Is this a steal of a deal for this heifer?

We have some friends that are tight with money and they have offered a heifer to us for $500. She is Holstein/Welsh and I think she was born in November 2011.

We were planning on raising our own beef and is this a cheap start compared to the going prices? Our neighbor has red and black angus bulls.

I think it is a good deal but I really don't know anything about cows!!

Any opinions appreciated!

Not if you are going to butcher her!! LOL I was looking at that little heifer if it is the same one I am thinking of. Is it from a lady named Sara?

It would depend on her weight. We purchased a steer last fall for butchering that was approx 1000 pounds for $500.

Maybe..........lol And we aren't planning on eating her but breeding her.

If she is half holstein you need to be careful. Holsteins are not the greatest mothers, they can sometimes reject their calves.. Also, they milk SOOO much, EVEN the half bloods, we have quite a few of them that are angusXholstein. They arnt the most mothering, like to kick the calves a bit, and they have so much milk that it squirts everywhere for at least 2-3 weeks before the calf is big enough to keep her sucked out a bit. Too much milk can give the calves scours aswell. All just things to think about, not trying to scare you off lol Just opinions from soneone who has a number of holstein cross heifers/cows.

If you are planning on breeding her and milking her bail on that one in a hurry!! You don't find very many young heifers for milking at that price at least not that I have found so far. Hubby is set on a guernsey or belted Galloway but I have been just looking for a milk cow! If you plan to milk her you won't have to worry about the mothering as you would not have the calf on her. We used to have a few holstein crosses and we found the mothering issue usually came about because they had way too much milk for the calf so they were hurting as the calf would usually only suck one or two quarters and leave the other two. We found the calf would normally keep going back to the same quarters. If we were not going to milk them we always tried to find a second calf to adopt onto the cow.

Very good information to know!!! Thank you We have decided not to for the fact I'm not sure about milking a cow, I mainly want meat. We have dairy goats.

We have often had half holstein x beef breed cows and we have never had an issue with them being poor mothers. We have even had a full blood holstein cow who was bred to a beef bull and she was a great mother and usually also raised an adopted calf.

I would say that this heifer would be a great start into beef cattle and breed to another beef breed that the offspring should have good meat traits.

We have had holstein crosses as well and they are good moms. Our Clover is a very protective mom, she is not that nice to us for milking but my hubby and her come to an agreement.
Our other cross was Baby and she was a Jersey/Holstein so had lots of milk, but was a great mom, never had an issue with her.
But more than likely being a welsh/holstein she will have lots of milk for you, so you will need to foster on an extra calf or milk some to relieve the buildup when she first freshens or you might have issues with mastitis, baby calves just cannot take all that milk.

How long would we have to milk her before the calf could handle all her milk?

One more thought....the calf has a good mom. Is that trait usually passed down?

I'm no expert but if you want beef cattle why get a Hollstein cross, they are bred for milk not meat. My understanding is Hollstein calves raised for beef are mainly for hamburger.

That's what the cattle farmer down the road said too.

Is Angus a good one to go with for raising our own beef?

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If you are looking for beef to butcher we always liked the angus. We also liked the longhorns but they took longer to finish and to sell at auction you took a huge cut in price compared to the other breeds.

I have lived on a Commercial ( mixed breed) Beef Farm my whole life and can dispute a few myths here:

Any Breed when selected for a trait like muscling, easy of fleshing, carcass size, mothering..ect over time will can/ will be as good as the other breeds.

All Cattle are the same color underneath when you remove their coat.

Angus are not the End All Be ALL of Beef Cattle ~ The Breed Association was very smart on their breed promotion. (Although they do posses a lot of great trait). There are many other breeds of cattle that have been selected for generations for Beef traits. We have a herd with influence from many breeds... Simmental, Charolais, Gelbvieh, Shorthorn, Belted Galloway, Angus, Hereford, Jersey... lol and lots more. Over the years we have selected for meat and carcass traits. And let the results weigh on the herd selection.

Can anyone here tell what breed of chicken they are eating when they are plucked, cleaned and cooked...

I think if you are going to start raising your own beef and breeding them you have a few questions to ask yourself.

What like of feeding program are you planning to raise the beef animals on? Grass, Hay and Grain...
What are your facilities like? Barn / Corrals ...
What time of the year are you planning to calve.
What traits are the most important to you? Temperament, Size, Ease of Fleshing...
How much land do you have to raise your herd?

Also Dairy Breeds are very edible too. The down sides are they are built to have narrow frames, slow maturing and tend to take a lot longer to be finished to butcher.

KRL raises many good points. I happen to enjoy Black Angus, but there are other breeds out there that eat almost as well.

Dairy breeds, especially Holstein, are very well marbled beasts. Like KRL says, longer to fatten and less yield. The older animal may mean other cooking methods are more effective.