Jersey cows are small. The hiype on miniatures is they cost a lot of money, are scarce and not that much output. Get a Jersey heifer from a dairy is my advise. Commercial dairies keep some Jerseys with the Holstiens to raise the butterfat content of the milk tank.
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There was a recent COTH article about adopting some Jersey calves, which were adorable.
You could look into the rare breeds, like the Dexter and Belted Galloways, which are smaller than our commercial cows. They were used in small UK farms as combo milk/meat animals. Galloways look like Oreos ⊠Black with a white middle band.
âminiatureâ versions are, my family used to raise Belted Gallways and the real one get pretty big
Male: 1,700 â 2,300 lbs (Adult), Female: 990 â 1,500 lbs (Adult)
Yes, I too had not heard Belted Galloways were any other than standard sizes.
The ones around here at least have always been regular sized.
They are known for good dispositions, that helps no matter what size.
Maybe they have some miniature lines now.
Plenty of breeds are aiming for some of those, for the pet trade.
If people want a pet cow my advise as a cattle rancher/horsewoman is to buy a bottle calf of whatever breed. You will be feeding the calf a bottle of milk replacer twice a day. Because of this the cattle are imprinted on humans and as adults are very tame and easy to handle. Next choice would be an 4H or FFA animal. These were raised to be tame from calves and load in trailers, lead and like to be brushed without a rodeo.
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If you want to milk miniature cows, plan on building a milking stand to raise them up and save your back. The crossbred Dexter and Jersey cows I have seen, are taller, easier to milk. Still not very tall cows at 48 to 52 inches, but might get taller, have better ground clearance for udders⊠They give more milk than pure Dexters but not overwhelming you as a Jersey can produce. The pure Dexters are not as big as Jerseys. Our pure Dexter who was not a tiny one, stood about 46 inches at the shoulder. Without a milking platform I would have needed to sit on the ground to milk her, take a chance of getting stepped on! No way to get a bucket under her to milk into! I would have needed a flat, feed pan type dish to milk her into. Most Dexters are shorter, from 36 to 42 inches at the hip. And while you can milk them, you wonât get much. The breed has been aimed at beef production since I started looking at them. Very good rate-of-gain for meat production on only grass. Low impact on the land with their smaller sizes.
What really appealed to me was the baby Dexter calves in tiny sizes! Visiting Dexter farms, those new calves the size of a small dog (12 to 17 pounds) were just so huggable looking! No I did not hug them, but they were just adorable. Tiny calf beside tiny mother cow really pulled at my âWant One!â strings!!
If you like the âoreoâ look, the Dutch Belted dairy cows also wear nice big white belts on black hides. They give a fair amount of milk daily. They do look like dairy cows, not rounded or beefy at all. Good sized cows, not small. The breed is known for having very small fat particles in their milk, so milk seems to be pre-homoginized. The local Dutch Belted herd is well known for the award winning cheese made from their milk. They are in the rare breeds, but can be found with a little searching.
I would definitely suggest looking at mini cows just for ease of handling and a lower feed bill. Full size cows eat more than horses and may require special handling equipment for vetting⊠While I adore Jerseys, I would stick with a beef type breed. Theyâre just lower maintenance. Of course, with minis you will be paying a fair bit for the novelty aspect but in your case, I think it would be worth it. I really enjoy my cows and so miss raising bottle calves. Sometimes, after a tough day, I head to the pasture and just be with the herd. Thereâs just something about 'em.
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Please, not asking about âcattle or dairyâ and not concerned about stalls, not for beef or dairy just pets, especially about rescued calves that would go for slaughter, such as infant calves that will obviously become full size adults. Just want to know if anyone keeps full size cows as pets.
There are people who do keep full size cows or steers as pets. Both individuals and rescues do this so it is definitely doable and rewarding. Several of mine are both pets and working animals. You could even train your cattle if you so wish - tricks, driving, etc or just enjoy seeing them in the pasture.
Cattle in general are herd animals and steers (castrated bulls) in particular tend to stay playful even as they age. Typically, you see steers as pets since bull calves are sold off the dairy within a day or two. Heifers tend to be kept by dairies for replacements in the milking herd. You rarely see beef bottle calves for sale as they are more valuable. I suggest sourcing 2 bull calves i.e. drop calves directly from a dairy, not from an auction. Iâm partial to Jerseys just cause theyâre so darn cute! They are exposed to a lot of pathogens at an auction and trying to pull them through that can be expensive and heartbreaking.
Just a side note - The terms âbeefâ and âdairyâ refer to the two main types of cattle out there i.e. their general build and characteristics. Beef breeds tend to be âbeefierâ with thicker bone / body structure and include Angus, Hereford, Simmental, Charolais, etc. Dairy tend to be more angular or "boney"and refined since they have been bred to put energy into milk not into building muscle. Some of the more common dairy breeds are Jersey, Holstein, Brown Swiss, and Milking Shorthorn. Itâs kind of like like saying draft horse versus light riding horseâ just a bit more extreme as there are different health concerns and different bred-for temperaments in the cattle world.
I enjoy the web forum, âKeeping a Family Cowâ; there are quite a few experienced folks on there willing to share their knowledge. While most have a practical view of their livestock, they tend to be respectful of those who raise and keep a few cows as pets.
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We keep all our animals as pets. Cattle, sheep, horses, the guardian llamas. Every one has a name. Whenever some one of them becomes infirm, s/he gets moved into an assisted-living quarters. Which for sheep is a nice small shaded paddock with a barn, (they are all either blind or toothless or both, once they graduate into Assisted Living, they tent to live many more comfortable years. Weâve had 18 and 19 year old sheep!). For the cattle itâs a small (5 acre) pasture with a big shed. Current residents are an elderly bull and a lame steer. For horses itâs our front yard and a barn. We donât eat any of them, weâve never sold one (because someone else might eat him/her, and we no longer breed. Any animal that has been born here, or brought here, lives out itâs entire natural life with the best care imaginable. Our cattle breed is Scottish Highlands. They are intelligent and friendly and really easily managed. I highly recommend the breed!
