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Author Topic: Im looking for a house cow..  (Read 4856 times)

sammy

  • Joined Mar 2009
Im looking for a house cow..
« on: March 03, 2009, 09:16:53 pm »
Hello everyone. I manage a mixed farm in West Sussex, we open to the public and have been established for 18 years. We have several breeds of cattle here but have just retired our lovely Jersey house cow. Does anyone have a cow they wish to sell? Im open to different breeds, ideally id like a Friesian as they are representative of the modern milker and im used to handling them.All suggestions welcome.Sam

Rosemary

  • Joined Oct 2007
  • Barry, Angus, Scotland
    • The Accidental Smallholder
Re: Im looking for a house cow..
« Reply #1 on: March 03, 2009, 09:33:42 pm »
Hi, Sammy and welcome.

Good luck with your search. I'd love a cow but currently have neither the time nor the space.

Can I ask how you manage your house cow? Do you milk twice a day? Do you take the calf off and bucket feed it or what?

Just planning ahead!!

Rosemary

jg

  • Joined Mar 2009
  • gartmore
Re: Im looking for a house cow..
« Reply #2 on: March 25, 2009, 10:56:17 pm »
Hi all  sorry not to have made any of the meetings -must try harder
just to join the cow conversation-i bought a lovely jersey with dexter cross(accident -dexter bull escapefrom next field) with the intention of rearing the calf for freezer and milking a little for our consumption however i decided the calf needed the milk more than we did so although i have milked her a little just to get her used to the idea am still buying milk! I wonder about the need to have the milk tested as we wouldn,t be pasturising it :  :cow:

herdsman

  • Joined Jan 2009
Re: Im looking for a house cow..
« Reply #3 on: March 26, 2009, 06:57:27 pm »
I wonder about the need to have the milk tested as we wouldn,t be pasturising it :  :cow:

Depends where you live. The main reason for pasturising was to kill brucella and TB in the milk. Brucella has been wiped out in Britain but TB is running rife in large sectors of the country and spreading

jg

  • Joined Mar 2009
  • gartmore
Re: Im looking for a house cow..
« Reply #4 on: March 26, 2009, 10:49:11 pm »
we are in central scotland so tb not supposed to be a problem at the moment-mrs cow tested negative when I got her as did dexter(you can see I spend a lot of time over the naming process) Just while on the subject what is the current thought on udder washing -my dad used to give them a quick wipe with a damp cloth in the60s-guess thats not done now -don't fancy all the chemicals in the commercial stuff -any tried and tested home made recipes?

herdsman

  • Joined Jan 2009
Re: Im looking for a house cow..
« Reply #5 on: March 27, 2009, 12:35:29 pm »
So many different ways and oppinions on udder washing. Wet cloths are not considered any good now as they carry bacteria from one cow to another and transfer infection. If the udder and teats are clean then some dont do anything. If they are dirty use a different cloth, disposable towel, wet wipe for each cow. The main thing is the cows milk let down response is triggered by what you do, so if you wipe each time then she will get used to it. So whatever you do keep the same routine. Cows love routine. 

jg

  • Joined Mar 2009
  • gartmore
Re: Im looking for a house cow..
« Reply #6 on: March 29, 2009, 11:00:59 pm »
thanks for that -I,m interested that you say cows like routine procedure _Iwas wondering about getting an ex dairy cow but thought life as a house cow might be so different that she might not settle-I have to say the jersey I have was used for a year as a suckler cow so I think had time to adjust from dairy herd life-thats always a possible route for the smallholder to get a retiring dairy cow-I know some are totally worn out but some are disposed of because of fairly minor problems which might not not be an issue for likes of us -maybe worth asking at your nearest dairy herd

 

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