We're going to be in a zone 4 / zone 5, so it will be pretty cold in the winter.

We want to try something of a Salatin approach, but are not sure about what breeds to look for.

Any suggestions?

-- Paul Wheaton (paul@javaranch.com), February 21, 2001

Answers

Look for what is the most common cattle breeds in your area.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), February 21, 2001.

I'd also go to the cattle auctions in the area and see what is getting the highest prices.

-- melina b. (goatgalmjb1@hotmail.com), February 21, 2001.

I'm not a cattle person, but my neighbor has switched to Scotch Highland cattle due to their hardiness in very cold weather, calfing ease, and great foragers. They eat only half the hay the others ate and even with an open barn, they rarely go inside, prefering to lay out in the snow. They have a heavy winter coat as well. The meat according to him is leaner than his previous hereford/angus breeds.Where are you? We are in Catskill Mountain region of New York State....can go to 20 below in winter.

-- Kate henderson (kate@sheepyvalley.com), February 21, 2001.

I'll be moving to eastern washington state in a few months. I used to live a little further east in Missoula where it would get to 30 below. But that was zone 4 and the new farm is in zone 5, although much higher up than the surrounding area, so I'm guessing it might be a zone 4.

-- Paul Wheaton (paul@javaranch.com), February 21, 2001.

We are in Northern NY and you will find all breeds here ,hereford ,angus , you name it .They need shelter from the wind and wet and good food thats it.

-- Patty {NY State} (fodfarms@slic.com), February 21, 2001.

Paul,

I asked myself similar questions prior to buying cattle. I did lots of web and book research to decide which breed I wanted. Finally decided on belted galloways. According to all my research, they were gentle, resistant to cold, heat, and disease. They were an all purpose cow that gained easily on grass and foraged well for themselves. We found a man in MO with some to sell.

They have been one of the biggest dissapointments of our homesteading experience thus far. They are fairly gentle. The meat is pretty low in fat and does taste great. They are NOT great foragers. They have constant access to hay and except for a couple of weeks of ice, we still have green grass. They also get cubes every day if it is icy and every other day the rest of the time. They are wormed on schedule.

They will not keep weight on. They cannot find there way from the pasture where they are fed hay to the pasture where grass is growing, even with all the gates open. Out of nine calves so far, only 3 have been heifers. One of the bull calves is a dwarf.

Soon after we got them, one of the cows ruptured both rear achilles tendons and had to be put down. The two vets we called to look at her both said they had never seen anything like it before. Neither could give us a clue as to how it had happened.

We also have three brangus cows. The belty bull bred them and the calves are the best looking of the lot, but only one is a heifer.

Moral of my story......if you want a purebred herd, talk to people who own that breed. Several if you can find them. Don't rely only on book knowledge. We learned the hard way.

I think many of our problems are a result of too much inbreeding. Belted galloways are a pretty rare breed and I'm sure they have had to work to keep the breed pure. I don't think I'll look twice at ANYTHING with a pedigree any more.

Sorry for the long rant, just want to let you know what we ran into.

-- Mona in OK (jascamp@ipa.net), February 21, 2001.

We have raised Scottish Highlands for over a dozen years, first in the U.P. of Michigan and now here in Kentucky. It is a very hardy breed and do well on marginal grazing. They are great browsers and have really improved our pastures. Great, low cholestrol beef.

-- Jean in Ky. (dandrea@duo-county.com), February 21, 2001.

The Milking Shorthorns that we raise are a wonderful dual-purpose (milk and meat) for the homesteader. We have found them to be the most docile of the cattle breeds that we have worked with and they calve very easily. We are in zone 5 (OH-IN border) and we graze year round with minimal amounts of grain. Check out this website; www.agdomain.com/web/usmilkingshorthorn/ You will find alot of information there.

-- Casey Weiss (caseyweiss@yahoo.com), February 22, 2001.

Here in New Mexico we use red herefords or a cross between red herefords and angus. These are sturdy animals. Each spring they are taken up into the mountains where they calve on their own and graze until fall. Most stay very healthy and carry a lot of meat for their size. Be sure to castrate any males, however. Makes a big difference in the taste of the meat.

