How Now Brown Cow

You probably already realized There are several valid reasons for wanting to your own cow.  

Why use heirloom cows?  To realize why heirloom cows are a great idea, compare them to their modern counterparts.

• Easier to handle with size
• More docile and intelligent
• Not as susceptible to disease
• Higher quality meat
• More milk/meat for feed input.
• Forage for feed
• Lacks the A protein that causes bloating

 

Larger breeds are modern breeds; with the exception of  a few breeds breed for labor(1).  Mini cows were just cows, as late as, the 20th century.  Ranchers wanted to breed larger cows because it meant more money, come market time.  Larger stock meant breeding larger cows and bulls.  

Cost of Keeping a Miniature Cow

You need to know what it costs for a miniature cow.  It helps you make an educated decision about having a milk cow on your homestead.

Here is the link to this excel.  You will find the cow cost calculations on the second tab labeled, “Cow Production and Cost”.  Click the chart to enlarge the chart.

*Feed(1)  was estimated as a miniature cow eating 6,505 pounds of feed a year, with an daily average of 18.48 pounds.  This is an estimate as there are several variables: weight of the animal, whether the cow is lactating, age, nutritional value of the feed, ect.

This estimate is for dry food, with no foraging, during the estimated winter days. I estimated a growing season