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Which Dairy Heifers should I keep?

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1DEER1I

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I have been getting some heifers from a dairy for some time and have decided after selling nearly all of them, I still have some left and out of these breeds which would be best to keep in order to raise two or three calves at a time?

Jersey
Jersey-Holstein cross
Brown Swiss
Brown Swiss-Holstein Cross
Ayrshire-Holstein cross
Milking Shorthorn-Holstein Cross
 
1DEER1I said:
I have been getting some heifers from a dairy for some time and have decided after selling nearly all of them, I still have some left and out of these breeds which would be best to keep in order to raise two or three calves at a time?

Jersey
Jersey-Holstein cross
Brown Swiss
Brown Swiss-Holstein Cross
Ayrshire-Holstein cross
Milking Shorthorn-Holstein Cross
Click to expand...

Kind of a toss-up...I'd just keep the quietest heifers if you have to be working around them grafting on calves...I've always been prone to like the Swiss and the Holstein for milk cows- for as much as you can be prone to like a milk cow :wink: :roll:
 
Depends on the heifer. Untill you see them with their calf you wont know if they will be a good mother to theirs let alone another.
Jerseys are for the most part are big ol puppy dogs. They do have a higher fat content in their milk. So if you want to make cheese you have the best bred to do that with.
I have only been around the jersey or jersey cross.
 
If it were me I'd sell the springer's and have them checked prior to sale any 3 quarter cows would work fine for draft cows or you can buy 3/4 cows all day long for kill price.

A friend of mine just bought 20 Hojo springers for $710 each the dairy market is in the dumps right now.

If your determined to keep some I'd keep the holstein cross cattle and breed them Holstein seem's straight Holstein's bring the most money as springers.
 
I have a milking shorthorn that gives me 1 1/2 gal twice a day, has good butter fat for making butter, good gentle old cow.
 
Based on bred alone, I would go with the Holstein-milking shorthorn cross.
jerseys milk has the highest butterfat Holstein probably the lowest.
Jerseys are low input cows, would get by with less feed and do best on poorer pasture. Holsteins produce larger quanities of milk but need a lot of groceries. The Milking Shorthorn is really a dual purpose breed. We used to have them when we milked cows and sold cream. The other two breeds are bred for milk production too. They would also make good nurse cows. If they are expected to raise three calves, they need to be fed accordingly.
 
I'd buy a Jersey and A'I to a rodeo bull-those suckers buck and a Jersey cow is alot nicer to be around than some hooky old Brahmer. Our old Jersey nurse cow raised a 22 point bull for us.
 
I'd go with the Ayrshire-Holstein cross. We milked 80 of them at one time. They'd give almost as much milk as a Holstein, but with the Ayrshire in them they'd do it on poorer feed if they had to. They'd make the best grazers too.
 
We had a Holstein-Shorthorn cross milk cow that was just excellent
and so were her calves. The bull calves made great steers that we
kept for meat for ourselves, and the heifers were good milking
cows. Of course, we always bred this cow to an Angus bull. :p
We called her Blue and her milk was really good and she gave a lot
of it. She was big, though, but we didn't feed her anything special.

Our 16 year old matriarch that we have now is out of a Brown
Swiss cross cow and an Angus bull, if that has any bearing on anything. :shock:
 
Used to know a retired dairy farmer that used Brown Swiss crosses for beef cows......claimed they didn't need near the feed or attention and could last for years as nurse cows. Most dairy cows won't make much more than a season when you take the intensive management away!
 
JE or JE-HO, you don't need the extra white-water, I'd go with the higher solids. I believe that is what the New Zealanders go with.
 
Yeah and we all know that Those folks from New Zealand wrote the book on everything.

I'd put more salt in local producers than someone 4000 miles away will most likely be more accurate for your area.But then again what would Allan Nation do if he could'nt jet set around the world to tell us what were doing wrong.
 

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