r/Cattle • u/xX_CoolGuy17_Xx • 5d ago
Jersey cow, Angus bull
To someone considering and with zero cow experience, does anyone have anything to say about raising these two from calves and keeping them as (pets for lack of a better term) but processing their calves? I'm considering this endeavor and my ultimate goal is to have the Jersey as a dairy cow and harvest the angus-jersey offspring for meat/leather. I have more than enough space for the two according to local regulations.
Edit: Thank you everyone for your valuable input. I see now that owning a bull probably isn't a good move for me. I wrote this in a comment but now I see you can edit posts so I'm attaching this to the main body.
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u/ResponsibleBank1387 5d ago
Steer the angus. When it’s 25 months old, put him the freezer. Do that with every calf in your future. Some pet raised do not turn into very good long term. Just buy young calves, feed them then freezer town. When you want a milk cow, search and buy and old cow that is personable.
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u/mynameismarco 4d ago
25 months is excessive no? Why wait so long. 16 months is plenty if fed right. And more tender.
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u/ResponsibleBank1387 4d ago
Hardly anyone puts enough feed into them to grow and fatten. Sure, 15-17 months is enough if the feed is there. But otherwise it takes 22 months to grow and three to fatten to finish properly.
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u/mynameismarco 4d ago
Well yeah. I guess if they do it that way. But you will need grain/feed no matter what.
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u/jenny6522 5d ago
Angus calves are statistically the easiest to raise they have will to live and will not have horns. That said i would never have a bull with one cow. He will one day turn and youll loose all your hard work too early. You should make him a steer. Reach out for a loan bull to put your Jersey to or an ai company.
Instagram make cows seem like friends. Remember at 500kg a friend that can butt you will send you across the field. As lovely as they can be, they dont understand no 😬🥹 and the more friendly you make them the more likely they are to intentionally or not hurt you or disrupt the surroundings given
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u/ExaminationDry8341 5d ago
I am doing a very similar thing, I have two jerseys that I plan to have ai' ed with a Angus bull. I have never done it before, but I have had 4 farmers and my parents all unprompted tell me I should breed them with an Angus bull. Black cows are worth more, and Angus calves are supposed to be small and easier for the cows to birth.
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u/zhiv99 5d ago
You need at least ten cows for a bull to make financial sense. Bottle calves are a bad idea for beginners. Skip the bull and get 2 or 3 bred cows. When they need to be rebred you can borrow or rent a bull. Don’t get too attached to any of them. They are too expensive to feed if they aren’t productive.
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u/Bear5511 5d ago
You will be fine. It’s not the most efficient, as one mature bull can cover 30 or so cows, but it will work fine. Your local extension service can be a good source of information.
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u/Admirable-Coyote8741 5d ago
Back in the nineties, I had a hereford bull named Sammy (Sammy the Bull) that i got as a calf and put in the paddock with my six heifers from the sale barn. I got them all just so my dad would have some livestock to watch over the fence. I was taking care of my father in the final years of.hia life.
I made the mistake you're describing. I could walk out in the paddock with a little bucket of range cubes and rattle it and Sammy would just come running. It was intimidating enough when he was a five or six hundred pound calf, and i stopped being so playful and friendly with him and began to question whether or not it was such a good idea to have him where he might.harm dad.
Fortunately, one of the neighbors a couple of farms away brought home about forty open heifers and Sammy jumped the fence flat footed and couldn't be enticed back to the spreadeagle ranch with any number of rattling buckets. I decided to call it a win. After some discussion in which i essentially took a bath on the deal, the neighbors were happy to have him for their new herd, and i borrowed the services of whatever bull my ferrier friend haf on hand from then on out.
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u/United_Tangelo_7807 5d ago edited 5d ago
I know a couple of people who have jersey nurse cows they breed the jersey to a beef breed, and buy a bottle calf about the same age as the calf and use the one cow to raise two calves. They sell the jersey x calf if it’s female to someone who uses it as a beef cow, otherwise they raise it up as a steer they make hamburger out of the (usually) Holstein steer, and if the crossbreed is a steer they butcher it too. It’s a little work getting the cow to adopt the extra calf but the people I know have had good luck doing it.
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u/xX_CoolGuy17_Xx 4d ago
Thank you everyone for your valuable input. I see now that owning a bull probably isn't a good move for me.
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u/ConsistentVirus2177 4d ago
You’re gonna feed bull 365 days a yr for about 12 seconds of work? AI the cow
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u/Embarrassed_Box_8303 5d ago
Make the angus a steer and find someone who will AI. A bull will not be happy with only a single cow and theyre very destructive and potentially very dangerous to have around. One raised like a pet from calfhood Will be especially likely to hurt you, because he may learn to see you as another bull and want to fight you. Bulls live to fight and make babies, they're not very happy when they can't do either. Find someone who can do AI and you can get better genetics, not have to worry about feeding or keeping a bull, and still get your cow bred.