Day 23: Small-Scale Cattle Farming Part II—
Selecting Your Breed

Dear Student,

Now that your infrastructure and feed has been taken care of, and you’ve decided whether you want to farm for beef, dairy, or both, the time has come to decide on the breed of cow(s) you want to farm…

The choice now is whether to buy dual purpose breeds or a breed that specializes in one or the other. At a point, this simply comes down to personal preference, though there are some guidelines to keep in mind.

Again, talking to your neighbor and/or observing what types are raised in your area is your first resource in making this important decision. There’s no point in buying expensive tropical breeds if you live in Nebraska… and vice versa. Learn from the mistakes of others.

If you’re only interested in having beef animals, it’s worthwhile to look at cross-bred animals, as they have the advantage of hybrid vigor, meaning that all the best traits of a few breeds have been mixed into one animal. They grow quicker, put on more muscle, and therefore get to market or slaughter size while the meat is still young and tender.

Dairy animals are more likely to be purebred and there are two basic milk differences here: quality versus quantity.

A huge Holstein cow can produce great quantities of milk in a big commercial feeding operation—they can be milked twice or even three times a day… On the other hand, a small Jersey cow will produce a much higher quality, creamier milk, but usually less of it. The choice is yours.

Dairy Cows

Dairy lesson #1: Cows must give birth to start producing milk.

If you’re in the position to breed your own, a good mix is to cross breed a Jersey cow with an Aberdeen Angus beef bull. Jerseys crossed with an Angus bull give birth to small and easily managed calves. Once the calf is weaned, the Jersey will give you plenty of milk, and the calf will be a reasonable beef animal to slaughter 16 to 18 months down the line.

 

Brown Swiss are a good example of dual-purpose breeds that give decent amounts of milk and can also be good beef animals, especially when crossed with a recognized beef breed like Angus or Hereford.

Hand milking is a little time consuming, but you only need a bucket and a stool to sit on. Portable milking machines can be bought. These are more of an investment than the DIY method, but they make the process easier and more sanitary. If you have several cows to milk, this is a good option.

Your Own Pedigree

You may want to start your own small pedigree herd of purebred animals. Your initial stock purchases are likely to be more expensive, and sometimes purebreds are more delicate and need more care and attention than a crossbred, but it’s a fun, satisfying, and potentially profitable pastime.

A good way to integrate yourself into a new community is to enter your purebred cows or calves in local agricultural shows. Showing animals is a fun family affair and an easy way to integrate in a rural region, but it is a lot of work to prepare your animals for show, so don’t underestimate the endeavor.

Plus, pedigree animals typically attain a considerably higher price at sale, so showing them can be a lucrative way to advertise any surplus stock you want to sell.

Buyer Beware…

A word of caution regarding your choice of breed…

Unless you’re experienced and operating a large commercial operation with infrastructure, make sure that you chose a breed that is known for its docility—especially in beef breeds.

Brahman, Nelore, Limousin, and a few others are not for beginners. Due to their strong mothering instincts, they can be very flighty and downright dangerous in some cases, especially when they have calves at foot.

Dairy cows are not normally as unpredictable thanks to generations of breeding for domesticity and the fact that they are normally handled twice a day. They get used to human contact and aren’t nervous and skittish around people.

Miniature beef and dairy animals are available, too, and require less space. Dexter cattle are a good example.

Try to stay away from breeds that have horns… for obvious reasons.

And make sure that when you buy whatever breed you chose it comes from a well-known reliable source.

Bulls

Unless you have 25 or 30 cows, it doesn’t make economic sense to own a bull.

The advances in artificial insemination (AI) technology and availability have made it much easier and cheaper to cultivate and improve your herd. Each cow can be matched with any bull from anywhere in the world to improve the genetics of the offspring.

For example, say you have a dairy cow that gives a lot of milk, but the butterfat content is low and the animal is prone to foot problems. You can look up the AI lists to find a bull whose progeny has been tested and proven to maintain a high milk yield, improved milk-fat content, and that are less likely to have foot problems. There will be someone in your area that can assist you with all this.

Again, I don’t recommend the small farmer keep bulls, and definitely not a dairy bull. They are awkward to deal with and for some reason are more likely to be ill-natured than their beef counterparts.

