The average cost of maintaining a Jersey cow and calf.

[Wolf-Kim]

Went to the state fair yesterday and was able to see and mess with a Jersey cow first hand. I decided on the Jersey, because they are considerably smaller than the Holstiens(which were there too) and they high fat content.

I have roughly 5 acres of pasture, she would share with two geldings. We have about another acre of wooded land that is full of brush. It is partially fenced, but a good couple hundred feet of it has been torn down over the years and would need to be replaced. Which may or may not be an easy task.

So, I know that I need to research local feed prices and whatnot, but can someone give me a round about idea of what and how much a family milk Jersey would cost?

I've seen people say regularly hay will be fine, others say Alfalfa.

Some people say the bagged cow feed from the feed store, others say that I can get the ingrediants direct from the farmer. I can get an 80# bag of oats from our local farmer for $10 and a 100# bag of corn for $12.

I guess I just need some first hand advice. I'm trying to do all my research.

 

[WildRoseBeef]

As far as having her in with the two geldings, I would definately have her in a separate paddock without the geldings because horses, especially if they outnumber other livestock you have, will bully and boss your cow and calf around; hogging the hay and cubes, chasing them off of a good patch of grass, etc. So unless you can think up of something to work around this, you're going to have a bit of fun trying to keep both horses and cows happy without any negativity developing between either parties.

Alfalfa hay is good to have since most dairy cows do need a higher source of calcium when they are lactating. Regular hay (grass-legume mix) won't have the minerals she needs and supplementation with loose mineral or cubes is necessary.

I think the feed from the feedstore would have more additives added to it to aid in cattle nutrition. However, if you don't want to spend too much money, you could go with buying oats via privately. Does the feedstore sell the feed as rolled or crushed or whole? Chances are of buying from a farmer you'd most likely be buying whole or chopped oats.

Just some things to think about.

 

[Wolf-Kim]

If the horses get to be a bother, we do have a fence dividing the pasture into two parts.

So we could always just rotate the two parts between the cows and the horses.

We do have a mineral block in the pasture for free-feeding, will that work?

The oats from the farmer are whole oats, we feed our horses whole oats when they need supplemental feed. I think the feed store sells whole and rolled oats.

 

[Cara]

Depending on your pasture, you might not want to drink the milk she's producing. Certain plants can give the milk a foul taste. This is why large dairy farms dry lot their cows and provide all feed.

 

[WildRoseBeef]

For the mineral block, if it's trace mineral, it might work, but most folks recommend loose mineral, because she wouldn't be licking and licking and not get enough mineral just from the block she licked.

Cara, she's not going to be on pasture for all of the summer season; there just simply isn't enough for all horses and cows for 5 or 6 months. The hay and oats she will be given will do her fine, and I doubt if a short time on pasture will affect the taste of her milk.

 

[Cara]

The flavour of milk can change from one day to the next according to diet.

 

[no nonsense]

Depending on your pasture, you might not want to drink the milk she's producing. Certain plants can give the milk a foul taste. This is why large dairy farms dry lot their cows and provide all feed.

There are plenty of dairy farms which pasture their cows. They pay close attention to the quailty of their pasture, to prevent the wrong plants form becoming established, to help prevent off flavored milk, among other things. Plenty of people with less than adequate pasture also allow their cows to graze, without problems. Off flavored milk does happen, sometimes as a result of eating certain plants, sometimes as a result of other unrelated issues, but it doesn't happen on all pasture, or even on most.

 

[freemotion]

Modern cows are kept indoors for convenience and money primarily. Most people I come into contact with also say goat's milk tastes "off" but then those who are willing to take a sip or blind taste test it with commercial milk always pick the pastured goat's milk as the best tasting, hands down. They are always shocked. We pastured our cow and later, our goats, when I was a kid and the milk was always wonderful.

Just don't feed her onions, garlic, or pine boughs! Maybe some cocoa if you want chocolate milk, though....

 

[big brown horse]

Free I can always count on you for a good laugh!


When I was a little girl our neighbors played a trick on me by putting chocolate in the bottom of the milk bucket and had the cow half milked before I saw it. I thought the cow was giving chocolate milk! I am almost 40 and I still get teased about that when I visit mom and dad!

 

[freemotion]

Oh, yay! I will definitely do that at the first opportunity!!!!! I will put some in one jar, and say one teat is white milk and one teat is chocolate!!!