May be getting a Jersey cow!!!

[Beekissed]

I'm praying about it and am hoping that God sees fit to provide for it! I've been wanting one all my life and now I have an opportunity to purchase one, if I can rustle up the money!

She is 8 yrs. old, a gentle and good milker who can be milked right in the field. She is bred back to a Simmental/Angus cross bull and the calf will be here sometime in May. Her name is Blossom and she just lives down the road from me!

She costs $700.

If I get this cow, I will not need to get a pig and will only need 2 sheep to keep this grass to the level that I want. I will, however, have to extend my run-in to be big enough for a cow.

I don't usually get the want-mes all the sudden, but I had been talking to my son about getting a bottle calf and finishing him on grass to butcher this fall. How much better to get this two-fer!

I could have my own cow manure that I know is safe for the garden. I could have fresh milk, butter, and cheeses to "sell" (by donations only, towards the cow's upkeep, of course!)

AND she would just look so durn cute in my yard!

Her name is Blossom! How ironic that my apple trees are sweetly in blossom and I am praying to be blessed with a cow named Blossom!

 

[Tallman]

Sounds like a great deal. Jersey's put out some of the richest milk available. Hope you can make it work.

 

[freemotion]

Oh yay! Get those boys to enlarge the shed, quick like bunnies!

Imagine the cheeses, the butter, all the wonderful things you can do with cow's milk! Like raise a calf, too, without all the work of bottle feeding.....or will you bottle feed it?

I hope it works out. Blossom will turn all that grass into lovely milk and beef.

 

[Beekissed]

I will share the milk with the calf and let him wean naturally...will let him suckle for as long as he cares to do so.

Next year, I may try getting a bottle baby from the auctions and feed two calves and still milk some for butter and such. A good Jersey should be able to provide for all of us. I will find out this year if she is a good producer or not.

 

[freemotion]

As I have discovered with just one skinny little goat, the term "good producer" is relative! What is considered a good producer for a dairy and for your backyard can be two different things.....at 3-4 quarts a day, we are swimming in milk.

My root cellar corner of my basement is becoming my cheese cave. I need to get the door and insulation up NOW since it is getting too warm in there, not a problem with no veggies until fall, big problem with hot summer weather and 5 cheeses aging. Making another one tonight.

Yesterday, I lined two milk crates with hardware cloth and rigged a wire shelf in each so that I can store 16 cheeses without worrying about mice. I have enough wire for two more crates, and I have three more crates. Not sure if that will be enough, we will have to see how the cheddar comes out. I want to try parmesan and romano, those take about a year, so more storage will be needed. Mold-ripened Saint Mauer is next, that has to age a few weeks, too.

So even with a calf or two, you might have plenty of milk, especially if you are the only one living at home by then. Do you like cheese?

 

[freemotion]

Will you change your avatar from a Holstein to a Jersey?

 

[TanksHill]

Great news Bee, I hope it works out.

 

[Beekissed]

Free, I might be picking your brain about cheeses if this goes well. I really want to make a lot of butter to sell surreptiously and I want to experiment with cheeses, particularly parmesan, cheedar and montery.

The extra milk from butter making will make me some buttermilk~which is the only milk I will drink nowadays. Anything left over from calves and I will make a good supplement for chickens and dogs.

I'm so praying to get this cow. What kind of food independence will this be? Producing a source of meat, butter, cheese,cream, etc. with just one animal. Sort of like your goats, Free, but everything mega-sized! Never know, may be grandchildren to feed before too many years.....

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

Well, I would say I am jealous, but I really am not! I am so happy for you, Bee! I hope you get her!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Beekissed]

Well, I was supposed to hear from her this evening but I have not done so. I tried calling but the phone just rings and rings! If these folks are like everyone else around here, they won't sell to an "outsider".

I am maintaining the attitude that, if God wants this to happen, it will happen....if not, I'm not a bit disappointed! I will be getting my sheep any day now and that is still a very exciting step-up for us here. Getting a milk cow would be much like winning the lottery to me!

Either way, I'm thankful to God for the opportunity to be a good steward of the land and these animals.