What kind of cow do I have?

[Joyfularrows7]

Hey y’all,
Last year I bought a Jersey calf from a dairy farm. Let me go ahead and say that I am not very smart on cattle so please excuse my ignorant question. I’ve had a friend say that she isn’t sure what kind of cow I have but she is pretty sure it isn’t a Jersey because she hasn’t ever saw one like her before. I am going to include a photo. She is a brownish, reddish brindle and she never grew horns. She turned one year in January and she isn’t very big. Please educate me.🙂

 

[Show Sebright]

She might be a Suffolk cow.

 

[farmerjan]

She looks like a jersey cross. Does the dairy breed AI or use a bull? If AI do you know what they are using? Many dairies in this area are using alot of angus and different beef bulls on the "lower producers" and only using dairy semen on the top 1/3 of the herd and using more sexed semen so they get heifer calves out of their best cows.
If she is part beef, as I suspect, then she would most likely be polled, so no horns. If you are wanting her to be a milk cow then you will still get a fair amount of milk out of a part beef/ part dairy animal. We have milked lots of 1/2 dairy animals over the years.
She has the finer legs so I would definitely say at least 1/2 jersey. Some of them tend to be smaller and shorter... I think she is a little small but a jersey at a year will weigh in the neighborhood of 5-600 lbs normally... and some will grow better after they hit the 1 yr old stage. I have one that is jersey angus and she is a year and weighs maybe 450-500 lbs at most. Kinda "scrawny" built... and not the best heifer.... but her "sister" out of another jersey/angus cross is at least 100 lbs more and much sturdier built.

I would up her grain a little to get her on a more gaining level.... but she does NOT look deficient in any way.

Please put your general location in your avatar.... go up to your name on the top right down to account details, and down to location... so we have an idea of your area/state/general location. Sometimes it helps with advice on feed or something. And we all like to compare our weather and stuff...

 

[farmerjan]

Suffolk cattle are a basis of the Red Poll breed but as far as I know they are now extinct. This picture of the calf is not a beefy enough calf to be a straight beef breed. And getting it off a dairy would indicate it is a cross bred with the jersey that she bought it as being.......

 

[Show Sebright]

Suffolk cattle are a basis of the Red Poll breed but as far as I know they are now extinct. This picture of the calf is not a beefy enough calf to be a straight beef breed. And getting it off a dairy would indicate it is a cross bred with the jersey that she bought it as being.......

Yeh your an expert I just learned cattle breeds in class so I haven’t had much experience. Good to know tho.

 

[Joyfularrows7]

She might be a Suffolk

She looks like a jersey cross. Does the dairy breed AI or use a bull? If AI do you know what they are using? Many dairies in this area are using alot of angus and different beef bulls on the "lower producers" and only using dairy semen on the top 1/3 of the herd and using more sexed semen so they get heifer calves out of their best cows.
If she is part beef, as I suspect, then she would most likely be polled, so no horns. If you are wanting her to be a milk cow then you will still get a fair amount of milk out of a part beef/ part dairy animal. We have milked lots of 1/2 dairy animals over the years.
She has the finer legs so I would definitely say at least 1/2 jersey. Some of them tend to be smaller and shorter... I think she is a little small but a jersey at a year will weigh in the neighborhood of 5-600 lbs normally... and some will grow better after they hit the 1 yr old stage. I have one that is jersey angus and she is a year and weighs maybe 450-500 lbs at most. Kinda "scrawny" built... and not the best heifer.... but her "sister" out of another jersey/angus cross is at least 100 lbs more and much sturdier built.

I would up her grain a little to get her on a more gaining level.... but she does NOT look deficient in any way.

Please put your general location in your avatar.... go up to your name on the top right down to account details, and down to location... so we have an idea of your area/state/general location. Sometimes it helps with advice on feed or something. And we all like to compare our weather and stuff...

Thanks. I’m not sure how the dairy breeds the cows. I saw this one for sale and had been wanting to get a dairy cow so went for it. They didn’t provide much information other than she was 7 days old. I guess I should have asked questions. Which feed would you recommend for her and how much? Also, because she is smaller, would there be any harm in breeding her with a full size Jersey?

 

[farmerjan]

She should be getting a 14-16% feed that is a grower type. I actually feed a 14% calf sweet feed to my milking cows as well as all my cattle. She ought to be getting up to 2% of her weight... so I think she ought to be getting 6-10 lbs grain a day. Split in 2 feedings would be better. A 5 gallon bucket will hold approx 25 lbs feed to give you an idea.

