Dexter/Jersey crosses?

[TAH]

We have been looking into the Dexter but am not pleased with there milk production.

I saw a second freshener Dexter mini Jersey cross. They said she gave 4-5 gallons a day and she seem like a really nice looking cow.

So now my question is would a Dexter Jersey cross make good milk and meat cross. But would also be smaller and hardyer?

 

[cjc]

I would think so but I have also heard that both breeds don't give much in terms of meat. I have heard that you will feed them twice as much for less than a quarter of meat then you would get on a meat breed of the same size.

I just bought a jersey heifer. I haven't milked her out yet as she is just about to calf but I think 4-5 gallons a day would be a fair estimate on a mini cross. I tried to find a cow that would be a good milk and meat cross but everyone I spoke to said its one or the other. The only breed I know people have had success with personally would be a milking shorthorn but that is definitely not going to be a small cow that will be a large one. I am going to breed my jersey back to a milking shorthorn next year through AI.

 

[farmerjan]

Was trying to scan through some of the posts, I am sure there is a method to finding what/ when you want something, and came across your question of the best small milking breed. 4-5 gal a day isn't bad for any smaller breed dairy cow. You will be swamped with milk unless you make alot of butter or have a big family.
Now some thoughts on the meat; since it is a mini I am assuming that the mature size is 600 lbs m/l. On a steer 2 yr old, you will get approx 1/4 of that in usable meat. It's the same percentage in full size animals. Half the live weight will immediately "disappear" in the slaughter. Head, hooves, skin, guts etc which gives you a hanging weight of 300 lbs, 150 lbs per half. Then you figure to lose another half of that in bones & fat because it is not smart to freeze alot of bone, takes up too much room in the freezer so except for maybe t-bones. have them bone out the meat. It varies from one animal to another, but that is the rule of thumb with most all slaughterhouses/ butchers that I have dealt with. I have had several jersey steers finish out @ 60% . They don't have near as much fat as a "beef" animal. And approx 1/3 of the actual meat will be ground beef ; depending on whether you get alot of stew meat. If you do it yourself you will save a little more meat but not alot. If you make soup get ALL your bones back and if you eat venison or elk or something, get all your fat back to mix in ground meat or sausage since venison fat is sparse and very gamey. The fat is good for making tallow and stuff.
I personally would not breed a jersey to a shorthorn as they can have bigger heads/shoulders when born same as herefords. Try to find a LOW-LINE Angus which is the mini version of an angus or use an extremely easy calving angus bull with calf birthweights in the MINUS side, the higher number the better. Ask the a.i. guy, for an extremely easy calving bull. Angus calves do not have the blocky head and shoulders. Some red angus bulls are a little smaller than the blacks. We use an easy calving bull on our first calf heifers, full size cattle, and alot of the calves come in at 60 +/- lbs. Our calves on our mature cows bred to non-easy calving bulls weigh in the 75-95 lb. range. Or try galloway they are not as big a beef breed. Personally I prefer straight jersey steers for beef and if you breed her jersey and you get a heifer then you have a replacement or a future sale. It's as easy to raise 2 calves as one so when she calves get a 2nd baby calf and raise them together, then sell it as a feeder. A holstein bull calf will cost in the neighborhood of $75 to $200; and at 6-8 months should weigh 4-600 lbs. Around here they are bringing 1.00 to 1.35 lb. so will help pay for your time and feed. Jerseys are feisty and will hold their own with calves of bigger size but the same age if raised together. Hope this helps.

