Prices for Jerseys in Oregon?

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I'm having difficulties finding out the going price for Jerseys in the Portland, Oregon area. There aren't any currently being sold at my local livestock auction. I've tried calling a few farms, but I haven't had a very warm reception. We are wanting to purchase a registered Jersey for home milking purposes. Does anyone know what the current price is for a bred milking Jersey? I was thinking that if she was registered that we would have better luck marketing the offspring. Would it be better to save money and not worry about the registration? Thanks in advance for your assistance :)

-- Stacey Baylous (sbaylous@aol.com), December 04, 2001

Answers

Do you want to be a breeder or just have a family milk cow?

If you bought a registered Jersey, to sell the calves as registered you have have to breed it to a registered Jersey bull and belong to the breed association. For a single cow the only economical option would be AI; however, will you be knowledgeable enough about the heat cycle to know when to call the vet or whoever would do the AI. So you get a registered calf? Where is going to be your market for a single calf? If you sell a single heifer, it would likely go to a home milker and I rather doubt they would care if it was registered or not, just will she be a good, gentle milker. Besides, cattle can't read.

If you just bought a grade Jersey with the milk flow desired and just bred it to about any bull, there will always be a market for the calves at the stockyard. They will; however, take a discount for being even half of a dairy breed. But then, the calf can be raised for your freezer also. In one study I have, Jersey beef was rated as more tender than almost all beef breeds in the study.

I really cannot recommend trying to become a registered breeder.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), December 04, 2001.


Stacey:

I live in Richland, Oregon and live right next to a jersey dairy. I have been trying to talk my neighbors out of a heifer calf for years...but they say they are worth too much. About 1800.00 as a springer or 500.00 per calf. I have looked other places and come up empty as well. I would drop the registered thing...it isn't worth the money or paperwork if you are just home milking her. Another thing is going to your local county fair and take a look at the dairy barns. More than likely you will find someone with a jersey and they may either have other stock at home who are not "fair" quality or may even sell you the cow when they get too old for 4-H or FFA. I have my name in and hopefully will get another cow soon. Good luck!

-- Krista Dennis (nacsdc@pinetel.com), December 04, 2001.


Stacey,

Good luck buying a Jersey cow anywhere! I live in Western WA and have seen prices around 1800 for a springer. I have a 7+ year old one that I had A.I. back to a Jersey so hopefully I will get a replacement heifer.

Look at www.capitalpress.com on their classifieds under the dairy cattle section. Most of the ads are from Oregon.

If you find a Jersey for sale at a reasonable price, be ready to buy immediately. I found one for sale for $500 for a 3 yr old Jersey and $500 for the 3 month old heifer baby (some kids 4-H project). The pair sold the day the ad came out.

Amy

-- Amy Richards (amysgarden2@earthlink.net), December 05, 2001.


Hi Stacey, I'm just east of you in Central Oregon, and I paid $800 for my registered, bred, fresh 2 year old Jersey. I found her in the local paper and snapped her up. There are two Jerseys in the paper now for $600-$800 if you want to haul one over the mountains. They also have Jersey-Shorthorn heifers for $300. Email me privately if you want the phone number. Definately check out Capital Press. Go to the web site or you can pick up a copy at your feed store or get a subscription. Happy hunting!! Julie

-- Julie (julieamc@eagleslair.net), December 05, 2001.

Check out the "Capital Press" Ag paper, published in Sister's Oregon or go to thier web page, capitalpress.com and look through the classified section.

-- hendo (redgate@echoweb.net), December 06, 2001.


You may want to check on the American Jersey Cattle Association site. There is a place that you can click on to check on local farms. That's how I found my jersey. She was a "cull", but had been bred. She was very gentle. I had to sell her last summer and I sure do miss her. The man who bought her is using her for a nurse cow and says he has 3 calves on her and she is doing just fine. I paid $400 for her and made a profit when I sold her. Here's the link to the site http://www.jerseydirectory.com/

-- Tim (tsduck@bellsouth.net), December 08, 2001.

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