Post by Deleted on Nov 28, 2006 14:37:02 GMT -5
Yeah, I know, we're supposed to be getting a Hereford heifer from the neighbor, but he's dragging his feet and still hasn't let us know exactly how much he wants or when we can bring her home, so I've been doing a little snooping around on the side.
It was a long and winding road
but I got wind of a guy in the little town of Philip, which is about 100 miles south of us, who has a small dairy operation with Jerseys and Jersey crosses. So I called him. I told him about our financial limitations, my lack of experience, and all my concerns about hardiness and such, and he agreed to sell me a Jersey/Hereford heifer that's a year old and just being bred for the first time. Her mother is one of the top-producing Jerseys in the country (or so he says, maybe he's right...) and thinks that if I want to sharemilk that she'd be able to raise her own calf plus another and still leave me enough to steal a gallon or two a day for myself. By raising two calves, we could keep one for ourselves and sell the other, thus paying for the cost of both the calves and then some. Plus of course, the free beef in the freezer.
Anyway, he's breeding her to a Jersey bull, so if her first calf is a heifer, I'd have a 3/4 Jersey that I could make my new milk cow if I wanted, or sell for a decent price if I decided to keep the original cow.
He's asking $1,000 for her, and I told him we don't have the money yet, and now that it's winter I'd rather wait till spring to bring her home anyway, and he said no problem. He'll keep her over the winter and make sure she's bred, then whenever we want, we can come get her. I'm totally excited now!
We're going to go look at her as soon as weather and time allow, but the guy said there's no rush because she's not going anywhere. He was planning on just keeping her anyway, but when I told him I was torn between getting a Jersey and a Hereford, he said we could have her. Now I can have both in one cow! LOL! Plus this way, I won't have to wait two years for milk. If she settles this month, she should calve around the end of August/beginning of September.
Not that it matters to me, but he went on and on about how good the mom's pedigree is, and who her ancestors were and so on. I told him I don't give a rip about her bloodlines as long as she's nice and I like her. I think he actually appreciated the fact that she'd be going to a nice home, rather than someone buying her for her pedigree. Well, she's half Hereford anyway, so any breeding for money would be a long way off anyway. I just want a nice cow that will give me some good milk.
At least now I feel like I'm getting somewhere. I STILL don't have the cow, but I know she's there waiting for me. Rich thinks we'll be able to save up enough money to bring her home in April. WOOOHOOOOO!
~Lannie
It was a long and winding road
but I got wind of a guy in the little town of Philip, which is about 100 miles south of us, who has a small dairy operation with Jerseys and Jersey crosses. So I called him. I told him about our financial limitations, my lack of experience, and all my concerns about hardiness and such, and he agreed to sell me a Jersey/Hereford heifer that's a year old and just being bred for the first time. Her mother is one of the top-producing Jerseys in the country (or so he says, maybe he's right...) and thinks that if I want to sharemilk that she'd be able to raise her own calf plus another and still leave me enough to steal a gallon or two a day for myself. By raising two calves, we could keep one for ourselves and sell the other, thus paying for the cost of both the calves and then some. Plus of course, the free beef in the freezer.Anyway, he's breeding her to a Jersey bull, so if her first calf is a heifer, I'd have a 3/4 Jersey that I could make my new milk cow if I wanted, or sell for a decent price if I decided to keep the original cow.
He's asking $1,000 for her, and I told him we don't have the money yet, and now that it's winter I'd rather wait till spring to bring her home anyway, and he said no problem. He'll keep her over the winter and make sure she's bred, then whenever we want, we can come get her. I'm totally excited now!
We're going to go look at her as soon as weather and time allow, but the guy said there's no rush because she's not going anywhere. He was planning on just keeping her anyway, but when I told him I was torn between getting a Jersey and a Hereford, he said we could have her. Now I can have both in one cow! LOL! Plus this way, I won't have to wait two years for milk. If she settles this month, she should calve around the end of August/beginning of September.
Not that it matters to me, but he went on and on about how good the mom's pedigree is, and who her ancestors were and so on. I told him I don't give a rip about her bloodlines as long as she's nice and I like her. I think he actually appreciated the fact that she'd be going to a nice home, rather than someone buying her for her pedigree. Well, she's half Hereford anyway, so any breeding for money would be a long way off anyway. I just want a nice cow that will give me some good milk.
At least now I feel like I'm getting somewhere. I STILL don't have the cow, but I know she's there waiting for me. Rich thinks we'll be able to save up enough money to bring her home in April. WOOOHOOOOO!
~Lannie
