've formed a lot of our ideas independently but since we have moved we are finding that there are people near us with similar thinking. We've been farming a long time but there is always something new to learn. 

Heather

OK, sorry Darby's I've totally hijacked your thread. Here's a pic for ya!








Here's our friend Maggie lovin' on her Belted Galloway bull Shaggy. He's a very prolific breeder. If you would go for a tour of Maggie's farm there are tons of little belties everywhere!


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## darbyfamily (Mar 16, 2005)

I got an email back from the breeder and she confirmed that they are a beef breed 

I guess we'll keep looking...Im definitely more interested in milk than beef right now...though i guess we really want whichever is best for both


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## darbyfamily (Mar 16, 2005)

Oh and on your way to Westphalia if you make it... be sure to swing by Fall River state park! We camped there last year for a week and it was WONDERFUL!!!! worth the detour thats for sure!


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## Cookiecows (Jan 21, 2008)

Hi all,
I just joined the forum and as a Belted Galloway breeder I can tell you that Belties are a low fat breed of beef cow. The fat content is similar to chicken or fish. They are a smaller, longish haired breed from the Scotland highlands. 

The Dutch Belted have short hair and they are a milk cow. In fact if anyone knows of a Dutch Belted milk cow for sale anywhere near Glens Fork, Ky we'd be very interested! Our milk cow died calving two years ago and we haven't replaced her yet.

I'm looking forward to learning alot on this awesome forum and meeting new friends! 

Deb
http://lazy-acres-ranch.com
:cow: :1pig: :banana02: :stirpot: :gromit: :chicken: 
Milk and cookies forever!!


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## scorpian5 (Feb 16, 2004)

there is also http://www.buelingo.com/ we have a registered one but she is just a beef cow. They are a little high strung.


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## Up North (Nov 29, 2005)

Cookiecows, welcome to HT!

scorpian5, thanks for sharing that link. I didn't know there was another belted beef breed.

Heather


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## Cookiecows (Jan 21, 2008)

Thanks for the welcome Up North! 

Scorpian5 ... I've never read up on the Buelingos. We were amazed at the different animals that come 'belted' after we got into the Belted Galloway! You know how you notice these things after you get into it. 
:cow: 
Deb


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