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I think most people on this thread get that you want to promote a specific calf ârescueâ. All good. Whatever floats your boat.
I think maybe you donât get that most people on this thread already have a pretty good understanding of cattle and what it takes for them to be well-cared for.
This:
is really not your best bet for selling your ârescueâ calves. Calves become full-grown cattle that can have needs far greater than can be provided by a fenced enclosure and some hay or pasture. It would behoove (haha) you to learn about actual husbandry of cattle rather than trying to keep talking over all the people here who actually KNOW cattle of different kinds and are happily sharing their wisdom and knowledge with you.
Yes, as a matter of fact I AM a little crusty today. My work lost a wonderful matriarch yesterday after busting our asses getting her the best treatments available for over a week, the kind of treatments that cannot be given in a pasture or fenced enclosure, the kind of treatments that require knowledge of cattle handling and the proper facilities to restrain them and tend to their medical needs.
Iâm not asking about cattle ranching, this thread is about pet cows and itâs taking a different direction. Yes, I support this rescue but not exclusively. Itâs one that I know. But Iâm not asking about raising cows for anything but pets. Just curious if anyone keeps pet cows.
Youâve had your answer - yes, some people keep pet cattle.
The issue that I have is that you donât seem to understand that keeping any sex of cattle as a pet is not necessarily going to be as simple as scooping it from a dairy farm or ârescueâ and plunking it into a field with some hay. Like any animal, and maybe especially cattle, when things go south health-wise, they go south incredibly quickly and if one isnât prepared AHEAD OF TIME for that possibility, it will not go well.
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I think itâs lovely that you want a pet cow. The rescue is a nice idea. I will caution you to look into the breed of cattle when you look at the rescue calves. Dairy calves grow into VERY LARGE cattle with huge frames that require quite a bit of food to keep in good weight. They can eat as much as a draft horse. If you can handle that, go for it! Otherwise, look for a smaller breed. Even a mini cow, such as a Zebu, would be fun.
On the other hand, there are cattle breeders of every kind and if you were to pick up a weanling bull calf, or a bottle calf, from a local beef cattle breeder, you would be still saving him from slaughter. Just make sure you have a vet that treats cattle, a head gate or squeeze chute, cattle specific vaccines and dewormers, and a sense of humor. First order of business is a vet check, castration, and possibly, dehorning. If you get a weanling, put a halter on him in the trailer and put him up in a small pen so you can tame him. Clip a lead rope on and let him drag it for a day or two (they have more sense than horses). Then, every day, tie him to a sturdy fence and give him a bucket of calf grain. Move slowly around him until he lets you pet him. Then, proceed to brushing. Once he does that well, practice catching him and haltering him before tying him up for his grain treat. Before long, youâll have a tame cow. Make sure you pick up the manure daily because calves are especially susceptible to scours from unclean pens. Also, please get a basic cattle care book, such as the Storey one, or the FFA book.
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I asked about anyone keeping pet cows, not asking for advice except to say I heard they were good for the pasture. I grew up around my grandparents dairy farm so my childhood was around them. Then my uncle bought this farm and I occasionally visited. My friend has My Speckled Calf Rescue and sheâs become expert at rescuing very sick calves that have grown into a field full of adult cows, a few different breeds and sheâs had pet cows for many years. But I was just interested in learning about others that keep âpet cowsâ. I never said I was going to keep cows. Iâm too old to start that now. I have horses and chickens and cats and not taking in new animals with long lives that will outlive me.
So asking only if anyone keeps pet cows not for advice.
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Here are some more answers for you.
PEOPLE KEEP PET CATTLE
WE KNOW YOUR FRIEND RUNS A CALF âRESCUEâ
What more is to be said if you have no interest whatsoever in learning about cattle?
Hereâs some more unsolicited advice: youâre not doing your friend any favours by having such a bad attitude towards learning about cattle.
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My pet Jersey weighs 850 lbs and she is a small cow. You must be thinking of the standard commercial dairy breed in the US the black and white Holstein. Those are very large cows that produce about eight and a half gallons of milk a day. My little Jersey when she is dry (not milking) lives on Bermuda grass pasture with salt and cattle mineral. When she is milking she gets in addition 20 lbs of alfalfa a day and 6 lbs of grain because Jerseys âmilk off their backsâ. That is to say get very thin if not feed to match their caloric output.
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Nice cow! I think that rescue picks up commercial dairy calves (most likely bull calves).
There is a local small dairy here that sells calves from smaller dairy cows, but I donât know if the OP has anything like that near her.
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Daphne was born on a commercial dairy. A man buys heifer calves from dairies and raises them on bottles and sells them still on bottle or weaned. Dairies do sell heifer calves that they donât want to raise for replacement heifers. Usually these are sired by a cleanup bull. Commercial dairy cows never get to know the romance of bull and cow in a pasture, they are inseminated with AI pipettes. So when cows do not become pregnant after one or two tries they turn them in with a clean up bull. These calves are usually not registered so they sell them. The man I bought Daphne from ran an ad in a farm newspaper.
Daphne is 10 years old and has produced 6 calves. What I do is I share milk. That is, I leave her calf with her and milk only what I need for the house. That way there is no âudder slaveryâ. I donât have to get up at 5:30 AM to milk or have to be home to milk her every evening. I pen the calf next to her at night them milk a gallon in the morning them let the calf have at it.
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