Pinch me, I must be dreaming! Do I really have a family cow?

Yes, you heard me right. A family cow!

This is something I’ve been dreaming about for years but did not think it would happen anytime soon.

Why not?

For starters, my husband was NOT on board. Like, at all. He thought the idea of a family cow- hand milking and all- was nuts.

I am very good at persuading him… clearly. 😉

Seriously though, he was very concerned about the idea of me milking a cow alllll the time and us not being able to have any life off the farm.

Also, the idea of gallons and gallons of milk each and every day did not appeal to him in the least.

But probably the biggest thing that held him back was he thought it may be another one of my fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants ideas that I would get sick of and then we would be stuck with a cow.

I managed to get him on board by doing TONS of research, showing him how we could have a life and a cow, how we won’t be needing to eat a diet of only milk to keep up, and how beneficial the cow would be to our homestead and the health of our family. (more in depth on that later)

Once I got the hubby issue out of the way, I did not think we would be able to afford the right cow for us- at least not for awhile. We wanted one that did not produce a ton, or eat a ton. We also were looking for a quiet, healthy cow that preferably had calving experience and milking experience. All those variables coupled with our teeny-tiny budget (had to also account for added feed/vet costs)…. well, the odds weren’t in our favor.

What’s her story?

Occasionally I would check the local listings and hope to find a cow. I managed to find a few good prospects but they didn’t end up right for us. I had actually contacted this seller previously (before Christmas) on another cow they had but it wasn’t the right timing.

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Fast forward a couple months and this seller came up again looking to re-home a few calves and this cow. I contact him again for more information- actually told him no at first but then she kept coming back into my mind. I just had this feeling that she was the right one.

He was a great guy- wasn’t mad when I came back for the third time looking for yet more information. He was very up-front and honest and we decided we would go look at her. With a trailer… we knew what would happen ;).

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Meet, Mabel (formerly Big Mama). She is a 3 year old Belfair (Jersey/Dexter). She is bred to a Dexter bull for an April calf. The calf will be considered a Belmont (75% Dexter, 25% Jersey).

*Edit to add* if you follow me on social media, you know that they were a little off on her dates and we had a big surprise on February 22nd at chore time!

Mabel has had a heifer calf last year and did a great job as a mom. She had no complications with delivery/raising her calf. The only draw-back is she has not been hand milked before.

This was what was holding us back. However, when we considered our budget and that the only thing not on our “wants” list was the milking part, we decided it was worth a shot. She wasn’t wild by any means so we definitely saw the potential.

Loading her on the trailer was quite the ordeal and the super-foggy ride home was extremely nerve-wracking for me but we made it home. Mabel immediately showed her dominant demeanor with our calves but that is to be expected- she’s the biggest and oldest, she’s bound to be “in charge”.

What is the plan?

Currently we are working on getting her used to the stanchion (and finishing construction of said stanchion). We feed her a very small amount of grain in there every day and pet/talk to her. I have been able to pet her all over and even mess with her udder.

So far, so good! She LOVES apple treats and really is a sweet girl. We still have to finish one side of the stanchion and once that is done, we will advance our “training”, giving her hay in the manger and gradually keeping her in there longer- as it will be when we are milking.

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When she calves, the calf will stay with her (this is known as calf sharing) for at least 9 months (we will play this by ear). The calf will get all the milk he/she needs and Mabel will be happier with her calf by her side.

We will start with twice a day milking but eventually move to once a day and when the calf is a few weeks old, separate at night so we can milk in the morning.

Note: We are VERY inexperienced so we absolutely realize our “plan” may be thrown out the window, not to mention we have no idea how much she will produce! Nothing ever goes as planned and that’s okay, we will eventually figure out what works best for us.

We are so excited for this HUGE step on our homestead!

Thank you for stopping by the homestead, be sure to stop back for more Mabel updates!

Melissa