Best Nurse Cow?

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Herefordcross

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Questions on a nurse cow for our orphaned beef calves.

Let's not get into the 3,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
variables!

Holstein-Very Large, maybe hard to handle, probably would settle into it after a while but, give large amounts of milk due to extensive breeding.

Jersey-Smaller, Easier to handle, quieter for the most part, too much milk fat??

Am I correct on the above and I don't know about the other dairy breeds so please inform me, Thanks ahead of time.
 
milking shorrthorn the jersey will get tossed around with your othercows. also will rasie calves thick as beef calves even when bred pure milking shorthorn
 
I haven't personally worked with Jersey cows, but I've heard some comments from folks that do work with them, that they can be downright ornery. Which makes sense -- Jersey bulls are some of the meanest around, so it doesn't add up that the Jersey cows would be the gentlest dairy breed. LOL.

Holsteins don't neccessarily give too much milk. I've had ones here that can only support two calves. Especially if you're not supplementing her, and she has to work on pasture with no grain. So you might be better off with a Holstein... a Jersey on pasture might only be able to feed one calf, and that's a lousy nurse cow. My only nurse cow right now has a set of four, six month old calves with a 2.36 ADG each -- which is better than some folks get from one cow with one calf.

Granted, I've only worked with Holstein nurse cows, but I haven't found them neccessarily hard to handle. I've gotten them all as older, 2nd+ lactation cows, and they transitioned fine (some of them took to it immediately) and I've halter broke a lot of them without undue trouble. BTW, I like a 1300-1400lb nurse cow, don't really care for one larger than that. I don't know what your definetion of "very large" is, but a 1300lb cow isn't that big to me.

Jerseys and Holsteins are by far the most common -- I wouldn't get too particular looking for any of the other less common dairy breeds. Tough enough to find a good cull without wanting a rare breed on top of it.

Hope my idle rambling helped you a little! :p
 
Holsteins and Jerseys would definitely be easier to find in almost any area, especially Holsteins. There are so many more of them than any other breed. Don't know anything about Jerseys, except they are smaller and give less milk, but the milk is very high in fat content.

I don't think you could go wrong with a good Holstein. They give lots of milk and are good grazers. They don't have to be huge. Just as with beef cattle, it depends on the bloodlines. The ones I've been around were very easy going for the most part. There will be crazy ones in any breed, but since you already have cattle experience, you should be able to spot one of those pretty easy.

As milkmaid said, get an older one that's used to being around people and used to being milked. That's probably the most important thing, whatever you decide. Good luck.
 
Whatever you have been told on Jersey cows.....isn't true. They are excellent mommas, not ornery at all. Dairy bulls in general are cranky.

Jersey wins hands down!
 
We had a Jersey milk cow when I was little. She was a sweet cow. My grandaddy ended up with her and he would let her have a calf and then put 2 or 3 more on her and she loved them like her own.
 
When I first started with cattle I had herefordxjersey, herefordxayrshire and herefordx holstein cows and often grafted another calf on them. From my experience the hereford xayrshire was the best nurse cows and held their condition the best. The jersey x hereford was a close second and the holstein xhereford was by far the least efficient. The weaning weights of their natural calves was also in the same order.

I found it much easier to graft a second calf onto the jerseyx than on the holsteinx. There was always the exception to the rule. I once tried grafting a second calf onto a jerseyx and had given up after 2 months and just raised the calf on calf pellets.

I grew up with a dairy on the farm where we milked both jerseys and holsteins and from my experience the jersey cows tended to be more docile and were much easier calvers than the holsteins.

I don't think there is much difference between the orneryness (is that even a word?) between jersey and holstein bulls, both are equally bad.
 
We've never had a nurse cow, but from what I've seen, I think Jersey would be better. A friend used to have a couple and she'd raise a dozen orphan calves on them every year. They were halter broke and gentle.
 
I have a Jersey, main purpose is a nurse cow. Got her as a yearling heifer cheap, was wild as a buck, took no time at all to work her into a great cow. Can do anything with her and she loves babies.

Know a guy who breeds/raises Brown Swiss and leases them to a dairy. Good natured (at least his are) large and dun is right, they eat like a Holstein and milk like a Jersey.

Just my .02 cents.

Katherine
 
Jersey or holstein both good. I don't think you will have to worry about a jersey competing with other cattle they will get right in there and eat. Better grazers than holsteins.
 
Had an old F1 tiger that would nurse any calf you put on her with out a fight and then fight you like she had just calved.
I have got to find another one also.
 
Caustic Burno":10lolr6r said:
Had an old F1 tiger that would nurse any calf you put on her with out a fight and then fight you like she had just calved.
I have got to find another one also.

i have a couple of beefmasters like this.
 
Hi
I am new to the board. We just got a Jersey cow that is the sweetest cow ever-my 3 year old daughter leads her around and brushes her every morning. We bought her the beginning of Feb, the next day we bought a Jersey bull calf at the auction and put him on, she took him like he was her own. We are thrilled with her. Not a bad buy for $100. She does need weight on her though. We were going to dry her up but decided not to just incase we needed her this year.
 
HolsteinxJersey is the best I ever owned and the others where the best nurse cows I ever seen. Its that dang hybrid vigor again.

On the other hand, for someone who is supposed to know so much about dairy cattle to come on here and make blind statements about Jerseys not being good cows after never having worked with them, it really makes me wonder. I have never in my life seen an ornery Jersey cow, and I once worked on a dairy too that ran Holstein Jersey and the cross of the two, which makes a hell of a cow.
 
Caustic Burno":o5gvltyh said:
Had an old F1 tiger that would nurse any calf you put on her with out a fight and then fight you like she had just calved.
I have got to find another one also.

I am with you on this.

The best nurse cow is one that has milk and will accept anything you put on her.
 
Most folks I have known who run nurse cow operations have Jersey cows. As a kid, Daddy ran with a jersey and replaced it when the time came.

The one active lady I know has mostly jersey cows but she does indeed also have a holstein, which is a good momma.

I have a nurse cow that is half holstein and half jersey. She does her functions just fine.

Any cow that will take on another baby, nuture it sufficiently, is suited to be a nurse cow. All we are looking for is a good momma to ensure the baby survives and thrives, right?
 

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