"Jersey" cows are the prettiest...though that's a different "Jersey."
I live on a farm and raise laying hens for egg sales, as well as raising hens from chicks to sell to others in the area. I'm currently campaigning DH for a cow, or a few dairy goats. :)
In Wisconsin you should be able to find a fine Normande dairy cow. They give dellicious milk and are very easy to handle as a family cow. I imagine though that as cattle are social animals your cow will need a companion or two, steers perhaps. Jersey is also a good choice, but not as easy to handle. Stay away from Holstein--nice cows if you want gallons and gallons of watery milk.
I believe it will be about $6.50 per chick for you to tag.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1565481/posts
USDA steps up efforts to track livestock
http://nationalpropertyowners.org
National Property Owners
Full research sections on National Animal Identification System (NAIS)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1563271/posts
Healthy People 2010
Information on where the funding came from for NAIS
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1561077/posts
Animal Tagging and SCHOOL LUNCHES???
Information on some of the partners on these posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1564815/posts
Digital Angel and Microchip
Info on the technology that will be used for the tagging
Not complying with the microchipping is a Class C felony. You will lose your rights to bear arms and vote.
Jerseys also have a sweet personality.
But lately my eyes have been opened regarding the raising of cattle. Years ago we kept a few to grow out for meat. They seemed relatively trouble free. So a couple of months ago we thought we would buy a couple to grow for our own use.
Just this week we had another part Angus calf go bad, but thanks to one of the new high powered expensive antibiotics he's doing fine. The vet says he had a common infection that causes polio type symptoms in young cattle and depletes their reserves of thiamine.
I also can't believe all the feeds you can buy with the antibiotics and growth inhancers already added. We are getting to feel that it would be almost impossible to grow a beef to market weight without adding lots of artificial ingredients. This will be our last calf.