LIVE SHOW ABOUT COWS, BUYING LAND, AND PASTURE TOMORROW… But first
Since our very first cow breeding on our homestead, we have used artificial insemination (A.I.).
Why did we switch it up?
Over the last few months we have been doing A.I. with Luna and Honeybee.
Luna unfortunately lost a calf early on in her calving.
We tested her, and the results from her first pregnancy test showed that she had in-fact been pregnant, but the numbers on the test results revealed that it was likely she had lost the pregnancy. A follow up test confirmed that.
Peak summer can be a hard time for a cow to keep a pregnancy, heat, flies, and our best guess is that is why Luna lost that calf.
So we did another round of A.I. with Luna, and at the time we had her A.I. done we also had Honeybee, Ladybug’s calf, inseminated.
All these A.I. attempts have used up almost all our our semen straws, and so now, with Grasshopper coming into heat, we needed to either order more semen, or go with option B.
When you order semen you pay $$$ for each straw of semen purchased, and on top of that you pay for shipping and storage.
Shipping semen straws is very expensive. Semen must be kept at a cold temperature when in storage, and shipping something cold costs money.
A semen straw from a Mini Jersey bull typically costs us about $60, and shipping is anywhere from $100-$200. The thing is, you don’t pay more for shipping if you order multiple straws, so to get the most bang for your buck we always order multiples.
If we were going to order a straw of semen for Grasshopper, we would order a bunch of straws. You see how this starts to add up.
SO… we decided this year, hoping Luna and Honeybee are already bred to a Mini Jersey bull through A.I., that we would try something different with Grasshopper.
OPTION B…
The B stands for Bull.
We contacted Eli from Mack Farms. (Click that link to follow Eli’s Instagram Account. He has 839 followers right now, My goal is to get him to 1000 by this weekend, his feed is fantastic, you will enjoy watching his highland cattle, and learn a lot about regenerative agriculture, so CLICK HERE to give him a follow)
Eli runs a herd of Highland Cattle, and we were interested in doing a milk meat mutt, Jersey Highland, or as K is calling them, Fuzzy Jerseys.
SO we rented a bull to come to our place, breed Grasshopper, and cover whatever other cows of ours need breed this year.
DO YOU WANT TO HAVE COWS?
What kind of land do you need for cows? How much pasture? Anything you need to know first?
Saturday Morning at 10 PM Eastern Time we have a Homesteady Pioneers Round Table planned!
The Round Table is a Zoom get together, where we discuss a topic, share our expertise, and try to help a fellow pioneer find some solutions to a problem they are facing.
This weeks round table Homesteady Pioneer Matt has a question for us all about cows!
Matt writes…
“We are in the process of looking for land for homesteading, our main goal is to raise rabbits and ducks to start (mainly for self-sustaining meat and egg production), moving to dairy cows (3 max, calves to butcher at age), and sheep/goats ( no more than 6, meat mainly, textile production possibly) later on. My question is this: What should be the minimum amount of land to go for with our end goals in mind? Can a majority of that land be wooded and hilly, or should flat pasture be the main goal? How did most people source their land? Did you try and find a house already on the property, or did you build from scratch?”
I am going to be talking Cows with Matt, and I even have a Cow and Forage Specialist coming on the show to help us find some good answers!
Pioneers can join us for that discussion Saturday Morning HERE at 10:00 am eastern time.
Not a Pioneer? It isn’t too late to join us! CLICK HERE to become a Pioneer for just $5 a month and you will gain immediate access to tonight’s live show,
and access to our entire library of Pioneers Only On Demand Classes, Videos, Podcasts and Discounts!
– Thinks Everyone Should Buy Cows Aust
Great company