Hi, My husband and I are novices - no experience, but we're wanting to have access to raw, unhomogenized milk, and getting your own cow seems about the only way to do it around here. We have the space for it. Before we start to get serious, I was wondering if anyone has any experience with this breed. There was some mention in the archives about some miniature breeds having problems, but someone answered that with the comment that the older miniature breeds have had no problems.

Thanks!

By way of intro, we recently purchased 25 acres, most of this is an old truck farm that has been fallow (and overgrown) for 30 years. The soil is beautiful. There is plenty of cleared grassy area near the house. I've been enjoying the book "Nourishing Traditions", which has lots of instructions on lacto-fermentation of food, souring food, etc.. Much of it really doesn't require a lot of time, just planning ahead. Would like to have a source of real milk for some of the diet around here.

We'll likely start with something smaller still, like chickens , but want to do a little planning ahead for the milker.

Thanks, Laurie

-- Laurie (laurie@folkarts.com), July 15, 2001

Answers

Laurie Irish Jersey [Belfair or Belmont} are one breed. It is a cross between a Irish Dexter and Jersey. Check out www.minicattle.com and also check out the American Miniature Jersey Cattle Registry. We raise miniature jerseys and minature guernseys.E mail me if you have guestions.

-- Nathan Harris Sr. (barnyard_mini@yahoo.com), July 15, 2001.

Laurie, the miniature cattle association should have a link to the miniature Jersey cattle assoc. If not, go to Google and type in miniature cattle. A link to the Jersey Association is on the first page. The miniature Jersey I am thinking of is called a Guinea Jersey, and were imported during the 50's for the creamery trade on the east coast because of the high butterfat. There are no breeding problems that I am aware of in the mini Jerseys. You might be thinking of the Dexter cattle on that score. I don't know where you are. I know of breeders in IN, Ill, Va, Ky, and Tenn. The vice- president was in Alton, Ill. Be prepared for a lot of milk, even though these are miniatures. A cow at 38" can still weigh in at 700 lbs. and give 1 1/2 gallons of milk each and every milking. Also, have you milked before? We're talking a job that has to be done twice a day, 7 days a week. Before you invest in a mini-Jersey, or a regular Jersey for that matter, prehaps you'd like to try a milk goat. That's a much smaller investment, and you can see how well you like the schedule. Then, if you find milking is not for you, a goat will be easier to sell. On the other hand, if you find neighbors who are eager to buy raw milk (for their dogs, of course, have to be careful of the raw milk laws) then you could progress to a cow. My favorite activity when I had a milker, was making the butter. Jersey butter is beautiful!

-- Judy C. Vaughan (whileaway3@cs.com), July 15, 2001.

I looked into miniature Jerseys, and there are two problems with them. One is that it seems that many of the current breeders have gone into trying to miniaturize them to the point where they're practically dwarfed (I've seen some of these at farm shows, they didn't look like normal cows at all - saw some miniature Herefords and they looked like normal cows only small, these looked like there was something wrong with them). The second is that they are GOD awful expensive. The guy I saw at the farm conference wanted well over $10k apiece for his "miniatures" and they were not nice looking cows.

Regular Jerseys aren't that big. They're bigger than they used to be, but still not all that big. I suggest getting a smaller "regular" Jersey and skip the miniatures. As novice cow owners I would worry about your ability to select a miniature that won't have problems (e.g., dwarfed, stunted, bag dragging the ground). All of that requires an ability to judge the conformation and that really only comes with practice.

A "regular" Jersey isn't all that big, doesn't eat all that much (they do fine on pasture, with just a bit of grain to lure them in for milking), and you can AI them to something like an Angus or Beefalo and not worry about calving problems.

Personally I think the exotics are more trouble than they're worth, when there are so many original, "historic/heirloom" breeds around that are perfectly thrifty without being godawful expensive, hard to find, and often hard to deal with.

Just my opinion. If you should decide to go with the Island Jersey (or Guinea Jersey, the minis) I would suggest not going lower than 42". Smaller than that and you start getting into conformation problems and they cost way more as well. The breeders who are trying to "breed down" think 42" is way too big so you may be able to get them for less as "culls" for size.

-- Sojourner (notime4@summer.spam), July 15, 2001.

Thanks so much guys. I was putting a feeler out for the future (it's something I'd love to be able to do), but it looks like this is one for the back burner for us.

Meanwhile, does anyone know of a source of raw (or at least unhomogenized) milk in Western Washington? We are in Kitsap County. Thanks.

Laurie

-- Laurie (laurie@folkarts.com), July 16, 2001.

Realmilk.com list of raw milk sources by state

-- Sojourner (notime4@summer.spam), July 16, 2001.