Cost of keeping a cow

[ohiofarmgirl]

wintering a cow takes 2300 pounds of hay (avg). production rations 27pounds hay a day. for a jersey size.
grain rations i've read 3 1/2 pounds per gallon of milk.

I don't have a cow i'm getting all this out of a book. but hope it helps.

and cows poo alot so it will help your soil quicker. but any poo will help over time.

great stats, Sammileah!

Haywood - dont let the goat-maniacs talk you out of it! i say this b/c i currently have goats..... but i'm secretly a 'cow person.'
;-)

check the local Extension office and they can give you a reference for how much pasture a cow would need in your area. this will help you figure out if you can graze any of it. also while checking hay, consider round bales, which around here can be $25. you'll need equipment to move them (or determination, like i did!) but it might be a good option especially for the winter. a good place to price hay is on craigslist.

is she bred? or do you need to grow her out for a year? this might also help you figure out costs.

good luck!

 

[Haywood]

Thanks guys! You all have been helpful. I'll let you all know how it works out

 

[Beekissed]

Here's a consideration....if you don't want more milk than you can handle but still want some, you can go easy on grain, feed mostly hay and get a reasonable amount of milk...even sharing with the calf. Who could use more than a gal. or two of milk per day? And selling the excess, if you are able to do so, can defray your feed costs.

Getting bred is easy if you want to go AI....there is some very reasonable semen online and you can learn to do this on your own.

You may also make a deal for breeding in your farm community...I did and it didn't cost me a dime. Most farmers have the attitude that the bull is not doing much anyway and one more cow won't matter.

Goats are really no substitute if you really wanted a cow...I, for one, don't like the taste of goat milk.

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

Who could use more than a gal. or two of milk per day?

* hops around waving hands* me me me! i could i could! me me me!

dont forget that the milk you dont use can be poured right on your barnyard (figuratively). when we are "in the milk" at the beginning of spring, we feed it to all the poultry and the pigs. right now everyone out there is bangin' on the door saying "hey! what happened to the milk?" b/c they all love it.

and Bee is just right - someone i know mostly just lets his cows have grass - and he STILL gets plenty of milk.

cant wait to see what happens, Haywood!

 

[tortoise]

Mother Earth News just did an article on this. My fiance (a vet) looked through it an found some problems. The numbers looked profitable, but in reality with health and vet care, fencing and labor, it's probably not worth it.

How much manure do you need? How about rabbits?! Get a meat-type and you've got dinner too. You "can" make hutches out of wire and scrap wood. (Might be cheaper to find them on CL). I say "can" because I am fussy and have to have my cages a certain way, lol.

People say you will NEVER make a profit off rabbits. Not enough to live for, but my rabbits earn their keep and then some. I've gotten (good, purebred, pedigreed) breeding stock for free - $20 each. Their babies sell for $60 as pets or more for show. Anything that doesn't sell ends up in my freezer 5 months later. Vet care is extremely minimal. Most people just cull out anything that isn't healthy and their herds get very resiliant over time.

 

[Niele da Kine]

We have some neighbors who keep a Guernsey (hmm, it might be a brown Swiss) anyway, they keep one diary cow and a half dozen Nubian goats. No billy goat, just does. The Nubian goat milk is much closer to "store bought" milk flavor and texture than the raw cow's milk. It is almost exactly the same as store bought cow's milk whereas the raw cow's milk separates into cream and gets butter bits floating around in it real quickly. The goat milk is naturally homogenized and stays very similar to store bought milk even after several days in the refrigerator. So, after comparing the raw cow's milk to Nubian goat milk, if it were me, I'd get a pair of Nubian does. The goats also produce manageable amounts of milk.

For manure, though, we have chickens and rabbits. The rabbits turn grass and leaves into fertilizer and the chickens keep the bug population in the yard down. Once a year the chicken coop gets cleared out and the rabbit pellets collected from under the rabbit pen and all that gets dug into the garden.

Oh, their cow is grass fed on pasture with some additional alfalfa hay fed to it but most of it's feed is from pasture. Same with the goats. Occasionally after the goats have multiplied there is that period of time when the kids are about grown up but haven't been sold yet, then my neighbors will be out and about in the neighborhood scything down roadside grass that hasn't been sprayed with any chemicals to feed to the goat herd. After the kids are sold, then their pasture grows back again.

 

[Blackbird]

That appears to be one reason why many here want cow milk - the butter!
But, goat's milk that is high in butterfat content (Like Nubian, Nigerian Dwarf, and LaMancha milk) can easily be made into butter with a little work.

 

[Blackbird]

Also!