-- lynne (Lynnie70@juno.com), February 24, 2001.

Hi.

We started raising cattle 3 years ago. Because of the cost we got angus/dairy mix bottle calves and were able to get 3 purebred herefords yearling heifers. This is our first year of having all of the cows bred (12). Our main bull is a registered Hereford. We started calving at the first of Jan. and are almost done - only one more to go. All of our calves are incredibly sturdy and have had no problems, even with the extremely cold weather we have had at times. This biggest problem has been the bottle calf mothers that weren't sure about letting the babies nurse, but once they got over that, they are decent mothers. The herefords are the best mothers though.

Herefords are good foragers and are gentle to work with. As we buy more cows, they will be Hereford. The black white face (or black baldies) calves sell very well here. The only real problem with the Hereford is that they get pink-eye easily from the flies, but if you spray them or fly tag them, there is no problem.

We are holding back all of the heifers and will breed them to the registered angus bull we bought last fall.

Try going to a livestock expo if your state has one and you can talk to all kinds of breeders. True they will be registered cattle, but it will give you lots of good info.

Learn what you like about a breed and don't be afraid to buy registered or purebred cattle if that is what you want.

-- beckie (sunshinehorses@yahoo.com), February 25, 2001.

We have a small farm in Northern Mn and our herd is mostly limousine. When we started farming our herd was a mix of hereford, baldys, angus crosses and holstiene. It was being converted from a dairy to a beef farm. We acquired a pure limo hiefer who had been bred to a limo sire. We kept her calf and have been using a limo bull ever since. That was 23 yrs ago. We have stayed with the limo. Our limo bulls have proven to be the most gentle, calving is great and the cows have been wonderful mothers. Not one calf has been rejected by thier mom. When we were still shipping our calves we always got the highest prices per pound being offered. They are lean and some people are looking for that these days. We sell outright to buyers now and they are happy with our lean meat. In fact we had our first complaint about our meat. It is to fatty. The calf butchered was part hereforde. They want an all limo next time. We have our longest surviving cow in our pasture now " Sweetchuck" named by my 22 yr daughter when she was a child. She is still producing calves(the cow LOL). We have considered adding something new, but why fool with what has worked?

-- leeann ellenson (ellenson@paulbunyan.net), February 26, 2001.

Hi, I started reading CSM at the end of '99. Had never heard of it before. I stayed because I liked the idea of being independent. My husband was not overjoyed but has been a big help in building a chicken coop and buying me a milking shorthorn. I have not milked since I was 24 and found out the horns were not what determined the sex of the bovine. I was not a country girl but I'm working on it. The shorthorn has been gentle, four gallons a day milk consistantly, stays outside in the wettest and snowyest weather, the cream is thick and blends back in easily. It makes exellent cottage cheese. Thanks. I truly enjoy hearing you all talk.

-- norma russell (russells@basinonline.com), February 26, 2001.

Something that has not been asked, is how big is your farm going to be? How much pasture/hay field will you have for your animals? I have only 8+ acres and full size cattle were too big for me to keep both cows and a bull. I now have a breeding pair of Belfair cattle. They are a developed breed from small Jersey and Dexter cross, good for both milk and meat. I am thinking of adding a heifer of either angus or highland to my herd, to add a little more meatiness to my animals. My Belfair are great, the bull get frisky once in a while, but he is a bull! He has given me no real problems, but I keep my eyes open. Unfortunately, the mineratures are expensive. I got mine a few years ago when they were less expensive. Hoping to have a heifer calf to trade for a non-related one of the same breed next year. Sorry, got a little carried away.

If you do have just a small acerage, you might try rotational grazing to carry more animals. I am working on fencing this spring so that I can do that. I get lots of good information from Countryside but the internet has let me access information from Purdue University, quickly and is very helpful as well.

Best of luck!

-- phyllis a. warman (phyllis.warman@twcable.com), February 27, 2001.