Keeping cattle

[PurpleDragon]

Does anyone know how cost effective it would be to keep a cow?

There are the benefits of milk, but can you eat a milk cow at the end of her life? Would you have to have a particular type of cow?

I know nothing abut cows, but was vacuuming this morning and thinking about the cost of beef, and i though ... hmm ... I wonder ... ?

[Shirley]

This is tongue in cheek but have a look at this.. love the idea of getting your own back on a neighbour whose dog dumps on your lawn http://stuffucanuse.com/cow/cows.htm

http://pages.britishlibrary.net/patgard ... lemilk.htm has some very useful information.

You will need a holding number too.

[PurpleDragon]

Two excellent articles, thanks Shirley.

Given me food for thought, for sure. :)

[ina]

Haven't had a look at the articles yet (PC being as slow as usual and a right old pest), but, here a few words of wisdom out of the vast store of my experience

Unless you have plenty of space (i.e. land and housing), and plenty of time (for milking etc), don't consider keeping a cow. Even large, efficient farmers are finding it difficult to make a living from cattle (dairy or meat), and they have the economy of scale.

If, of course, you do have spare land and time, and really like cows, go for it! I'd love to have one, or better two, because as with goats, cows are gregarious animals and prefer not being on their own. So company is a must, which can be human, but that would put another strain on you.

[Boots]

You might find meats goats more manageable... easier to house, load, cart, feed, treat, etc.

[PurpleDragon]

We're very lucky, Ina - we have 2 acres of grass here which wouldn't support a herd of anything, but is enough for a moo or two. It wouldn't be a living though, just for milk and eventually meat, although the meat part might be difficult because I'm too soft.

When I was at school, I used to go milking with the local dairy (Dad was a milkman) and I enjoy cows a lot. I even learned to milk by hand, although I'm not sure it is a skill I've retained so many years on.

Goats are something else I have considered. Neither of these are for right now, though. I have three small people to look after just now, and they are enough to keep me busy

[ina]

No, I know you don't want to make a living out of it... But if you just look at the economical aspect - you'll have to buy in feed and bedding, pay for decent fencing and building upkeep, vet cost, insemination (or the hire of a bull, if you want to go natural), slaughter and butchering - it all adds up, particularly if you just have one or two animals. It might not save you money on milk, milk products and meat, if that was an important objective behind keeping cattle (or any livestock).

On the other hand, if you see it as a hobby (like I do my two goats), then it's fine to pay out a bit more, and you have decent food on the table, too.

[PurpleDragon]

I see what you mean.

Yes, keeping any type of animal is dear, I think, unless you have quite a few and can maybe sell their products, thereby getting some small return. I really don't think that they would pay for their keep - but knowing where the milk is coming from would be one advantage. Unfortunately, my middle child is lactose intolerant, which was the main reason I considered goats.

[Stonehead]

I'd generally agree with Ina, but I'd also add that you should also be considering a cow over the long term.

The up-front costs are high and the work is on-going, but if you get a cow from one of the smaller dairy breeds and then put her to a beef bull you will also have at least one calf to sell or fatten each year while still having a beast that's manageable.

With a well-bred cow that's properly looked after, you can expect her to still be calving up to 10 or 11 years for a total of 7 or 8 calvings. That's a lot of beef!

There's definitely a demand for extensively reared beef from rare breeds, but it's not being met in the same way as the demand for rare breed pork and lamb due to the cost and work. If you can manage it, then the beef will go quite a way towards meeting your on-going costs.

We looked into keeping a couple of cows as we have sufficient demand for the beef from two calves a year, but the up-front costs are too high at this point. Also, the workload would be too much while I'm still building the place up. (That's also why we haven't stocked our own sheep as yet.)

We'll re-consider our position in a couple of years, when most or all of the building work is done, both boys are at school and we, hopefully, have a more reliable water supply.

Mind you, it would be nice to get the occasional steak out of the freeer instead of pork, lamb, mutton or chicken.

[Boots]

Stoney - have you tried negotiating with your local abbattoir, or other local beef producers?

I exchange meat with the cattle farmers who are only too happy for some duck or pork, and my local abbey also provides some brilliant 'direct buys'.... managed to get a whole rump last trip when the pig went in for only $4.99 a kilo!

P.S Do you have a Crivac machine? (Air extraction sealer thingy) I am considering getting one for parcelling up our meat. What do you think of them? Spoke to a shop keeper the other day who swears by hers... insists it ensures longer storage, and she gave me some that she had sealed marinated in front of me and it was really good... she said the suction sealing process draws the marinate through the meat. Tasted fab.

[Stonehead]

Stoney - have you tried negotiating with your local abbattoir, or other local beef producers?

I exchange meat with the cattle farmers who are only too happy for some duck or pork, and my local abbey also provides some brilliant 'direct buys'.... managed to get a whole rump last trip when the pig went in for only $4.99 a kilo!

No chance! I'm surrounded by beef producers but they don't even eat their own stock. It's all on contract to the supermarkets or sold at the mart.

Most of the farmers seem to have stopped growing and rearing for their own consumption over the past 10 years or so, and now go in for convenience food like everyone else. There are over-run vegetable patches, tumble-down pig sties, feral berry patches and apple trees, and the like on most of the farms.

All a bit sad.

P.S Do you have a Crivac machine? (Air extraction sealer thingy) I am considering getting one for parcelling up our meat. What do you think of them? Spoke to a shop keeper the other day who swears by hers... insists it ensures longer storage, and she gave me some that she had sealed marinated in front of me and it was really good... she said the suction sealing process draws the marinate through the meat. Tasted fab.

No. They cost money!

I am tempted to build some sort of smoker though as, done right, smoking would help cut the electricity bill for the freezers by giving us an alternative to freezing.

[Boots]

Cor, that IS sad! Even if they only put one beast through a year for their own freezer, it would make more sense than buying retail. Consumerism just seems to have taken over, doesn't it...

When I put my pigs through, I get half back fresh and send the other off for smoking and pick it up the next week. But I still freeze the smoked stuff... Don't I need to? Are you saying I can just hang it? And if so, how long can it hang for?

[Stonehead]

Properly cured and smoked hams and sausages (salamis, chorizos, etc) can keep for up to a year if stored in a cool, dry place, although they're usually at their best up to six months. The cures need more salt than is currently fashionable (and most modern cures won't keep as long), but the idea is to slice thin and use a little at a time. You can also soak the slices overnight before cooking with them.

Similarly with old-fashioned salt beef, corned beef, salt mutton, beef jerky and biltong. I'd be wary of trying any old recipe for the cures, but in the US in particular there are a lot of recipes that have been thoroughly checked and proven to work.

I have a couple of American canning, curing and smoking books with scientifically tested recipes, and you can find more online.

Salt mutton is an old Australian one - Henry Lawson refers to it in The Lost Souls Hotel and it was a staple of my grandfathers' and great-grandfathers' generations. Salt mutton, damper and billy tea on the overlanding trails... (My great grandfather took his family from Hampton, in the Blue Mountains, to Kalgoorlie and back again in the 1890s - around 2100 miles each way by horse and bullock cart. )

Anyway, I digress!

[Shirley]

You could try contacting the Williamsons at Rhynie... or Wark Farm (although they do beef, pigs and sheep already) - that's just two that spring to mind that haven't sold out to the supermarkets.

[PurpleDragon]

Here's a question that occurred to me. When you slaughter meat, and you hang it, not when it is being smoked - just hanging - what is to stop the flies from having a right old buzz-fest and laying loads of maggots on your meat? How do you stop that, particularly in Aus where they have a surplus of flies if memory serves?