 

[cjc]

@farmerjan I have been buying Cross Bred bottle calves (Angus X Holstein) from dairies and have seen a few Jersey or Holstein cross shorthorns. They sell for a premium compared to the other bottle calves leaving the dairies. Shorthorns are big calves but I don't want to rule the idea out. The A.I guy is confident breeding an angus (not low-line) to a jersey...we see it quiet a bit around here. One of my girls is an Angus X Jersey, she's small and not worth her weight in beef. I bred her to a shorthorn last season, she's actually smaller than my Jersey Heifer and she did great and had a nice size calf no issues. Her calf is just as big as my Angus calves and a little smaller than my pure bred shorthorns. The problem with Jersey steers around here is they are worth nothing. Jersey bull calves I can pick up for free all day long. Since I am not in the business of raising Dairy cows I don't want to risk a bull calf because I don't have the heart to send it away a few days after birth. I am exploring the idea of using sexed semen on my Jersey if she does well with her first calf...she is pregnant with a Jersey calf.

I would though not pay even $75 for a Holstein bull calf. The most I'd pay is $20 and that's pushing it. I see slaughter ready Holstein steers go for $150.

I currently have a set of Angus bull calf twins (1 week old). I was thinking of putting them on my jersey with her calf a week after its born. I have heard 2 calves at most per jersey but the vet told me the other day she would have no problem with 3 or even 4. Any experience on that?

 

[babsbag]

3 day old Holstein bull calves sell for 125.00 where I am at; my friend buys them each year and grafts them onto the cow they don't milk. All that milk and they don't use a drop so might as well raise two calves. I wish that cow was next door to me.

Personally I prefer straight jersey steers for beef

Why? I know nothing about cattle except that I can buy jersey bull calves for $4.00 but was told that it wasn't worth it to raise them for beef.

 

[farmerjan]

3 day old Holstein bull calves sell for 125.00 where I am at; my friend buys them each year and grafts them onto the cow they don't milk. All that milk and they don't use a drop so might as well raise two calves. I wish that cow was next door to me.

Why? I know nothing about cattle except that I can buy jersey bull calves for $4.00 but was told that it wasn't worth it to raise them for beef.

@farmerjan I have been buying Cross Bred bottle calves (Angus X Holstein) from dairies and have seen a few Jersey or Holstein cross shorthorns. They sell for a premium compared to the other bottle calves leaving the dairies. Shorthorns are big calves but I don't want to rule the idea out. The A.I guy is confident breeding an angus (not low-line) to a jersey...we see it quiet a bit around here. One of my girls is an Angus X Jersey, she's small and not worth her weight in beef. I bred her to a shorthorn last season, she's actually smaller than my Jersey Heifer and she did great and had a nice size calf no issues. Her calf is just as big as my Angus calves and a little smaller than my pure bred shorthorns. The problem with Jersey steers around here is they are worth nothing. Jersey bull calves I can pick up for free all day long. Since I am not in the business of raising Dairy cows I don't want to risk a bull calf because I don't have the heart to send it away a few days after birth. I am exploring the idea of using sexed semen on my Jersey if she does well with her first calf...she is pregnant with a Jersey calf.

I would though not pay even $75 for a Holstein bull calf. The most I'd pay is $20 and that's pushing it. I see slaughter ready Holstein steers go for $150.

I currently have a set of Angus bull calf twins (1 week old). I was thinking of putting them on my jersey with her calf a week after its born. I have heard 2 calves at most per jersey but the vet told me the other day she would have no problem with 3 or even 4. Any experience on that?

Hey, I would love to get jersey bull calves for free or $4.00 or more; they are worth 25 to 50 around here now as everyone who is "older" talks about how good the jersey beef is. It is a little finer texture than most beef calves, and Jersey steers will finish out, ON GRASS, if it's good grazing, at 800 to 1000 lbs by 28 months. Most weaned feeder jersey steer calves are bringing $.70 a lb at the 300 to 500 lb. size and are kinda hard to find. Where are you located that you find slaughter ready holstein steers for $150.? What size are they?