Breeding her jersey would be the smartest way to go. The calves are small and slender, hardly ever hear of anyone having to pull a jersey sired calf. That would be my first choice to breed her. I wouldn't spend the extra on sexed semen, just get a calf out of her... a bull calf will be good beef in your freezer in 2 years. A heifer calf would be 3/4 jersey and a good family type cow.

 

[Joyfularrows7]

She should be getting a 14-16% feed that is a grower type. I actually feed a 14% calf sweet feed to my milking cows as well as all my cattle. She ought to be getting up to 2% of her weight... so I think she ought to be getting 6-10 lbs grain a day. Split in 2 feedings would be better. A 5 gallon bucket will hold approx 25 lbs feed to give you an idea.

Breeding her jersey would be the smartest way to go. The calves are small and slender, hardly ever hear of anyone having to pull a jersey sired calf. That would be my first choice to breed her. I wouldn't spend the extra on sexed semen, just get a calf out of her... a bull calf will be good beef in your freezer in 2 years. A heifer calf would be 3/4 jersey and a good family type cow.

I have one last question for you. When are cows typically ready to be bred. I’ve heard one year old and two. I don’t want to do it too soon but also we are ready to start getting milk from her. Thanks a lot for all the help.

 

[BrahmerQueen]

I have one last question for you. When are cows typically ready to be bred. I’ve heard one year old and two. I don’t want to do it too soon but also we are ready to start getting milk from her. Thanks a lot for all the help.

We breed our cows when they get up to around 2 or 3. Depending on how mature/developed they are. That's just us idk about other people might do it differently

 

[farmerjan]

Part of it is size. A heifer should weigh approx 2/3 of her adult size when she is bred. The average age is 15-18 months to calve at 24-28 months. I prefer them to be a little older when they calve... 27-30 months so they are getting bred at 18-20 months. If you breed too young... and we have an occasional "whoops" calf when a heifer that is still nursing her mother and comes in heat and gets bred at 10-12 months and calves at 20 months.... you are going to stunt the growth of the heifer. The comparison I make to most people is.... a 14 yr old girl can have a baby, but she is alot better off to wait until she is 18-20 yrs old before she has one.
That is the best way I can describe it. I don't think your heifer will be ready to breed before she is at least 18 months. She still looks very young and immature. Plus, she has to start cycling regularly and that will in part determine when you breed her.
Another thing to think about is WHEN you want her to calve. You do NOT want her to calve in the worst of the summer heat... there are additional problems with not cleaning (passing her after birth) when it is very hot. We will have one or 2 a year that don't clean if they are fresh in the hot weather of July and August here...
So, say you are wanting her to calve in say Sept or Oct because with you being in Texas, you have pretty hot weather until Sept right? So, I would breed her starting in mid-late November. That will give you a calf after Sept 1st. They carry about 9 months... 260-280 days all according to the different breeds...

Our beef heifers we breed at 16-20 months... all according to their size. I like them to calve at 27-30 months because I want a little more maturity...... they are more likely to come into a decent amount of milk and have the calf and know what to do and willing to let it nurse. Too young and their "mother instinct" hasn't gotten developed... too old and they often have trouble getting bred... AND if they calve much after 3 yrs old, the bones and all in the pelvis have fully fused and will not "stretch out" and they can have trouble calving.
You are going to be wanting her to milk but are you going to "share " with the calf or take it fully away from her and just milk and feed the calf a bottle? If she calves too young, the mammary system will not be fully developed and she might no make much milk for her first lactation.

Do you have a large animal vet that you use? I would suggest that you have the vet look her over, and get their opinion.... the thing is that many vets that work with dairies, are used to the much bigger holsteins.... and they sometimes have trouble relating to a smaller sized "family cow"....

It is also harder to get them pregnant in the heat of the summer. If breeding AI, then they often have shorter heats in the hot weather... and their repro tract is hot when the technician does the insemination so it can cause the semen to not be as viable... If a bull is used, they often have very low sperm counts in the hot weather... when it is real hot, bulls, rams, bucks, even horses, they will drop their testicles in natures way of having them further away from their own body heat... in the very cold weather they will draw them up closer to their body to conserve temps... it is really kind of amazing how nature tries to keep things in an even temp range.

From what I hear from other farmers/ranchers in Texas on various other forums I frequent... most want their calves on the ground from Sept thru March/April... the cooler weather.... And want to not have to do any calving in the hottest months of May thru August. Cows don't sweat so it is hard on them in the heat....

Glad to answer your questions, stick around and become one of our "family on here"....