Post by oxbowfarm on Nov 11, 2011 7:36:03 GMT -5
A couple people have PMed me about our cow Daisy after I mentioned her in the Doomsday thread. So I'm just doing a short post to explain our rationale for choosing a crossbred vs the more standard choice of a Jersey.
First off I would like to say that Jerseys are nice cows. It is just that they have been bred for a very specific purpose; high milk production with high components. Especially since the advent of artificial insemination they have been rapidly increasing in production. While you can argue whether or not increased production is good for a dairy farmers bottom line, it does turn the Jersey into a pretty specialized animal with much more exacting feed and care requirements.
I am not saying that they are not worth owning, but I think you should definitely shop around and buy an animal that looks like it would work well in a homestead type scenario, these would almost certainly not make the cut at a modern dairy. IMO using a Jersey or a Holstein as a family cow is a bit like using a UPS van for your family car. You could do it but it would be kind of awkward sometimes and would require you to modify your needs to fit the vehicles reality.
A dairy cross gives you a lot of advantages. Although they are almost always lower in production, they are also much easier to take care of. The advantages of hybrid vigor means they are extremely healthy and forgiving of inexperienced cow care mistakes. And since their production is much less, the demands on their metabolism is far less extreme so they maintain production and condition on much poorer feed, lower in total energy and protein. Another benefit is beef breeds tend to have very good grazing genetics, traits that have been ignored in at least the North American strains of dairy cattle. Another big advantage that I can see is that they are cheap due to the conventional wisdom that a jersey/beef cross isn't good for milk OR beef. Which is a total fallacy. You'll spend a lot less on a Jersey/beef cross than you ever will on a Dexter or some other "dual purpose" rare breed cow like a Randall Lineback, Milking Devon, or Red Poll. Not that I have anything against those breeds, I just couldn't afford them.
We decided to get a Jersey/beef cross and the first one we could find was a Jersey/Highland just by chance. Probably a more likely cross folks would find would be Jersey/Angus or Jersey/Hereford. I am aware of folks successfully milking both crosses as family cows and doing very well. An interesting side effect of the Jersey/Highland cross is that Daisy gets really woolly in the winter and then sheds it down to a very slick coat in the summer. She never seems bothered by the cold which some Jerseys tend to be. And the hot summer months are not as much of a nightmare for her compared to full Highlands with their permanent thick coats. I imagine a Jersey/Galloway would give you a similar effect if you ever ran across such a creature.
One thing to consider is that you'll probably not be able to find a crossbred cow for sale already in milk or freshening as most of these animals get turned into beef. If you find one, unless by a rare chance, it will be a calf that you'll have to raise up. This is an inexpensive route to a milk cow, but it means a long wait for your milk.
Hope this thread explains a little bit of why we chose Daisy.
First off I would like to say that Jerseys are nice cows. It is just that they have been bred for a very specific purpose; high milk production with high components. Especially since the advent of artificial insemination they have been rapidly increasing in production. While you can argue whether or not increased production is good for a dairy farmers bottom line, it does turn the Jersey into a pretty specialized animal with much more exacting feed and care requirements.
I am not saying that they are not worth owning, but I think you should definitely shop around and buy an animal that looks like it would work well in a homestead type scenario, these would almost certainly not make the cut at a modern dairy. IMO using a Jersey or a Holstein as a family cow is a bit like using a UPS van for your family car. You could do it but it would be kind of awkward sometimes and would require you to modify your needs to fit the vehicles reality.
A dairy cross gives you a lot of advantages. Although they are almost always lower in production, they are also much easier to take care of. The advantages of hybrid vigor means they are extremely healthy and forgiving of inexperienced cow care mistakes. And since their production is much less, the demands on their metabolism is far less extreme so they maintain production and condition on much poorer feed, lower in total energy and protein. Another benefit is beef breeds tend to have very good grazing genetics, traits that have been ignored in at least the North American strains of dairy cattle. Another big advantage that I can see is that they are cheap due to the conventional wisdom that a jersey/beef cross isn't good for milk OR beef. Which is a total fallacy. You'll spend a lot less on a Jersey/beef cross than you ever will on a Dexter or some other "dual purpose" rare breed cow like a Randall Lineback, Milking Devon, or Red Poll. Not that I have anything against those breeds, I just couldn't afford them.
We decided to get a Jersey/beef cross and the first one we could find was a Jersey/Highland just by chance. Probably a more likely cross folks would find would be Jersey/Angus or Jersey/Hereford. I am aware of folks successfully milking both crosses as family cows and doing very well. An interesting side effect of the Jersey/Highland cross is that Daisy gets really woolly in the winter and then sheds it down to a very slick coat in the summer. She never seems bothered by the cold which some Jerseys tend to be. And the hot summer months are not as much of a nightmare for her compared to full Highlands with their permanent thick coats. I imagine a Jersey/Galloway would give you a similar effect if you ever ran across such a creature.
One thing to consider is that you'll probably not be able to find a crossbred cow for sale already in milk or freshening as most of these animals get turned into beef. If you find one, unless by a rare chance, it will be a calf that you'll have to raise up. This is an inexpensive route to a milk cow, but it means a long wait for your milk.
Hope this thread explains a little bit of why we chose Daisy.