I was under the impression that you also had a mini-jersey, hence my feelings on the a.i. breeding. I often breed my jerseys a.i. the first time and maybe twice but have 2 that are just hard to catch in heat and so they often get put with the angus bull and the resulting heifer calves become "beef" cows and the males become steers for beef or sale. Most of my nurse cows raise 3 or 4 calves when they come fresh all according to their milking ability. Graft the calves on ASAP don't wait a week, except I don't know how soon your jersey is due and how old the angus twins will be. They will push the little jersey around if they are too big and it won't get enough to eat. They are much more likely to take them at the beginning when their own calf is new. Why send a bull calf away a few days after it is born? Just make it a steer and raise it to eat.
Have bred my jerseys to sexed semen; there is a 10% chance of a bull calf, and my name is "murphy"s law".... 3 out of 4 times the sexed semen has produced a bull. I breed a. i. myself, a farmer friend bred her one time, got 1 heifer from sexed semen and one heifer when his holstein bull jumped the fence and caught her, so I have a 1/2 jer-1/2 hol heifer..... the pure jersey was a witch and finally I got rid of her!!!! I also have a couple of guernsey's and a 1/2 jer-1/2 guernsey heifer that will be bred a.i to a guernsey in sept or oct. I Like my old type guernsey's and their milk is so rich and yellow creamy. Sweetie pie is a stockyard reject and will take nearly any calf but don't get between her and a bucket of grain. She was skin and bones starving when I got her out of the slaughter pen and had a bull calf a week later that I couldn't save, but I put an angus calf on her and she raised it and I finally got some weight on her and she has raised 2-3 each time since. She tolerates most any calf sneaking on her when "her calves are sucking" often see a beef calf or 2 stealing too. She's only got nubs for teeth so is OLD, but has looked better this year than ever and will also get bred to a guernsey for an early summer calf next year.
Hope my ramblings will help you a little, I have had several shorthorn and shorthorn cross beef cows over the years and have nothing against them. The 'blue' ones seem to milk good.

 

[farmerjan]

When I wrote in an earlier post that the jerseys finished out a 60% I was referring to 60% of hanging weight, not 60% of total weight. I usually figure 250 to 300 lbs. of MEAT from a 1000 lb animal. More is gratis and less means the animal wasn't finished enough.

 

[TAH]

I am doing a Dexter cross due to not a lot of room. I have had jersey bull calves and they all didn't last thru the winter so They will not last a winter in Alaska very well. There are a lot of jersey Dexter crosses in Alaska so i assume they would make a okay meat/milk cow. I am part of a family of 9 so 5 gallons a day is no biggy for us plus we will be selling some. I am a bit picky on what i am going to get. I am going to get one that has a good udder, weight gain, hocks, top-line, and good hooves. @farmerjan and @cjc you both have been very helpful thank you.

 

[farmerjan]

Yeah alaska weather/cold would be hard on a jersey as they don't have the fat cover....Ever look into a galloway or a scottish highland? They have a double haircoat, made to deal with cold weather and not as much actual fat on the carcass....Have had some belted galloways that milked pretty good - raised some roly poly calves; might make a good dual purpose cross with a dairy animal. Best to get what is popular in the area as they probably are the best suited for the weather etc. but the galloways and highlands are real good foragers and the long haircoat on the highlands can be used for spinning too.

 

[cjc]

@farmerjan I am in BC Canada. Any Dairy cow raised for meat barely sells. Jersey bull calves or Holstein bull calves are $30 at most. I was just offered 3 Jersey Steers for $50 for all 3 but turned down the offer. I have heard about Jersey meat being good but only on forums online. I chatted to a bunch of cattle raisers in our area last week when I was getting offered all these Jersey bull calves and they all said it wont sell don't do it, so I took their advice.

My jersey is a standard jersey and she should calf any day now, I'm surprised she hasn't already. The reason I chose the twins to put on her is they are small but they are rough so ill have to see how it goes. I may just end up milking her when she has her calf and giving them the milk. Or I could get a younger calf at that time.

I pay about $100-$150 for a Holstein X Angus calf. I only buy the pure black ones and they sell like an angus does. I assume the same would go for a Jersey X Angus which is why I debate it. The benefit of the Holstein cross is the size. My Angus X Jersey is very small in comparison to my beef breed cows.