Frustrations

[SheepDog]

OK, I have studied the breed I want for meat - no milking for me - Scottish Highlanders. They have to wait (recommended) close to a year between pregnancies for good health. They nurse their calves for 8?? months. I have to go check to be sure but they could only be milked for 3 months before they have to be allowed to dry.

 

[Double R]

OK, I have studied the breed I want for meat - no milking for me - Scottish Highlanders. They have to wait (recommended) close to a year between pregnancies for good health. They nurse their calves for 8?? months. I have to go check to be sure but they could only be milked for 3 months before they have to be allowed to dry.

That’s pretty standard. Most people wean calves at 6-8 months on average. The cows calve and generally don’t start cycling again for 30-60 days on average. They are bred back and then are gestating while nursing the last few months. Calves are weaned and the cows have a few months of dry time. Generally cows calve every year. A lot depends on the operation. But generally there’s a calving season breeders shoot for which means calving the same time each year.

 

[Terri9630]

OK, I have studied the breed I want for meat - no milking for me - Scottish Highlanders. They have to wait (recommended) close to a year between pregnancies for good health. They nurse their calves for 8?? months. I have to go check to be sure but they could only be milked for 3 months before they have to be allowed to dry.

The Sweedish homestead on youtube had and milked highlanders. They finally sold them and moved to Austria (I think). He was having trouble getting them butchered because no one wanted to deal with the hair.

 

[Mountain trapper]

I considered Scottish Highland cattle too but decided aginst them. They take longer to wean than other breeds, which means it takes longer put on weight, and their upfront costs are higher. Unless you have a good marketing program its hard get any extra $$ when it comes time to sell. Years ago I decided to go with registered red angus cows, registered bulls and commercial black angus cows.

 

[Double R]

We have them go through the sale barn every so often here. Lucky if they sell at all

 

[Terri9630]

Dexters don't do well at the sale barn either. Everyone wants (full size)black cows or baldies. Since we don't plan on making a business out of it we got what we thought we could feed with our land and minimal inputs. If it wasn't for the Holstein we wouldn't need to feed much if any hay right now but he is such a big eater hes eaten enough grass for 2 of our smaller steers and eats twice as much hay.

 

[SheepDog]

The Highlanders definitely have hair! They have it so they can handle cold and wet environs. They are smaller but the meat is leaner with more flavor. I won't be selling any but I will trade for other bulls to maintain the herds genetic diversity. I plan on raising them for food. That means a lot of cows (30 or so) and a few bulls that get traded out every 5 or 6 years. Steers for food, bulls for trade and cows for calves.

 

[Katie Müller]

Dexters don't do well at the sale barn either.

Wow. That's really interesting. We want to get Dexters someday. Our barn collapsed so no cows at the moment, and probably not in the foreseeable future with wood prices. But someday, I really want to get Dexters.

 

[SheepDog]

Dexters require a bit more care but they do have a wider market.

 

[Terri9630]

Wow. That's really interesting. We want to get Dexters someday. Our barn collapsed so no cows at the moment, and probably not in the foreseeable future with wood prices. But someday, I really want to get Dexters.

The buyers at the sale barns are looking for commercial breeds for the feed lot. Dexters are smaller than they want.

Dexters require a bit more care but they do have a wider market.

Dexters (most cattle actually) don't require much at all. My milk cows have a barn, more for my convenience and comfort but my steers have just a pasture with trees and a tank of water.

 

[Tirediron]

And from what I have heard, for some reason it is really hard to tell what stage of the calving process dexters are in, (not just from this thread).
I have always tried to have a commercial type cow that is fairly popular in the area, makes getting bulls easier, and the extras easier to market, And empirical data shows that smaller breeds are not any more efficient as to meat produced to feed consumed, in fact the opposite, but some of that is how things are done

 

[Terri9630]

The local vet said the issues with guessing a date is because they are used to dating larger cattle/calves. The mini breeds have smaller calves, naturally. That means a calf thats at 4 months gestation in a standard size breed is much larger than in a mini and throws the vet off on the date if hes not used to them. The issue with my cow is she would be really overdue if bred by the bull she was with when I bought her so if she is bred and not holding a dead calf, just really fat or carrying an alien, than that means her steer calf wasn't cut right. We went with Dexters so we didn't have to deal with storing 500 lbs of beef at a time or trying to find someone to buy half. They are also easier on our high desert pasture and easier for me to handle and we can process them here ourselves.

 

[Katie Müller]

We went with Dexters so we didn't have to deal with storing 500 lbs of beef at a time or trying to find someone to buy half. They are also easier on our high desert pasture and easier for me to handle and we can process them here ourselves.

That's the exact reason why we want Dexters ^.^

 

[Biggkidd]

Our Dexter's are easy going friendly animals, even the bull. Not to mention having never been around a farm or farm animals their smaller size makes me more comfortable. We live in southern VA and they live very well on pasture without a barn here.

 

[Terri9630]

Our Dexter's are easy going friendly animals, even the bull. Not to mention having never been around a farm or farm animals their smaller size makes me more comfortable. We live in southern VA and they live very well on pasture without a barn here.

I was putting latches and rollers on the sliding doors on the barn and my bull calf wanted to see what I was doing. Very curious. My Aussie was having none of it. She didn't want him near me and every time he tried to come over she'd stand up and he would back up. He finally just went and laid down and watched. Then when I was done he had to come and inspect my work.

 

[Terri9630]

Well since the cow turned out to not be bred, which is fine since we have 3 steers already and no freezer space, I started milking her again. I started out with only a tablespoon of milk per day and have her up to an almost full jelly jar. Now shes an experiment to see how much milk I can get after her being almost completely dry.