Well I (mostly) officially own a cow. Specifically cow #56, "a solid red cow with horns" according to my uncle.
So why did I buy this cow? Mostly so I could tell people that I bought a cow.
While an investment, at the single cow scale the profit is not really significant when considering ongoing costs and potential risks (more on that below). The way this works is I purchase a cow that ideally has a calf every year that is then sold. According to wikipedia this is called a Cow-calf operation and is widespread in the beef industry.
The bad news about buying a cow is that there are ongoing costs and risks involved. From my uncle, an incomplete list of stuff that costs money.
Hay - while grazing is preferred hay is often needed to supplement or replace food from grazing. This year hay prices are expected to rise driven in part by increased fuel prices. Estimated share - $300
Cake & Tubs. Estimate - $100
Incidentals - Shot needles, salt blocks, vaccinations, fly control etc. Estimate - $30
Total estimate for my share is roughly $450/year.
These costs are an estimate of my share for my one cow and it is impossible know exactly what your calf will be worth when it comes time to sell. Additionally there is the risk that a tragedy results in a total loss.
This blog/journal/waste of time will be used to record updates on the life of my cow and some occasional tech stuff (what a combination).
Also I am backdating some of these initial posts to match when stuff actually happened instead of when I decided to put these ramblings on the internet.
Just think, search engines will waste time indexing this.