Somebody GAVE me a cow. Need ideas.

[azelgin]

No farmers with a bull near you? I know she is a pure breed but her offspring don't have to be unless you are hoping to get some little pure bred heifers from her.

Yes, we have a few ranches that run cattle around us, but she is on the small side and their bulls are either black angus, or herefordr. I'm afraid she might have trouble delivering a calf from a large breed bull. I'd also would have to find her again, as the range area is several thousand acres. A Jersey heifer would be easy to sell around here. Very few available in our area.

Someone gave you a free heifer? What do you know of her background? Was she a twin? There are a lot of questions to be answered here. If she is a freemartin, she is only good for meat.

For what it is worth, given that she is a fertile female, I would go with the $75 stud fee. Bulls are more trouble than they are worth in small operations. That is my opinion on the subject.

I know, free sounds too good to be true. Not a freemartin and should be fertile. I guess she was not so much free, as payment for a favor we would have done for nothing.

If your heifer is able to reproduce cant you just have a vet out and do AI?

Like I said, we live WAAAAY OUT in the sticks. Farm calls out here are for life and death situations only. It's cheaper and quicker for us to haul stock to the vet.

Thanks for the comments. Still wondering how edible a three year old bull would be.​

 

[melody123]

A freemartin is a cow that was born with a twin brother, they are usually sterile (but not always.) I've heard that this idea can cause problems in cow communities to female humans with twin brothers. Humans don't have that problem, but I heard of someone in my community who had trouble dating farmers because they were worried that she couldn't have kids because she had a twin brother. She married someone from out of town and had 6 kids.

You should check to see if someone does AI around you. For $45, a technician comes out to my property and breeds my cows with the semen from purebred bulls. That way I don't have to pay for a bull or feed one.

 

[mississippifarmboy]

Thanks welsummerchicks, I learn something new every day!

Now another question... Why would they be sterile? I've never had a bunch of milk cows, but we always had a couple at a time growing up, never had any problems with it.

oh, and if I was dealing with someone from a town called Slap Neck, I'd sorta expect to get skinned.

Edited to add; Never mind, my question was answered while I was "hunt & peck" typing. Thanks.

 

[azelgin]

Quote:
I'm not looking at owning this bull long term. Once I'm sure the heifer is bred, the bull is out of here. As far as the attitude this bull has, I can't say.

 

[lorieMN]

Quote:
Yes, we have a few ranches that run cattle around us, but she is on the small side and their bulls are either black angus, or herefordr. I'm afraid she might have trouble delivering a calf from a large breed bull. I'd also would have to find her again, as the range area is several thousand acres. A Jersey heifer would be easy to sell around here. Very few available in our area.

Someone gave you a free heifer? What do you know of her background? Was she a twin? There are a lot of questions to be answered here. If she is a freemartin, she is only good for meat.

For what it is worth, given that she is a fertile female, I would go with the $75 stud fee. Bulls are more trouble than they are worth in small operations. That is my opinion on the subject.

I know, free sounds too good to be true. Not a freemartin and should be fertile. I guess she was not so much free, as payment for a favor we would have done for nothing.

If your heifer is able to reproduce cant you just have a vet out and do AI?

Like I said, we live WAAAAY OUT in the sticks. Farm calls out here are for life and death situations only. It's cheaper and quicker for us to haul stock to the vet.

Thanks for the comments. Still wondering how edible a three year old bull would be.​

most jerseys can calf out a frieght train of a calf..I would go with a black angus heifer bull..these bulls run smaller and birthweights are smaller,you might be able to find one not being used and so then they can be penned up.for those that find that term"heifer bull" confusing,,its a smaller,lighter bull,then used on older cows.​

 

[azelgin]

Quote:
Interesting information. The ranch that runs cattle near me has several (10+) black angus bulls. I wish I had known this before he put them out on the range. Could have made some kind of deal with him.

I guess what it all comes down to is whether or not a Jersy bull is worth 35 cents a pound. I'm really not too worried about handling, or containment. A bullet does wonders for unruley critters.

 

[littlefarm_bighappy]

Freemartin heifers become androgynized sometime during gestation.
During development, there are ducts that develop into penises and ducts that develop into uteruses and vaginas, depending on the hormonal signal. WHen a female and male twin share placental blood, the female is affected.
Freemartins look like steers, and apparently will have short or very tiny vaginal tracts.

It doesn't appear in humans because our uterine/placental barrier is vastly different.

 

[huntercf]

FREE cow, when's the BBQ? Congrats on the acquisition.

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

I would just buy the stud fee. It saves you money on having to keep the bull and you can rebreed to freshen the milk for the next year.

 

[danischi24]

Yeah, get the bull for meat. The problem is that you will have to wait for her to come into season or give her hormones. If this isn't a problem, go for it! He will be fine to eat at 3 as he will have just fully matured. In fact, if you want to do yourself a favor, keep him in a corral for a month or so & feed him well before you send him for slaughter-it will make a big difference in your meat.