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“Sabo’s Ladine”, born October 2008, (photographed March 2009) sired by New Zealand Jersey bull Beldene Dukes Landy. Sabo Ladine is an A1/A2 Jersey calf and will be bred here to an A2 Jersey bull.  For more about A2 milk, see http://curezone.com/blogs/fm.asp?i=1259149 .

Ladine’s dam, Lena, is our highest producing, most slender Jersey/Guernsey cow.  Lena gives about 3 – 3 1/2 gallons of milk per day on a once-a-day milking, 100% grassfed.

Our baby dairy calves live with their mothers for at least three months (longer if they will be replacement females in our grassfed Jersey dairy herd). This gives them the benefit of learning proper herd behavior, which plants are best to eat, and provides each calf with the crucial nutrients for lifelong good health.

We host many different visitors at our ranch, year round. Here, Kiril, Zach, and Keats learn the particulars about where milk originates.

Photo: Harriette McPherson

Our cattle are 100% grassfed, and also consume apple cider vinegar, kelp meal, and a cultured yeast , free choice, for greater health. We use fencing and management of our livestock to keep our watercourses clean and our land welcoming to wildlife.

Our Devon beef cattle herd is a mixture bred from our North Devon bull and Red Angus cows. We continue to select over time for gourmet, tender, flavorful 100% grassfed beef. We use no hormones or backgrounded antibiotics, and have no feedlots of any kind.

Our calves are born in the spring on green grass, in May and June, and are not weaned until they are at least 9 months old. North Devon cattle, in particular the Rotokawa Devon herd that sired our bull, are well known for tender, gourmet 100% grassfed beef.

Our Jersey influence herd of cattle is also 100% grassfed, grazing out in the fields all summer, and supplemented in the winter months with the most nutritious hay we can grow. Our breeding program seeks out the most adapted genetics for 100% grassfed Jerseys, slowly building a top quality herd for creamy milk and tender gourmet meat.

We milk our cows only once a day, and calves live with their mothers at least part time until they are 4 months old, then nurse once daily until they are at least 9 months old. Each Jersey cow, depending on her conformation, is given at least 2 months rest from lactation before she calves again, allowing her to dedicate her energies to the healthiest calf possible.

For more information about our grassfed beef, see the Guidelines and Philosophies page.

With gentle grassfed Jersey dairy cows comes the fun of introducing tiny baby calves to small children! Here, Jenny Sabo (and mother cow Lena) share day-old baby heifer calf Sabo’s Ladine with Keats, Kiril, and Zach.

Photo: Harriette McPherson

Sabo’s Ladine, our newest heifer calf fathered by New Zealand grassfed Jersey bull Beldene Dukes Landy. Ladine was born October 26, 2008.  She will stay with her mother, Lena, until she is at least 6 months old, and will continue to nurse once daily until we dry up Lena in preparation for her next calf, when Ladine is 10 months old.

Photo: Steve Simpson

One of the benefits of gentle grassfed, hand milked, dairy cows is the simplicity of our daily milking routine. I filter the milk as soon as it comes out of the cow, then carry it back to the house, transfer the fresh raw milk into glass jars, and finally cool the jars of milk in a sink full of cold water.

Photo: Steve Simpson

I have taught all my Jersey-cross dairy cows to be milked anywhere I can tie them up, which greatly simplifies milking during their daily moves on pasture during the growing season.

Here, I’m milking our Angus/Guernsey/Jersey 5 year old cow “Toffee”, who gives about 1-1/2 to 2 gallons of creamy milk a day on a once-a-day millking. Her month-old red calf, sired by our Devon Bull “Abel” is in the background.

All our dairy calves nurse throughout the 9-10 month lactation period. After birth, they live full time with their mothers for the first month or so, then progressively less time over a 24 hour period as their digestive systems (and their appetites for milk) improve.

This gives them daily access to all the health promoting benefits of fresh, raw milk from their own mothers until their immune and digestive systems are mature enough to keep them healthy on their own.

Photo: Steve Simpson

We often hot fence the gentle dairy cows into a small space around the house or guest cabins (pictured here) using them to keep the grass short. How many of us have a lawn mower that gives creamy grassfed milk?