In our area, beef cows are easy to find…dairy cows are not. Of course, I needed the dairy cow. So true to my nature, I dove right in. I googled and searched and absorbed whatever I read. It doesn’t take me long to get submerged in stories. The more I know, the more questions I can ask and the more I learn. Sometimes though, that isn’t enough and you just have to experience it for yourself…and that, can get expensive!
Cow 1: Annabelle – Adorably cute and ever so friendly. Did you know that when twin dairy calves are born and one is a girl and the other a boy, there is a high chance that the girl is sterile? Yeah, neither did I. It’s called a freemartin. They can also behave oddly. What I thought was cute bawling in the field was simply a hormonally challenged scream of confusion. Regardless, sterile means no babies, no babies means no milk and now I was looking at my worthless investment. Thankfully the seller bought her back. Lesson one, ask for a confirmed pregnancy…don’t take someone’s word for it.
Cow 2: Mabel – Since these girls are so hard to find, when a local one came up, I jumped at the chance. A nice man with a broken foot spoke very highly of her. He saw a cute baby he raised from scraggly legs and I saw big girl, with wild eyes and hint of intimidation. Fortunately after my first ordeal I got all of the necessary information. She was bred…mistakenly, to the bull next door. He felt she would come around quickly if she was handled daily and he agreed to put a halter on her. The rest of Mabel’s story is within all my posts, so enjoy the reads!
Cow 3: In case Mabel didn’t pan out to what the nice man said, I had a back up plan: Buy two and pick whoever loved me more. There were some cows in Texas that my horse shoeing man said he would pick from and haul for me. They were said to be handled, hand raised, and bred. Then Dolly rolled in. Dolly looked like she had a prize winning bag (aka udder) and also looked like she had never seen a human in her life. Lesson two, make someone else put the halter on if they are selling them as handled or gentle. Their best friend may be your worst enemy. Lesson three, don’t send a horse shoe guy to pick your cow. He went strictly on bag size and failed to try and kiss her like I asked. While Dolly did not have a single mean bone in her body, she also didn’t have an ounce of trust. Big problem for a cow that’s about to have a baby and about to be my new best friend. Believe it or not, she did end up being a success story. I halter broke her to walk on a lead rope and come in to the barn every night. I handled her daily until she would walk up to a scoop of grain. She found a perfect home with a local small dairy where she doesn’t have to be tortured by someone trying to be her best friend.
Let’s recap what I learned after buying three dairy cows:
1) Know how much you want to spend and include hauling costs, brand inspections (if needed) and a few extra bucks for the unforeseen.
2) Make sure you SEE the cow. Then pet it, touch her bag, touch her feet, rub her tummy, pet her face…and get a real good idea of what you are dealing with. If she tries to jump over the moon, she probably is more than you can handle. If she won’t walk up to you, she most likely hasn’t been handled. Take your time, you will be the one handling. **and you will soon be sitting directly in front of her kicking range.**
3) Official paperwork is for the peace of mind. A pregnancy confirmed by a vet can still have a margin of error but it isn’t very likely.
(Here are all three girls. Annabelle is behind the fence, and Dolly is next…Mabel wasn’t into the photo shoot that day.)
