Our new fertilizer manufacturer

[peteyfoozer]

I live on a 250,000 acre working cattle ranch, and the boss has the bulls. They are low birthweight bulls so he uses them on his heifers and my Jersey, as the big charolais broke the back of one of the Jersey cows he had for a nurse cow.
I love my cow and she is a great producer, but the problem with Jerseys, is although they are the cadillac of cream cows, they are very high maintenance, and she requires 1# of grain for every 2# of milk she produces. Her first lactation she freshened at 6 gallons, a gallon is 8#, so I had to feed her#24 lb of grain supplements a day to maintain her condition. I got her down to once a day milking at 5 months out and she was still giving me 3 1/2 gallons. Sushi should be a bit lower maintenance, being half beefer, and our milk requirements are not that high as there is just the two of us.

I clabber milk for the chickens and dogs, and also use the clabber to make cottage cheese, inoculate mesophilic cheeses and its great for pigs too, which we don't have.

 

[Stubbornhillfarm]

Congratulations! Look at that lower lip! So cute! And a little heifer to boot. I am sooooo happy for you and EmmaLouMoo! Can't wait to read your blog as I know you must have updated.

 

[ninnymary]

Awww, I love to see everyone's animals. Makes me wishful. I'm curious how did you decide that you would keep her and not sell or send to freezer camp?

Mary

 

[peteyfoozer]

If she was a bullcalf, she would go to freezer camp. I like having a back up milker, as I lost a good cow last summer, so I was hoping for a heifer as I needed a replacement. Any other heifers I will raise and sell as they are worth more as milk cows to me than beefers, being half jersey. There are a lot of people who want family cows.

 

[Jared77]

Very cool thank you for the info. The demands that big for 1/2 beef breeds? How much of that Cadillac of creamers is seen in the crosses? Sorry to be so nosy my wife's uncle runs a dairy farm and always frowns on the crosses so its nice to get a different opinion on them.

 

[peteyfoozer]

no, for a FAMILY milk cow it is a nice thing to have. Purebred dairy cows are designed to produce exhorbitant amounts of milk and as a result need exhorbitant amounts of supplemental feed to maintain their health and condition. By crossing my Jersey (dairy cow) with a beef breed the resulting heifer SHOULD produce less milk, but still of a good quality (the amount of cream remains to be seen) but should be able to maintain her condition better on just pasture. Also her calves will be heavier and better for the freezer. Not everyone is looking for what we need, we don't want a beef cow because we need more milk than they make, and we don't want another purebred dairy cow, because we can't use that much milk ourselves.
Anyone who was selling milk would not want to dilute their dairy herd.

Also, PB Jerseys and some other diary breeds are famous for getting metabolic disorders such as hypocalcemia or ketosis. I lost Emma's mother to ketosis last year, she was putting out more than she could take it because unbeknownst to me, ALL the calves were nursing on her, including her 2 year old daughter and her calf! Beef breeds are a little hardier. I keep Emma where she has shelter in the winter, her mother had to wear a horse blanket as well, because they couldn't keep weight on when the weather got extremely cold here, even with free feed hay.

 

[Jared77]

I had a thoroughbred that we had heck of a time keeping weight on with free feed hay but he was always in motion and 17 hands, but I had no idea it could be such a struggle to keep weight on a dairy cow.

So if/when you breed Sushi, what would you take her to for the next generation?

 

[peteyfoozer]

I'll breed her back to the beef bulls, as the freezer calves she produces should be wonderful

 

[Jared77]

Gotcha, so everything out of her is freezer bound then. When its time to replace her will you repeat the beef x jersey cross again and start again there?

Sorry for all the questions this is something I've thought seriously about doing myself (buying a calf like sushi I don't own any dairy cows to make one) so its really good to hear first hand.

 

[ninny]