beef and dairy questions??

[Celeste]

Goats are by far the most economical milking and meat animal that you can raise. Milking must be done twice a day, rain or shine, sick or well.
Goat milk tastes a lot like fresh cow's milk served in an old tennis shoe..........
I buy my meat and from the store. Much easier.

[Jumper4ever]

I have a lot of experience raising/breeding/showing milking shorthorns and truth me told they are amazing cows! They are super sweet and gentle along with good milkers and can double as beefers. I loved all the shorthorns at the barn I used to work at/own cows at and I never met a mean one, even the bulls.

[Celeste]

I love shorthorns! We used to have beef shorthorns. I love the awesome colors. We had red ones and white ones and roan ones and spotted ones. They were gentle.

[Jumper4ever]

Im glad someone agrees with me! My calf and I always cleaned up at shows, yet people were still against them. They're not the most common breed but my all time favorite compared to holsteins and jerseys

[kait18]

I will have to look into them. Sadly I have never heard of them but I will do some digging. Thanks for pointing them out :)

[moorland]

I'm not sure how things are done there ,but here we run suckler herds ,
Can you get fresians there ,they are a hardy cow ,if it's covered by a beef breed ,then you can do what traditionally was done on holdings here ,take the calf off in the evening ,it can be done with care and makes for a nice handlable calf and leave it to suckle for the day,that way if there is a problem it can suckle instead of you milking ,then slaughter the calf when it's grown , traditionally here this was done with shetland cattle but most cattle over here such as dexter and welsh black were kept the same way

Something called strip grazing is getting popular here ,with not bad grass growth the gazing can make up most of the feed ,not sure if it's possible over there but used to work and still does in some places here

[kait18]

Moorland I will have to look into that :)

[Celeste]

Good idea. I knew a family that did their jersey cow that way. They separated them every evening and milked her in the morning. It was less labor intensive for sure. They let her graze and they also fed her grain. She didn't produce huge amounts of milk for the family that way, but it was enough for them.

Originally Posted by moorland    

i'm not sure how things are done there ,but here we run suckler herds ,
Can you get fresians there ,they are a hardy cow ,if it's covered by a beef breed ,then you can do what traditionally was done on holdings here ,take the calf off in the evening ,it can be done with care and makes for a nice handlable calf and leave it to suckle for the day,that way if there is a problem it can suckle instead of you milking ,then slaughter the calf when it's grown , traditionally here this was done with shetland cattle but most cattle over here such as dexter and welsh black were kept the same way

Something called strip grazing is getting popular here ,with not bad grass growth the gazing can make up most of the feed ,not sure if it's possible over there but used to work and still does in some places here

[kait18]

Very helpful. I will have to add that to the research pile I have made already :)

[Joe4d]

I am thinking raisng one or two beef cows is a money loosing proposition. By the time you add in purchase price, vet, upkeep, doodads around the barn, grain, butcher costs, not to mention your time and labor, youd be better off working a couple extra hours a week at a job and just buying the meat. There is a reason cattle ranches out west do best. They get to graze on taxpayers grass, the ranchers grow their own grain. If you are buying cattle feed, youd be better off just buying the beef.
I am thinking chickens would get you way more meat per dollar spent. Lot easier to feed also. They eat pretty much anything. I buy deer baiting corn in the spring for dirt cheap from sporting stores. Lots of eggs and you can handle the butchering on your own.
Supposedly catfish are the best food in lb of meat out animal to raise. How about a big catfish farm ?