Today we put the Jersey cows in the Capital Press. It was a really hard thing to do, but we felt like it was the right decision to make.
Jerseys have been bred up to be a larger animal, thus producing more milk. They are a fragile breed that can develop milk fever easily. This is what Sorrel died of last summer. It was an awful, awful thing.
To keep their body condition, Jerseys require a supplement of grain. But ruminants cannot process grain well, which can lead to an unbalanced ph in their bodies, making a potentially hazardous breeding ground for pathogens (e. coli 0157:H7 in particular – more on this later). Many researchers believe that animals fed an entirely grassfed diet cannot harbor these “bugs”.
With grain, we are not producing the quality of milk. Without grain, we are compromising our animals health. With these things in mind, we have decided to switch to an old dairy breed, Dutch Belted. Dutch Belted dairy cows are hearty, and are great foragers. They look similar to our beef cows (Belted Galloways) with the white belt around their belly. Some folks call them the Oreo Cookie Cows. Their butterfat is comparable to Jerseys. Remember, this is where you’ll find most of the nutrients so grand in grassfed cows milk.
And best of all, they require no grain whatsoever.
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