While cruising Craigslist I came across an ad for a Dexter cow for sale just 50 miles from home. The price was right so I arranged a visit to take a look. Since we have more acreage now there is plenty of room for more cattle, and I am ready to build my herd.

The cow is three years old and had just had a calf. She is a Dun unregistered Dexter with short legs. Smaller than any cow I have ever been around. The weather here has been very brutal for Missouri, and it has stayed in the teens or below. Long story short the calf didn’t make it and the cow was for sale. The asking price was $475, so she was worth a look.

I made the drive for a look at the cow and got a good surprise. When her calf died they had put a Jersey heifer calf with her and she adopted it with no problems. So the big plus was that she didn’t dry up, and there was a possibility to tame her down for a family milk cow. While not hand tame she would let me walk to within four foot of her, and she didn’t freak out or act loony.

The first Dexter cow I bought was a field cow. We bought her calf as well, and had planned on milking her. While I got her tame enough that she will eat out of a bucket I am holding, she never was tame enough to milk, or at least not for a milking newby with no stanchion or reasonable barn. We still have that cow, and she will come right up when called, but I will not attempt to milk her again. We are waiting for some better behaved heifers that will be calving this spring.

The next big problem was transportation. I don’t have a trailer to transport cows, I have only brought calves back in the back of my truck with a wood cattle rack. It works great for calves, but I wasn’t keen on trying it on a full grown cow, even if she was a mini cow. A small cattle trailer is on my list of needs and will be purchased when the right one comes along. The problem was solved by asking if the seller would consider delivery, he offered the very fair price of $25 and I accepted. So for $500 I got my new milk cow and delivery.

We were due for a big snow storm the next day, so delivery was scheduled for the end of the week. While thinking about the steps that would be required to tame the cow, I realized I needed a calf to put on her. The calf would make sure she didn’t dry up before becoming tame enough to milk. The cheapest calves to buy are dairy calves, but there are no big dairies in my area. The closest calf I could find at a reasonable price was in Kansas City. I then remembered the Jersey Heifer calf that was already adopted by my cow.

I made a call to inquire about purchasing the Jersey calf. He considered it and offered her at $350. The price was a little steep and I declined. He called me back and stated he would lower the price to $250, I offered $200 and 10 square bales and a deal was struck. So I now had a cow and a calf. Things were falling in line nicely.

He delivered them that Friday and I put them in the corral separated from my other cattle. I have been working on taming the new cow, and hope to be milking her by next week. While I am setup better than in the past I don’t have an area to milk and will have to work on getting one setup. We have named the new cow Milk Jug and the Jersey calf has been named Jersey Girl.

Milk Jug is my first Chondro cow, and she is very small. Luckily Arod my bull does not carry the Chondrodysplasia gene, so I will be setting up a date between the two. While I prefer my cattle to calve in the spring, there is an advantage to having a cow or two on a different schedule for milking purposes.

I am excited about finally being able to get milk and other dairy products direct from the source. I will hopefully be flooded with milk this spring after calving season, but it is nice to get a jump on it. I have four cattle that are friendly enough I could probably milk them in the field, but I am hoping that I will have something more professional setup before then.

I have been plying Milk Jug with cow candy and she is taming down well. I have a lot to learn, as I have not milked anything before. I hope to get a milking machine setup when my other heifers are ready to be milked. For now I will learn to do it manually.