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My advice, FWIW, Breed your cows using AI and keep a very well bred cleanup bull on the primisis. Do your diligence and heavily cull anything that's not what it should be. Be equally critical when culling both AI and pasture bred calves. If you need to keep subpar cows to have enough...

Old post I know but I want to jump in with my two cents. Some of my jerseys will have hard quarters when they first freshen. This mainly because the calf is only sucking the front two due to easy access and are getting more than enough milk. These hard quarters will soften up and come into...

Old thread but here's a suggestion to those with pot bellied calves. Remember a rule of thumb in feeding any bovine that they need at least 3% of their body weight per head per day in digestable feed. Some try to scrape by feeding subpar roughage and a small scoop of feed. This can work to...

Because dairy cattle prices are so low at the time, (and don't seem to be getting better in the anywhere near future), I'd sale her as a beef calf. Because of her dairy influence she'd have the prospect of making a great future mama cow and shouldn't have all the problems that putting a full...

It takes me a year give or take. Depends on the breed. The best rate of gain on grass I've gotten is from a group of Milking Shorthorn bull calves. They weighed 1000lbs at about 14 months. (On grass alone) That's cheap rate of gain!

I've done it. Depending on large or small scale, the key to turning a profit is having grass. If you intend on getting those calves up to 800lbs. on grain you're gonna go in the tank with losses. If you can turn them out on grass and forget about them after they're bottle-fed, you'll do quite...

If you ship her now you have a chance of "fooling" the market on a 200lb heifer. Otherwise, let her get up to breeding age and she'll be discounted severely by the beef buyer and the dairy buyer won't even be interested in her. Sadly, unless you have someone looking for a potential home milk...

IMHO, I think more folks would get back in touch with farming on some scale(Whether it be large or small), if they could afford it. Back when "grandpa" was living off the land he was milking 20 jerseys with bucket milkers and raising his own hay and grass on 80 acres along with a house garden...

And they say milk cows are docile! I always hated it when we brought a new string of heifers in for their first few milkings. Talk about a rodeo! Many times if it were'nt for manure spash boards and kick rails I'd have taken a hoof to the side of the face.

Here is a link to a very well discussed topic of raising bottle calves. Lots of folks on that discussion board put a lot of time into rearing the calves from birth to breeding age. I'd recommend reading it through if you have the time. http://www.homesteadingtoday.com/showth ... p?t=284758...

Here's a link to an article I recently read. I'm gonna try it on a test plot well away from the house to keep the flies at bay! http://www.greenpasture.org/community/?q=node/228

I've seen this kind of udder edema on cows many times. It's usually not a problem for a cow in the milkstring because they're getting milked completely out every 12 hours. However, if this cow is left for the calf alone to take care of and she's a heavy milker you may be in for some problems...

Yes, Oxytosin does stimulate let-down but the cows can/will get dependant on it if you're not careful and use it too often. I've used it on a few heifers that chose to rodeo the milk barn up, but prefer to just let nature take it's course. If you're feeding her right, and getting a little out...

OK guys, I'm familiar with the dairy breeding side of things so I have a question. What does the term "F-1" mean in cattle breeding? Also, I realize brahman bred cattle are good mothers and good foragers, but how do they compete with the phenomenon of "certified angus" at the feedlot...

I second the notion to talk to the milk inspector before spending a dime on the existing old barn. And while your visiting with him, inquire about manure disposal standards. In Oklahoma you can get a barn built to the inspector's standards and then have to jump through a lot more expensive...

Hopalong, I try to use between 12-14" vacuum while using a Universal brand bucket milker. As far as sharemilking with the calf. I found through lots of trial and error that it was best for me to to milk the cow after she was separated from the calf for about 12 hours. After I milked her...

Novaman, I realize there's utility bills, mortgages, and taxes. But what else are you referring to as fixed costs if you don't mind? The parlor expenses should drop considerably due to less usage on rubber parts and pumps. Feed would dramatically reduce and parlor labor would reduce. What...

Got to agree with the Herford assessment. You never know though, with the jersey association's genetic recovery program, if that little girl has a registered jersey sire, she can be registered as an OA (original animal) within their registry.

I've always used live cover on my cattle. (except for some beef cows my kids raise show calves out of). I just usually rent a bull for about three months a year. This way, I'm not feeding him all year and my cows stay pretty well in sync to all calve out in the three month window. So far...

If you're looking for a cow that will supply enough milk for a single family with regular milk consumption, you might consider getting a beef/dairy cross cow and share milk with the calf. That way, when you breed her every year to a beef bull you'll get a 3/4 beef offspring and it will grow and...