Am I the only one obsessed with miniature cows????

[res]

Jellybean, our Dexter cow with her first calf, Gumdrop. Gummy is a few hours old, and Jelly was being pretty defensive of her at that point. Which is why Jelly's tail is up and looks like a lump between her horns. She calmed down within hours, though, and allowed us to mess with Gummy whenever we wanted - we used to carry her around!

Gummy again, a few months old...


Jelly again.


Little Man (~4 mths old) (our future herdsire) on the left, and Gummy (~6mths old) on the right.

 

[20736]

Yes.

 

[theuglyduckling]

how much grass or hay does a miniature dairy cow eat a day?

 

[learycow]

I only have full sized cattle (and no, I don't think there are mini Holsteins) but I thought I'd share a pic of my newest baby, Jacques.
His mother is a pure Holstein and his father is a pure dairy Normande.
Is was a bit "mini" when he was born though Here he is less than an hour old!

 

[Rocky Hill]

They eat about 2/3 less than a full size cow.

 

[theuglyduckling]

They eat about 2/3 less than a full size cow.

well i have looked up how much a full size cow eats but i am not good at math what so ever can you tell me how much in
pounds that would be?

 

[res]

My experience: 5 acres of minimal pasture (as in drought conditions, cattle aren't grazing much at all), 3 mature Dexters + 2 calves... One EXCELLENT quality 1000lb Kansas Prairie (or brome - we fed both) round bale (no weeds, no mold, cut at correct maturity, ~12% protein) would last ~2 weeks, give or take. Very little wasted, bale was in a feeder, any excess on the ground was picked up and re-fed 2x daily.

So, if I count the 2 calves as 1 unit, that would be approx. 17lbs of hay per animal per day... If you are talking small square bales - that could be half a bale, or it could be less than a quarter of a bale. It all depends on how much the small square bale weighs, which can vary A LOT.

Which is why you should always WEIGH your flakes/bales until you have trained your arms to know approx. how much you are feeding. I have small squares in my barn now - 3 different varieties of hay, and from different farms. Some bales are barely 30lbs., and some are 70+. So I can't just feed "half a bale" or "3 flakes" each day and be feeding the same weight. But I digress.. I am just a stickler about feeding by weight and not volume...

If you want to go thru a lot of hay.... Feed about 100 head of Herefords (mixed herd cows-heifers-calves-2 overworked bulls) through the winter when the pasture isn't producing. It'll keep ya busy,

 

[theuglyduckling]

My experience: 5 acres of minimal pasture (as in drought conditions, cattle aren't grazing much at all), 3 mature Dexters + 2 calves... One EXCELLENT quality 1000lb Kansas Prairie (or brome - we fed both) round bale (no weeds, no mold, cut at correct maturity, ~12% protein) would last ~2 weeks, give or take. Very little wasted, bale was in a feeder, any excess on the ground was picked up and re-fed 2x daily.

So, if I count the 2 calves as 1 unit, that would be approx. 17lbs of hay per animal per day... If you are talking small square bales - that could be half a bale, or it could be less than a quarter of a bale. It all depends on how much the small square bale weighs, which can vary A LOT.

Which is why you should always WEIGH your flakes/bales until you have trained your arms to know approx. how much you are feeding. I have small squares in my barn now - 3 different varieties of hay, and from different farms. Some bales are barely 30lbs., and some are 70+. So I can't just feed "half a bale" or "3 flakes" each day and be feeding the same weight. But I digress.. I am just a stickler about feeding by weight and not volume...

If you want to go thru a lot of hay.... Feed about 100 head of Herefords (mixed herd cows-heifers-calves-2 overworked bulls) through the winter when the pasture isn't producing. It'll keep ya busy,

Me and my boyfriend were thinking of getting one miniature cow but we live in Puerto Ricoso us finding one on this island almost impossible. So we have thought about getting 2 sheep a male and female. We do not have an acre of land but we have a big peace of land to use for some animales and the grass here will grow tall fast after cutting it.

 

[chickenoverlord]

To cowgirl71: my friend has a heifer that looks JUST like purdy! Same breed cross and everything purdy is sooo purdy!!

 

[LizaBlue]

I had been wanting some Lowline Angus for a long time, but we only have 2 acres, and my husband found someplace online that said that would only be enough for 1
Now I'm back looking at my original desire, pygmy goats