My long awaited journey to a family milk cow ended about a month ago. I am just now here to tell the "story" of her arrival. I have wanted a milk cow for at least 3 years. I have dreamed about it, planned for it. I was so desperate that I finally decided to sell our 3 steers to get her.
I was in the process of raising our own dairy heifer, but was told recently by a knowledgeable farmer she would not breed till fall. I was hoping for a spring breed so I would have milk by end of the year. This was devastating news to me. I needed to regroup and make a decision on what to do. We were planning to take a steer to slaughter at the beginning of May. I could trade him? The thoughts began to roll. I began searching for a perfect fit for our small farm. It would be hard to find one local of course. Not many people homestead here, and if they do it is mostly goats. The few who do breed or raise Jerseys want a FORTUNE for them.
I began to look at what would make the proper family milk cow. Good lactation, healthy, not too thin, not too fat. I wanted a sound bag and preferably good in all 4 quarters. Looks is always a plus too since you have to live with the animal.. I first saw her and thought what a beautiful cow. The hubby and I traveled the 3 hour trip to look her over and decided she would be a perfect fit. She was very interested in us and seemed pleased to be in our company. It was decided that we would make a trade of our 3 steer of different sizes for the milk cow.
After we got home, we realized we would have to take those 3 steer on a very long trip and quickly found someone to buy them for the amount of our cow. They were sold and we headed out to make our purchase. My father, my middle son, and me. Little did I know the madness that would ensue over the course of that day. It probably turned into the most interesting and tiring day of my life thus far. Stay tuned for part 2 tomorrow.
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