Baby Jersey bull calves

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bustedbudget

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Hello,

I have access to free baby jersey bull calves. Is there any market for these what so ever??? Any one ever mess with them?

Thanks,
 
I have messed with them and I will tell you what I know ~ there is no such thing as a free baby jersey bull calf. I will not discourage you because I know I wouldn't listen to it (even now), and I have heard they make excellent beef, but I would advise against it unless you plan to finish them yourself and you have a good friend in the local vet. Good Luck!! :nod:
 
angie":1mhhzp55 said:
I have messed with them and I will tell you what I know ~ there is no such thing as a free baby jersey bull calf. I will not discourage you because I know I wouldn't listen to it (even now), and I have heard they make excellent beef, but I would advise against it unless you plan to finish them yourself and you have a good friend in the local vet. Good Luck!! :nod:

Im with Angie. There is definely no such thing as free when it comes to a Jersey. They do not do well on milk replacer. If you have a nurse cow sure go for it. But if you are planning to bottle feed you better have lots of meds on hand and a vet and oh dont forget a shovel. If a Jersey calf comes thru the auction it keeps walking out the door. I will raise a holstein or a Gurensey any day of the week but a Jersey? I have lost every Jersey I bought. And im not trying to discourage you either just my two cents. Good luck. :nod:
 
Hee. I can't disagree.

Buying in and rearing Jerseys (heifers) on milk powder was certainly quite a learning experience. It's nothing like handling the more robust, larger Holstein-Friesians and crossbreds. They need a bit more shelter too.

There's a market for Jersey bulls to run with dairy heifers. Out here, it goes up and down - some years calf rearers make a big loss on them, others they win. This year they were in greater demand than availability and prices were high ($NZ1500 - 1900 for a 2 yr old).
I've never even heard of a Jersey steer, but I have had heifers that didn't get in calf grade prime and make $NZ7 - 800, about three times what I get for the same weight of cow beef. If you can do that at a profit, might be worth it.
 
i'm with Angie. There is definely no such thing as free when it comes to a Jersey. They do not do well on milk replacer. If you have a nurse cow sure go for it. But if you are planning to bottle feed you better have lots of meds on hand and a vet and oh dont forget a shovel. If a Jersey calf comes thru the auction it keeps walking out the door. I will raise a holstein or a Gurensey any day of the week but a Jersey? :nod:[/quote]

Is there some rearing secret that keeps the breed from dying out entirely?
 
Tried one when I was doing bottle calves. They eat a LOT and don't have a thing to show for it.
 
Lammie":10ddwfxx said:
Tried one when I was doing bottle calves. They eat a LOT and don't have a thing to show for it.
This has been my experience as well. I think it is one of the reasons that finishers don't pay anything for them if you try to sell them before finish ~ they cannot compete with the other breeds for finish time. Its one of the reasons I won't buy them. Baby beef animals will use what goes in (milk replacer and grain) and turn it into grow alot better than jersey calves.

Steve I am thinking the secret that keeps them from dying out is in the head of a momma Jersey. Have always said when doing rehab animals "Nothing does a better job of raising a baby _______ (insert animal name) than a momma _______ (insert same animal name)." Also ~ it can be done, but it is often not worth the hassle.
 
I have bought several for the kids to raise. We have never lost a single one. You have a good chance of success if the dairy that you are getting them from allow the calf to suckle momma for 2 or 3 days after birth to get the right amount of colostrum. If they get that they are pretty hardy and do ok on milk replacer. Just don't start the replacer mixed too rich. Back off a little from the bag instructions. This will help keep them from scouring too bad. I found that if I kept them full time in the barn they got ill easier. Allow them to spend as much time in the pasture as possible in the fresh air. If it gets cold and wet with rain or snow put them up in a shelter. They are allot of work but a good learning experience for the kids. I raised one bull that turned out to be a great specimen for a Jersey. I kept him intact and when he got about 15 months old I started renting him out to local dairy farmers for their Holstien heifers. I made pretty good money on him. When he got to be about 30 months old his temperment got too hot to handle safely (true Jersey fashion). When he went through a 5 strand barb wire fence equipped with 2 very hot wires I sold him. They are fairly gentle and easy to handle until they get to be about two so I would not advise this unless you have cattle experience and good handling facilities.
 