For my money, embryo transfer is also a way to go if you really want a particular animal, and it’s ever more available and cost-effective. That said, it is still relatively expensive, and quite a bit more management is needed when it comes to breeding time. Drugs and hormone doses are required, so give it serious thought before you go too far down the road.

Of course, even if you don’t own your own bull, you can still do it the old-fashioned way… take your cow to your neighbor’s bull or rent one to come to you. Try to change the bull you use every now and again, though, to bring new genes into your small herd. Be sure never to use a bloodline that is too close to your own stock genetics.

Slaughter Of Animals

The time always comes… Even if you’re not raising cows for beef, your dairy cow(s) will eventually reach the end of their productive life. This is a natural part of the life cycle, and we should do our best to keep it in perspective and take it in stride. As long as you’ve treated our animal well and with respect throughout its life, it’s served its purpose and had an enjoyable life to boot.

If your animals are raised to be sold at slaughter time, all you need to do is to find a buyer, deliver them to their final destination, collect the check, and walk away.

But if you’ve bred your cow for home consumption, you’ll need to butcher it. Putting meat on the table that you know you raised yourself is hugely satisfying, and you don’t necessarily need to slaughter it yourself…

You could simply take it to the slaughterhouse or local butcher to have it killed, dressed, and processed for you. Most butchers will give you the option of receiving back either quarters or fully prepared cuts of roast and steak. They will charge you normally a reasonable fee for doing this and it saves you a great deal of work.

Some states even have mobile, USDA-approved slaughterhouses who will come to you when called and complete the whole process for you for a fee.

It should go without saying, home slaughter is not for the faint of heart. It’s a tremendous amount of work done in a short space of time, and it’s certainly not for the queasy.

If you’re a hunter, perhaps you have some experience in dressing and butchering animals already—if so, you’re a prime candidate for home slaughter. If you’ve never dealt with a fresh kill, then you should get some practice with someone experienced before you try this yourself.

I won’t go into great detail here, as there’s really no way to learn to slaughter an animal by reading about it. There are many informative YouTube videos that can teach you the basics, and even some not-so-basic butchering techniques.

Preparation is key here, make sure that you everything ready in advance and have it all within easy reach.

Equipment:

• Sharp knives
• Sharpening stones
• Buckets
• A chiller, either electric or a very large ice bath
• A gun (larger than a .22 caliber)
• A hose or water source to clean your surfaces after
• This list goes on depending on your requirements…

Basic Process:

1. Do your best to keep the animal as calm as possible before it is dispatched. When agitated, animals secrete a nervous adrenaline that leads to tougher meat and sometimes even a slight taint.
2. Shoot the animal in the middle of the forehead above the eyes. Find the exact spot by drawing imaginary lines between where the right horn should be and the left eye, and where the left horn should be and the right eye. Where these two lines meet is the correct spot for shooting.
3. Once the animal is dead, it should be bled out, skinned, and gutted as soon as possible.

No video will prepare you for a 1,200-pound carcass lying at your feet. It’s a lot of meat, sinew, and bone to deal with. It’s daunting, but once you get working, it is amazing how quickly that carcass can be transformed into steaks, roasts, burgers… and maybe eventually sausage, jerky, and bolognaise!

Again, I strongly recommend that you do not do this on your own the first time. Have someone experienced do it all for you with you assisting them. The second time, you do it with their assistance. The third time you can teach someone else.

Day 23 Assignment:

1. Research what beef and dairy cattle are commonly used in your area. Seek out animals bred for pasture foraging, as certain breeds like Holsteins produce so much milk they need concentrated rations like corn and soy to supply the necessary nutrients for milk production.

2. Talk to free-grazing cattle farmers in your area, and identify someone to assist your research and training.

3. Do you have enough space in your freezer to fit an entire beef animal? If not, is it worth the investment of a big chest freezer? If not, curing and drying might be a good option.

4. Alternatively, find someone in your community to buy half your pasture-raised, organic beef and make a profit.

5. If your research tells you that you have enough space to feed a cow and calf, buy a weaned calf to start, or you could jump ahead and buy a milking cow with a calf at foot.

6. If you have enough space for a small herd, get some training from local farmers and become a small livestock breeder.

Happy homesteading,

Con Murphy
Your Total Independence Coach, Live and Invest Overseas