Old time dairy cow

[Ky hills]

In going through old pictures I’ve found some interesting things.
I don’t know whose cow this was but it appears to be probably a milk cow.
I can’t tell in picture what kind maybe Holstein? Shorthorn? I know that Shorthorns were very popular here a long time ago. Seemed like my family always talked about Jersey and Guernsey milk cows.
Whatever the breed that dairy cow is a lot beefier than modern dairy cows,
No idea who or what the story is with the bear, just came across it in the same group of pictures, and threw it in.

 

[TexasJerseyMilker]

Looks like a fat Holstein to me that did not breed back. Dairy body condition score of 5. She's been dry a while, that's what a dry udder looks like. It's stretched out and baggy from prior production. Maybe she was someone's pet.

That's a chained up young bear drinking a milky bottle.

 

[greybeard]

I wonder if that's the trained bear that gave me a whuppin inside a ring in a Lafayette La bar one Sunday afternoon some decades ago...

 

[kenny thomas]

I wonder if that's the trained bear that gave me a whuppin inside a ring in a Lafayette La bar one Sunday afternoon some decades ago...

Was alcohol involved? For you and the bear.

 

[Ky hills]

Looks like a fat Holstein to me that did not breed back. Dairy body condition score of 5. She's been dry a while, that's what a dry udder looks like. It's stretched out and baggy from prior production. Maybe she was someone's pet.

That's a chained up young bear drinking a milky bottle.

Yeah, I figure it is a Holstein. Probably not a pet in the sense of somebody keeping and old or unproductive cow around. Most of these older days Appalachian people didn’t have the room or resources to keep something unproductive around.
They were great at survival, with hard work and doing what had to be done.
My grandparents didn’t even eat much beef just bought ground beef or round steaks every once in a while, because they could sell there cattle for more and they raised hogs to eat. They live poor compared to people today, but my grandmother could cook a first class supper out of cheaper end foods.

 

[farmerjan]

Yes it is a holstein... NO... it does not look like an old dried up udder cow. That is not what a true dry dairy cow looks like.
The Holstein-Friesian animals are a much beefier type of holsteins... they were better known as a "dual purpose" type. There is still semen available today. They milked good, had a beefier body, were hardier and did not need all the "extra" feed that the ones today need. No they did not milk 10 gallons a day... they were more for family type milk cows, but more production and less butterfat than Jerseys or Guernseys. Many of the bull calves were made into steers and used for oxen and for beef.
She actually has a decent udder for an older type, big teats for hand milking as the little skinny teats they have bred into today's cattle are miserable to try to hand milk.
They are more popular in areas of Europe. They are what we bred the super high producing holsteins in this country from.

 

[Double R Ranch]

Yes it is a holstein... NO... it does not look like an old dried up udder cow. That is not what a true dry dairy cow looks like.
The Holstein-Friesian animals are a much beefier type of holsteins... they were better known as a "dual purpose" type. There is still semen available today. They milked good, had a beefier body, were hardier and did not need all the "extra" feed that the ones today need. No they did not milk 10 gallons a day... they were more for family type milk cows, but more production and less butterfat than Jerseys or Guernseys. Many of the bull calves were made into steers and used for oxen and for beef.
She actually has a decent udder for an older type, big teats for hand milking as the little skinny teats they have bred into today's cattle are miserable to try to hand milk.
They are more popular in areas of Europe. They are what we bred the super high producing holsteins in this country from.

Nice old school Holstein! Wish I had access to that kind of semen. That's the kind of home cow I'd love to have for milking. Nice udder on that cow. Much better hand milking teats than many these days. Very cool picture @Ky hills. Thanks for sharing!

 

[regolith]

Look into the old-style British Friesian. I may well have photos of similar cows on a dusty bookshelf somewhere; the basic body type and markings is similar.
They are a dual-purpose cow that gain weight easily, and in Britain were known for easy management and production in the range of 4,000 - 6,000 litres annually, under normal management probably you could push them hard on feed and get 8,000 litres but the farms that were doing that tended to also go for the more modern Holstein genetics imported from Holland.
British, Irish, French and New Zealand Friesian held their status for a long time as a tougher, more dual-purpose cow but I doubt there's any left as breeding to Dutch and US Holstein was practised right across the board in the early 90s and since then. Hence the "correct" name HolsteinFriesian, it's a blend of two breeds. both probably originating in Holland but those known as Friesian were valued for beef production as well as milk.
It's still possible to buy British Friesian straws here in NZ I have an in-calf heifer sired by one, coming up to calving in the next couple of months I'll be interested to see how she goes.

That's not a dry udder - certainly not completely dried down if in doubt you can tell by the strutting of the teats. They're moderate producers and back in the early nineties when I was milking British Friesians, many of the udders were very poor in form and attachments. There were good udders. But there were also many that hung low in the back, high in the front in a way that would make milking difficult in a modern dairy and probably be selected for culling, or not breeding that type in the first place.

 

[Rafter S]

When you mentioned Guernseys it reminded me of something a vet told me decades ago. "A Guernsey cow spends her whole life walking around looking for a place to lay down and die."

 

[greybeard]

When you mentioned Guernseys it reminded me of something a vet told me decades ago. "A Guernsey cow spends her whole life walking around looking for a place to lay down and die."

I thought that was goats.....

 

[greybeard]

Was alcohol involved? For you and the bear.

Lots, for the bear anyway. For me, a woman was involved as was often the case back then...she owned the bar and we had 'an entanglement'......

 

[TexasJerseyMilker]

Here's my old fat Jersey's dry udder. Gosh I miss her. She had a stretched out bag because she raised many calves. At the age of 15 after several years of having no calves she did produce a purebred heifer.
AT the dairy farm of my friends in the milking parlor I was shocked to see the high tight udders of their older high producers, both Jersey and Holsten.

 

[Ky hills]

When you mentioned Guernseys it reminded me of something a vet told me decades ago. "A Guernsey cow spends her whole life walking around looking for a place to lay down and die."

I’ve heard that about Herefords and sheep too.

 

[TexasJerseyMilker]

My cowboy husband says Cows are always looking for ways to cost you more and make themselves worth less.

 

[regolith]

Here's my old fat Jersey's dry udder. Gosh I miss her. She had a stretched out bag because she raised many calves. At the age of 15 after several years of having no calves she did produce a purebred heifer. View attachment 64848
AT the dairy farm of my friends in the milking parlor I was shocked to see the high tight udders of their older high producers, both Jersey and Holsten.

I get the occasional cow that simply doesn't dry down - it's annoying, likely some of them leak enough milk on a daily basis to keep production going but I've had 4 - 5 over the last three years that were dried off to gain weight and cull and they day they left the farm 2 - 4 months later I put the milking clusters on them to empty them out before they walked on the truck. Got about 2 - 3 litres each time I did that, which is a lot more than a dry cow should be producing.
Modern breeding should produce "udders that last" although it's sometimes a trade off between good udder support and high production. Still disappointing to cull a good cow at 7 or 8 years because her udder couldn't make it to 12 years. Certainly in this country higher production usually means the udder stretches sooner because the grazing genetics aren't expected to be doing extreme high production, so aren't bred with extreme udder support to help them reach old age.

 

[Travlr]

Here's my old fat Jersey's dry udder. Gosh I miss her. She had a stretched out bag because she raised many calves. At the age of 15 after several years of having no calves she did produce a purebred heifer. View attachment 64848
AT the dairy farm of my friends in the milking parlor I was shocked to see the high tight udders of their older high producers, both Jersey and Holsten.

How's that new heifer coming along? Any pics?