To buy or not to buy

[sengdroma]

We have the chance to buy two Dexters this weekend (both in calf). They are both 3 years old and have had a claf each before without assistance.

We would like them to be house cows - supplying us with enough milk for our families dairy needs - we are a family of 2 adults and soon 3 children.

Now neither cow has been milked before as they were used for breeding beef offspring.

Is 3 too old to teach to milk? We have a single cow milk machine which we could use instead of doing it by hand.

Neither are they used to head collers but they are used to head gates.

They are going for $1200 for the pair - this is Canadian Dollars.

Should we bother or go for cows which have been milked before. We do not mind putting the effort in to get them used to us. We are told that the cows are calm and quiet and can be handled by anybody.

[liz]

Hi Sendroma; I guess if you are thinking about buying any cow and training it to milk there are a few things that you and your partner should be thinking about; have either of you ever milked before? how comfortable are you around cows in order to train an untrained cow? Also Gene is right about milk amounts differing with the different lines. Have you seen their udders in milk? That will at least give you an idea about milkiness. Dexters should be even tempered and trainable even as mature cows. They do make the perfect house cow too!! Speaking of which, mine are reminding me that it's milking time not computer time! Good luck! Liz (also in the snow in Canada!)

[tiffin]

American $1200 for two heifers was a very good price 4 years ago here in NY, but I wonder now. I have only sold one bull calf lately and practically gave that away. I haven't actively tried to sell anything else but had someone approach me about a 3 yo who has had a calf and is pregnant for her 2nd one; he walked away at my asking price of $800.00, didn't even come back with a best offer. So, I wonder if Dexter prices are coming down. Anyway, sengdroma, if you sort out the milking part I think I would go for it, at like I said American $1200 for two. By the way, they should be registered which you didn't mention. Get their numbers and look at the pedigree.