Ok, I know that some of you will be unhappy or upset or just why? when I announce this..
So here goes, We are moving Girl off the farm.. a number of reason’s to be honest, way way to much milk for our personal needs, way to much feed costs, and the biggest reason of all..
Girl is to big! I know that my horse’s weigh just as much as her but they don’t use their strength the same way as she does, they might lean over and nibble the grass but she will just break the fence down, they respect the gates, Girl has broken two of them in a short while, now instead of easy gate, I have full chains on them..
I am not set up for a cow that wants to break fence, I am not set up for a cow that wants to be pushy, I need my animals to work with what I have.
No offence to Girl in any way. and we love raising our own beef on the farm, and we do well raising a bucket calf to a year old, they don’t get to full of themselves, and I raise them to have a lot more respect then I did with Girl..
Which leaves us stuck on how are we moving her off the farm, while I adore the cross that she is, its not a sellable cross as a typical family milk cow, while she produced far more milk then I could use, she can’t be used in a dairy, and cost on feed for her, makes her a very very hard sell as a family milk cow.
Which leave’s selling her into a beef herd, well first, again the cross is a good one for being a momma cow and she is proven but the only one locally that use’s that mix is Farmer R and he does not want her as he considers her a danger because she does not have the proper cow/owner flight bubble..
I won’t take her to the sales barn!
Which leave me with really one main choice.. freezer camp.. To say that I hate the idea of it is a understatement.. to say that it can reduce me to tears would be more right..
But when you can’t safely walk your own pastures without worry, when you can’t leave your farm without locking them up, because the cow once again broke the fence, broke the gate and lets not just herself out but the sheep and the horse’s..
What if last time, one the horse’s had been hit on the road, what if they have not gone next door where a friend lives and they could just be brought back home, if they had roamed, it could have been real! issues
We can’t turn our back on her, she is untrustworthy and when DH says.. she needs to go.. she needs to go!
Sometimes farming life sucks!
Just another Day on the Farm 
What a frustrating situation to be in! Sorry you have to do this.
Out of curiosity what cross is she?
Holstein/limousine so half dairy and half beef, but the limousine is also considers dairy, meat and working breed..
Some decisions (have to be made but) truly do suck!! (Hugs for making a hard one.)
I know but I’m going to be wreck the day she goes
Oh, that’s a tough situation. But I think you are right…freezer camp would be more humane than the other options you have…and you can’t ethically saddle someone else with an unsafe milk cow, even if you could sell her as such. I’m sorry you’re facing such a tough decision.
I expect that she would do fine in a herd with a electric fence, but as you say, a hard sell, and no control over her treatment at that point.. the decision has been made, now it just needs a bit of time to settle in my mind.. Can’t decide if I will want to work on getting a milking sheep or if I am going to look at getting a good Saanen nanny.. Only time will give me that answer, I have a friend that has a billy, that I can use, so I don’t need to keep a male and that would make things so much better..
Goats are so much more manageable than cows, in terms of feed, water, and just plain old size. Those considerations swung our decision, given my back problems and our current set-up. Of course, I know nothing about sheep, so I’m a bit biased 😉
To enough but I am currently properly set up for sheep, I keep a ram already, and I really like to eat their offspring, I already have milking sheep, and I know I like the milk, I just ideally want a critter that gives me a min of half gallon per milking most of the time and you need a milking sheep to get a gallon a day.
But I am a bit Biased LOL 🙂 I like my sheep..
🙂
Let me just give you encouragement for coming to a reasonable decision the will provide the greatest benefit an least chance of pain for all that are in your care (including you!). For milk for myself I have always found goats the more economically viable choice (and I really love them too).
thanks Constance,
I agree, the costs of keeping the cow, with the increasing costs of hay, straw along with grain is amazing to me.. I have to agree, keeping the milk goat or the milking sheep is by far much! more frugal choice.
Do what you have to do, and life goes on. Not an easy decision but a right one, for you. Good luck
Thanks Linda
From the very beginning it was always on the table that if this didn’t work out that she would go to the butcher, it took me perhaps a little longer then I should have to get to this point but it is the right one