Homesteaders

[Chicken girl 15]

I do have a source however it never hurts to have multiple sources. That's why I enjoy BYC . I get a lot of information and adapt it to our conditions.

@GerbilsOnToast any information or advice you can give to me would be greatly appreciated. If you would rather communicate through email just let me know. As I've said before, we are small scale and only growing and raising food for us and close friends so I don't need 50 cattle a couple will do.

I've looked into the Dexter, as it's smaller, but still know nothing about cattle in general. I know a farm up the road has a beautiful colored one, but that doesn't help me.

 

[Beekissed]

I've heard the Dexters have a nasty temper, so not sure if smaller but meaner would help. The Highland cattle have those huge horns to deal with and when you sell offspring they are a hard sell to locals who are used to Angus and want nothing else. My sister has raised Highlands for some years now but she's slowly getting out of them.

If I had to choose an all around great breed for a homestead I'd choose the Speckled Park breed, though they might be hard to find. They are a dual purpose beef breed, as they have HUGE udders and produce much milk, do well in cold climates, and even their hides can be sold easily after butchering, so I'm much interested in them. By all reports they are gentle and good mothers, easy to work with. They've got milking genetics in their makeup and to me they appear to be the best of both worlds....and are extremely beautiful, to boot. http://www.specklepark.ca/node/11






I've actually seen these cows and how they perform on grass and it's nothing short of amazing...they stay fat as ticks on grass and are naturally hardy stock, doing well in hot and cold climates, with huge calves that just get fatter on all that rich milk.

 

[Raech]

I talked to Dad about the Dexter cows and he said that a whole Dexter would weigh the same as the half of beef we get now. But if we went with the same breed we are ordering(not sure what) we would get twice the amount of meat from 1 instead of needing to get 2 Dexters done up. Plus he has never heard of the Dexter cows, he says we will talk about it more when he gets in so we can sit down and compare instead of him driving and trying to talk. Since he ultimatly would be spending the money, he has first and final say; I just try to supply more breeds that he hasn't thought of yet. Everyone that I know of runs red and black angus with a couple of big white cows at the college's ag area.

 

[Molpet]

I talked to Dad about the Dexter cows and he said that a whole Dexter would weigh the same as the half of beef we get now. But if we went with the same breed we are ordering(not sure what) we would get twice the amount of meat from 1 instead of needing to get 2 Dexters done up. Plus he has never heard of the Dexter cows, he says we will talk about it more when he gets in so we can sit down and compare instead of him driving and trying to talk. Since he ultimatly would be spending the money, he has first and final say; I just try to supply more breeds that he hasn't thought of yet. Everyone that I know of runs red and black angus with a couple of big white cows at the college's ag area.

reading material http://countrysidenetwork.com/daily...a&utm_campaign=FF_BeefCattle_Vetericyn_4.4.16

 

[Talithahorse]

Why are the "good" breeds so hard to find. I just want a good dual purpose to put on my land and use for my family, while helping to preserve a bit of history and it seems to be impossible to find. I know that they are probably "worth" the extra money but when you add extra money, driving long distance to get one and then finding the right one to begin with it gets a bit daunting. I guess I need to be patient.

 

[duluthralphie]

Why are the "good" breeds so hard to find. I just want a good dual purpose to put on my land and use for my family, while helping to preserve a bit of history and it seems to be impossible to find. I know that they are probably "worth" the extra money but when you add extra money, driving long distance to get one and then finding the right one to begin with it gets a bit daunting. I guess I need to be patient.

What do you consider a "good" breed?

If I had to pick one dual purpose breed it would be the rainbows. They are large birds but breed naturally well, Mine give me a good number of eggs and the cleaned birds are pretty good sized.




And right after I wrote this I realized you were talking about cows and not chickens mot likely....Ooops I have chickens on my mind today.

 

[wyoDreamer]

Yes, Dexters are a small breed. That is one of their endearing points for me, as there are only 2 of us to feed. I am an absolute carnivore, so a smaller steak would be a help in getting me to eat healthier also. They produce a lot of milk for their size, Wikipedia says 2 to 2.5 gallons per day - take that for what it is worth.
I have heard that Dexters tend to be friendly, they are occasionally used as oxen and you tend to need a steady calm breed for that; so to hear it said that they tend to be mean is a little surprising.

I never heard of a Speckled Park, learn something new every day.


from the American Dexter Cattle Association website ( http://dextercattle.org/edu/index.html ): "Dexters come in Black, Red or Dun. Dexters are horned or polled, with some people preferring to dehorn them. A milking cow can produce more milk for its weight than any other breed. The daily yield averages 1 to 3 gallons per day with a butterfat content of 4 to 5 percent. Yields of cream up to one quart per gallon are possible."

 

[Beekissed]

Why are the "good" breeds so hard to find. I just want a good dual purpose to put on my land and use for my family, while helping to preserve a bit of history and it seems to be impossible to find. I know that they are probably "worth" the extra money but when you add extra money, driving long distance to get one and then finding the right one to begin with it gets a bit daunting. I guess I need to be patient.

I nice little Jersey cow bred back to beef might be your answer. They are sweet cows, produce enough milk for any family and are usually easy keepers. When you want to replace her with another Jersey, you can always find some pretty good discounts on straws for AI and let your vet do the deed for you, let her have her own replacement. Much easier than trying to transport her to a Jersey bull and those you can find online can be had from champion stock.

 

[Talithahorse]

I have finally gotten the chicken breeds that I like and am well on my way with the chickens. We raised a couple of angus steers which led to us meeting ALL the neighbors, becoming the talk of our small town and taking darn near two years to get one of them into the freezer but oh boy were they yummy but I don't want to meet the neighbors again, nor do I want to spend every day looking at my cow in the neighbors field trying to figure out how to bring him home. I thought this year I might start with two bottle calves or try to find something that has had a little handling. I am not sure with my busy schedule about breeding at this point so finding a good source for now has been very difficult. I might look to see what I could find in a jersey. Thanks for the idea.

 

[wyoDreamer]

A farmer friend of mine told me to make sure to train any steers/cows to the sound of a metal bucket. Her neighbor would raise up a dozen beef every year and they always got out at least once. He would always feed them a little grain out of a metal bucket and would tap on it before feeding them. When they would get out, he would grab his bucket and lead them home - tapping the bucket the whole way. They would follow him in single file down the road right back into the field.