thinking about cows

[allen6634]

my wife and i are thinking about raising cows we want one for milk and the other for meat . we have 5 acers of nice paster and 11 acers of woods i have necer been around cows but my wife grew up on a dairy farm ,the only reason for this is to offste the grocery bill, is this some thing that could cost more than it is worth? thanks for any and all advice.

 

[Brute 23]

my wife and i are thinking about raising cows we want one for milk and the other for meat . we have 5 acers of nice paster and 11 acers of woods i have necer been around cows but my wife grew up on a dairy farm ,the only reason for this is to offste the grocery bill, is this some thing that could cost more than it is worth? thanks for any and all advice.

Absolutely......... better quality product, you enjoy it, keeps you active, good life lessons... all good reasons. Cheaper.... definatly not. :kid:

 

[jedstivers]

Won't be cheaper, bout double or triple.

 

[dun]

Might not hurt to think goats instead of cattle

 

[Bigfoot]

There is no way it would ever pay for itself. I hate to discourage. Sounds like you could run a few calves. Try that to get your feet wet. Duns idea of a milk goat would be much cheaper.

 

[bigbull338]

he truth is itll cost you to have a milk cow an raise her bull calf for beef if she has 1.but youll know your getting fresh milk an meat.an youll know what has been fed to them.so to me yes its worth getting a milk cow.

 

[3waycross]

Buy two beef steers. Sell one eat one.......Buy your milk at the store!

 

[djinwa]

I do something similar and can tell you that from a strictly financial point of view, it does not pay. But then people do all sorts of hobbies that don't pay, so if you would enjoy it, go for it.

Some of us have to have real fresh milk to wash down our oatmeal raisin cookies. Store milk just doesn't work for me. And I've been eating peaches and cream alot lately.

And I've never eaten beef from the store as good as the last steer we butchered.

Whether it's all worth the effort and money depends on the person.

 

[KHereford]

We have a milk cow, if your just drinking the milk it will never pay. We(my wife, I and three kids) drink a gallon a day, and take the left over milk and feed three calves at a time. I have always figured the gallon we get from her pays for the feed and the calves make a little. She will raise two to three groups of 3 calves depending on how long we milk her and we keep one to feed out to butcher. If you dont put to much into your calves outside of purchase price and a little feed you can make a lot of money on one cow. Last year we had a jersey raise 6 calves on nothing but pasture and five pounds of grain to keep everyone happy and cleared $1800 on the bunch. Not bad for a cow we gave $600 for but it is a lot of work and doesnt always work that well. Get the milk cow, raise a few calves on her, enjoy her milk and keep one to butcher.

 

[allen6634]

thanks for the reply we had planed on doing exactly that i have seen bottle calfs on cl for around $100 or so i find that working in the garden is enjoyable . yes i know the garden is nothing like cows . im just using the fact that i like to do gardening to show that i don't mind putting forth the effort to raise my own food . we also have chickens for the eggs and summer time bbqs. i think i could get some enjoyment from cows and possibly save a doller or two we have talked about calfing once a year try to rtime this so it happens in the spring we are going to use the heifer for her milk and the calf for the beef. once again thanks for all the advice.