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Best way to raise baby dairy calves
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<blockquote data-quote="danimal" data-source="post: 304975" data-attributes="member: 5409"><p>I work on a medium size dairy farm (Wisconsin) that milks 300 registered Jerseys. I take the bull calves and raise them both for personal consumption and re-sale. I'll share a couple of thoughts and ideas that might help. I "tube" the calves with colosturm immediately then give them their first bottle feeding about 12 hours later. I keep them in alone in straw bedded pens (about 8'x10') in the barn. Usually by the third or fourth feeding they will take the bottles by themselves from an inexpensive wire bottle holder. I begin weaning @ 5 to 6 weeks by keeping a "free choice" grain and water in the pens gradually reducing the bottle feeding for about a week. When they are weaned I move them into "group" pens of 3 to 4 calves per pen (16'x16' <the length of cattle panels). Ask your dairy farmer if he pasturizes milk for his heifer calves. We do and I run the "waste" milk from our treated cows through the pasturizer and that is what I feed the bull calves in leiu of expensive milk replacer. Jersey beef is generally about 20% slower in growth rate and render lower carcass weights. On the up side, Jersey beef rates high on the Warner-Bratzler scale as far as "tenderness" because of the high levels of intramuscular fat which also leads to better "marbling" at lower carcass weights. Weaned 2 to 3 month Jersey calves are currently bringing around $180-$200 at the sale barns here. Jersey beef has a significantly higher concentration of monounsaturated fat than other breeds which is considered by some researchers to be "colesterol lowering" and is prreferable to high levels of polyunsaturated fats. Bottom line I guess...if your in it for the hobby/personal consumption and have the facilities and time....go for it. If your in it to become a beef baron you might want to look at another breed.,</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="danimal, post: 304975, member: 5409"] I work on a medium size dairy farm (Wisconsin) that milks 300 registered Jerseys. I take the bull calves and raise them both for personal consumption and re-sale. I'll share a couple of thoughts and ideas that might help. I "tube" the calves with colosturm immediately then give them their first bottle feeding about 12 hours later. I keep them in alone in straw bedded pens (about 8'x10') in the barn. Usually by the third or fourth feeding they will take the bottles by themselves from an inexpensive wire bottle holder. I begin weaning @ 5 to 6 weeks by keeping a "free choice" grain and water in the pens gradually reducing the bottle feeding for about a week. When they are weaned I move them into "group" pens of 3 to 4 calves per pen (16'x16' <the length of cattle panels). Ask your dairy farmer if he pasturizes milk for his heifer calves. We do and I run the "waste" milk from our treated cows through the pasturizer and that is what I feed the bull calves in leiu of expensive milk replacer. Jersey beef is generally about 20% slower in growth rate and render lower carcass weights. On the up side, Jersey beef rates high on the Warner-Bratzler scale as far as "tenderness" because of the high levels of intramuscular fat which also leads to better "marbling" at lower carcass weights. Weaned 2 to 3 month Jersey calves are currently bringing around $180-$200 at the sale barns here. Jersey beef has a significantly higher concentration of monounsaturated fat than other breeds which is considered by some researchers to be "colesterol lowering" and is prreferable to high levels of polyunsaturated fats. Bottom line I guess...if your in it for the hobby/personal consumption and have the facilities and time....go for it. If your in it to become a beef baron you might want to look at another breed., [/QUOTE]
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