A dairy close to me used to give those jersey bull calves away. Now they sell them and dont have any problems selling them for $150 each. But, like Hoss said, you gotta make sure they have been fed that colostrum for the first 2-3 days. I got one a few months back (except mine was a Jersey/holstein mix) to put on a momma cow that lost her calf. She raised it fine, and its now eating forage and hay just like the rest of them. When he gets to be about 700lbs, hes going to be hamburger for us.
 
we milked cows for 27yrs.an as said a jersey calf is very hard to raise.but it can be done.you just have to make sure they get clostrum.an a good start in life.an watch them real close for the scours.a bagg of powdered milk cost $60 to $80 a bagg.i always said a jersey calf was born looking for a place to die.
 
I have never raised a Jersey, as Holsteins were our breed for milking and we were a 100% registered DHI tested herd.
However we have really good friends in Denmark that milk Jerseys and they are very successful, she said they lose less than 2 percent of calves a year and the steers are raised by them for a specialty beef market. They are 100 percent organic so they use no meds and if they do the calf or cow is sold..I think the key for them is they have a great program starting from day one ,as much colostrum as the calf wants and then real milk (not replacer) until weening as well as an excellent feed ration..They also have a spotless operation and the calf hutches are cleaned and disinfected often..

It can be done but you need to know that all the nutritional and health requirements were met the minute the calf hits the ground..


I would say that if you have no previous background with raising bottle calves and do not have the proper set up you will go broke in a hurry even if the initial calf is free..
 
Hoss is right. Ive raised a lot of jersey bull calves. I never had any more trouble with them than anything else. As a matter of fact, I think they are less sickly than other breeds in a lot of ways. I probably raised 50 or 60 on the bottle and never lost 1. I wish I could say that about holsteins and Ayrshires. The thing about jersey steers is that a lot of people love the meat. If you put an add in the paper for corn fed Jersey steers, You won't be long in selling them. People will stop by when they see you in the lot with them and want to buy them. I wish I could get more of them.
 
Howdy. I've stepped in it big time. Wondering if you have any advise. We are beef cattle folks and bought several jersey bull calves for the kids' summer project. As you have all said here, they are dropping like flies and our shovels are busy. It makes me sick. We've had them for about 2 weeks now. Some that are left seem healthy enough but at this point I am afraid of the losing them all. We are feeding smallish amounts 3 times a day (with electrolytes as needed), treated them for scours, hit them with LA 200 and Type CD&T. Best I can tell it is sickness form shipping. Any thoughts on what else we can do?

Thanks,
Newbie
 
DakotaPup":3w29hf9h said:
Howdy. I've stepped in it big time. Wondering if you have any advise. We are beef cattle folks and bought several jersey bull calves for the kids' summer project. As you have all said here, they are dropping like flies and our shovels are busy. It makes me sick. We've had them for about 2 weeks now. Some that are left seem healthy enough but at this point I am afraid of the losing them all. We are feeding smallish amounts 3 times a day (with electrolytes as needed), treated them for scours, hit them with LA 200 and Type CD&T. Best I can tell it is sickness form shipping. Any thoughts on what else we can do?

Thanks,
Newbie

I am not a vet. But my experience/advice is that banamine and nuflour combinations work. You can only get the drugs from a vet.
 
Particularly with babies, get some real antibiotics from the vet. When we were still messing with bottle calves, our vet suggested hitting them as the came off the trailer with Nuflor. That's the only time we've used antibitotics without seeing systems that needed treating. Never lost another calf after we started doing that. Don;t know if that was why, but it sure made it easier sleeping nights.
Just a suggestion but you might want to start halter breaking them and training them to be oxen (working steers). Before the migrate to an actual yoke, making a figure eight rope and hooking theie necks together with it works well for early training.
 
bustedbudget":29i8hffm said:
Hello,

I have access to free baby jersey bull calves. Is there any market for these what so ever??? Any one ever mess with them?

Thanks,

That name should be bustedarse they are a lot of work. I try to only do Holstein bottle calves. I wish you the best... My advice would be stock up on some good drugs have a good clean dry place for them and be prepared to work your arse off. I wish you the best.
 
I've seen some companies formulating milk replacer just for jerseys. Perhaps it's higher fat like their mommas or could be marketing bullshyt too.
 

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