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Post by Nonesuch Farm (Melissa) on Apr 5, 2011 4:55:23 GMT -5
Late to the party again!
I have sold a few trained to milk Dexters. They were at least 4 months fresh (me keeping the calf) and bred back for $1.800 to $2K.
The biggest issue hindering getting good money for a milker in our area has been all of the diary closures and subsequent glut of Jersey cows on the market. Here one can buy a fresh gentle Jersey that is giving 3-4 gallons of milk off criagslist any given day for under $1K. Also we have a couple of big Dexter ranches locally that keep a running ad on craigs and anywhere else that they can for $800 Dexter heifers... of course those are not their best animals and when you get to the ranch you are more likely to come away with something nicer and more expensive but the impression for the public is that is the worth of a Dexter heifer. So most of my sales have been by referral and to people farther away.
It can be a lot of hard work to train a cow to milk or there can be nothing to it at all... mostly depends on the cow.. but there is a market for family milkers no doubt... and I have a few folks waiting so if you want to train and sell milkers let me know and I'll send some people your way!
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