Are milk cows supposed to be this skinny?

[NurseNell]

I know very little about cows. I've been doing a lot of driving between my home in MN and my new home in WI, 220 miles one way. I do it roundtrip 2 to 3 times/week. I drive through WI dairy land and see LOTS of cows and young calves. What I notice is a lot of skinny cows this time of year. They look much like the picture above of an ideal Jersey cow.

[longskirtlotsakids]

Beef cows are padded, as they have been bred for muscle and meat. Dairy cows have been selected for milk production. A dairy cow with padding over her ribs and backbone is said to be lacking in dairy character. THe dairy cow of today produces 4 times the amount of milk as in the 1800s! Most dairy cows will look bony.

If you ever look at stock prices of the NYSE, holstein and other dairy cows are in a classification by themselves (they are called canners/cutters) because they demand the lowest beef price. They mostly end up as hamburger.

[Witsec7]

He's on record of saying that he fed a lot less hay this past winter due to the mild weather. He didn't mention that he was turning them out more often. Its also my understanding that parasite control is a two pronged issue, and that sometimes it takes more than treating the cattle to eradicate a parasite. IIRC sometimes they have to be kept off an infected pasture to break the life cycle of the parasite. I no longer recall the vectors or the life cycles for the parasites.

I'd love to hear from folks with more contemporaneous experience. I'll ignore the bitch from WI.

[NurseNell]

He's on record of saying that he fed a lot less hay this past winter due to the mild weather. He didn't mention that he was turning them out more often. Its also my understanding that parasite control is a two pronged issue, and that sometimes it takes more than treating the cattle to eradicate a parasite. IIRC sometimes they have to be kept off an infected pasture to break the life cycle of the parasite. I no longer recall the vectors or the life cycles for the parasites.

I'd love to hear from folks with more contemporaneous experience. I'll ignore the bitch from WI.

Yikes, I'm from Wi (well almost, I'm in the process of moving there, I've started paying rent) but I assume I'm not "the bitch from WI". :o :o

[Kitchen Princess]

That rabbit is delightful, and I've never ever seen one with a stripe down its back. Is that a trait of the breed or was it random?

[Grace]

That rabbit is delightful, and I've never ever seen one with a stripe down its back. Is that a trait of the breed or was it random?

Ditto. That's about the cutest dang thing I've ever seen! It almost makes me want to get one! But I think I'm maxed out at a dog a cat and 4 geckos. But oh I just want to rub behinds its ears!

[longskirtlotsakids]

She's talking about me, because I felt that some people here were swooning over the poor cowsys.It's a shame, cuz I always kind of liked her, being from the UK and all. (I am an Irish citizen)

I laughed at the original "poor cow" posts because there is no one to "report" cow abuse to unless a whole shit load of animals are dying and dead all over. Don't believe me? What if i told you a herd of horses not far from me are starving, and have been starved for years by an animal hoarder and legally no one can do anything. Two attorneys are even on the case pro bono and everyone's hands are tied.

http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/ ... 963f4.html

I have contemporary experience, since I majored in animal science and rotational grazing was just starting to come into it's own when I was in college. I am a moderate when it comes to animal care. I don;t believe in keeping them in CAFOS and I don't believe in pampering them like babies. I majored in animal science when the good old boys club ruled everything and women got bull semen thrown on them in class. We had to toughen the fuck up, so excuse me if i come across as being pushy and arrogant. it's a combination of Aspergers, personality, and experiences.

When it comes to animal care in the USA, our rights are being analyzed and the Gubmint is all too happy to let Monsanto call the shots. I turned away some USDA scrubs last week- they have been trying to do a "census" on my farm since last spring- right about the time I started advocating for sustainable home farming and heritage seed preservation. It could be a coincidence. But it could also be the Gubment getting a feel for its ability to control citizen's home food production.

As far as parasite control with grazing- the best way to create an internal parasite situation is to let the animals graze one spot or pasture, or just swtich between two. The best way to is rotate every three weeks if possible, and to only graze after the dew is dried because some fluke larvae swim up the grass.

[longskirtlotsakids]

There's a lot of assumptions you're making there about the people who've commented on this cow (so many that it would be invidious to pick out one to discuss) including that no-one but you knows anything about cows. There are a lot of people here who keep, breed, know about animals of all breeds, as there are lots of people here who have knowledge about all sorts of things: that is what makes FJ so interesting.

I grew up with Jerseys, Guernseys and Charolais cattle on a small dairy farm. (The Charolais were my grandfather's experiment - he kept a couple for home-bred beef, and cross-bred a couple with Guernseys. We also kept pigs, a few sheep, chickens, ducks, pheasants, and rabbits - this type:

both for showing and for the table. Animals were killed at the local abbattoir and we butchered them into joints ourselves and cured our own bacon and ham. We drank raw milk, (the Jersey milk was fantastic!) and made raw milk cheese and butter.) Just for the record, I am also a horse owner, and no, I don't worm indiscriminately.

Frankly, your post doesn't just come across as bitchy and preachy, but aggressive, and arrogant. Why try to pretty it up by an apology you obviously don't feel you should have to make? No-one here has said that people should not keep animals in a small or homesteading way, or tried to imply that it should be forbidden, and not all of us are unaware of where our food comes from or how it is 'grown'.

Take a chill pill, do ;) no-one attacked you!

How does my post exclude any ele's knowledge? Really, when did I say only my info or opinion was correct- I was really thrown by the "someone should report them!" statement.

As far as Johne's- that is basic animal husbandry to not keep Johne's positive animals. Ever. It's a disease that is so easily spread and so insidious that it should only be treated with eradication measures, like scrapies, anthrax, and hoof-and-mouth.