THE TRYING & BUYING OF YOUR FIRST COW

(Page 3 of 9)

February/March 1992
By Lisa Faulkner 
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Does she kick when she's hand-milked?

Are all four teats normal and is her udder in good condition? In other words, does the milk come freely out the end instead of squirting you in the face from a hole in the side? And is the udder clean with no lumps, tears, or sore places? You will need to feel the udder and preferably test milk her to find out these things.

Has she been tested recently for tuberculosis and brucellosis? This is very important as these diseases can be transmitted to you. Auctions and sales regularly conduct tests and will have written certification of health available.

Is her milk free from clots or streaks of blood?

Is she gentle in the stall? In the pasture? Does she stay in the pasture or is she one of those wanderers who always figures the grass is greener on the other side of the boundary fence?

At an auction "you buy what you see," and many times what you don't see as well. We were warned not to buy from a dairy as they usually sell only their worst producers. We were also told that a dairy wears a cow out in five to six years, as opposed to the 10 to 12 years you can expect from a family cow.

Our initial search of the local paper turned up only blanks until we saw an ad for a dairy going out of business and figured it wouldn't hurt to take a look.

Trying Before Buying

Nothing would have made us greenhorns look like fools faster than going in pretending that we knew more than we did—which was still very little. Hoping for mercy, we simply told the dairy people that we didn't know anything and asked for their help, which in this case was probably the smartest thing we could have done. The dairy had mostly Holsteins but did own four Jerseys, all of which had been hand-milked when the electricity went out for several days the previous winter.

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