Bottle Calf Idea.... Would like opinions:)

[Belties R Us]

Ok guys. I am an animal science major who is trying to figure out what part of the animal science industry I want to be in.

Anyway I had an idea I am debating trying out this summer. Instead of getting a business job, I wanted to buy and raise some bottle calves. This will give me the hands on experience to figure out if I want to be involved full time in production ag or if it will be more of a hobby. It will also give me the ability to be home to work with my show calves more than usual, get their hair worked and all. Anyway I was planning on buying a group of ten calves in May and then they would sell in August. Ideally I would find 4-H or FFA kids to show them and then sell there as they get a premium or they would be taken to an auction. My biggest concern is that I have never done this before. And there is probably a lot to learn. I am estimating my buying price to be $150, and my target selling weight around 400lbs. My total cost including milk replacer and feed to be around $400. Selling price approx $150/cwt. Which would put my estimated profit at $2000 for ten calves. But from everything I have read people say it is not profitable. What am I missing? I do understand that they have a high death rate. I am hoping to find a producer to buy from but I haven't had luck locating one who doesn't just take them to auction. We do have other beef cattle so I am working on figuring out how to keep them quarantined from the rest of ours using the existing facilities.

Anyway that is just an idea I had. Would love to hear thoughts, opinions, potential issues, etc so I can best figure out how to make this has successful as possible. Thanks

 

[Craig Miller]

I dont know what breed you are looking at first of all and that would make a diffrence. I would expect calves to be 200-250. Feed- is that a per calf number?. Sales i would hope for 250cwt or better for selling at 400lbs. Im dont get to the sale barn very often maybe somebody else can estimate this better. Maybe you shuld figure a death rate in there too... 25%?

 

[Suzie Q]

Over here the price of the milk replacer is worth .ore than the calf. So buy some quiet dry cows. If you get a good cos she can feed 2 or 3 calves. You teach her that they are their calves and the go out in the paddock and no more work for you other than feeding the herd. If she won't accept them you are stuck putting them on her twice a day.

The more cal especially you have on a cow, the more the calves will take out of her, so the more you will have to look after her. One cow to one calf is the best for the cow, unless she has too much milk.

 

[branguscowgirl]

I don't know a lot about it, But I believe that the 4H and FFA kids look for a special kind of calf. So you may want to do some research as to age/wt and time of sale that goes with their show schedule if that is to be part of your market.

 

[Belties R Us]

I dont know what breed you are looking at first of all and that would make a diffrence. I would expect calves to be 200-250. Feed- is that a per calf number?. Sales i would hope for 250cwt or better for selling at 400lbs. Im dont get to the sale barn very often maybe somebody else can estimate this better. Maybe you shuld figure a death rate in there too... 25%?

Looking at Holsteins or maybe beef breeds but I know the beef calves will cost significantly more. So they don't gain weight quickly? I was estimating a 2 lb/day gain on them.

Over here the price of the milk replacer is worth .ore than the calf. So buy some quiet dry cows. If you get a good cos she can feed 2 or 3 calves. You teach her that they are their calves and the go out in the paddock and no more work for you other than feeding the herd. If she won't accept them you are stuck putting them on her twice a day.

The more cal especially you have on a cow, the more the calves will take out of her, so the more you will have to look after her. One cow to one calf is the best for the cow, unless she has too much milk.

I unfortunately do not have the money to buy cows so I will have to bottle feed by hand. I thought about maybe trying a dairy goat though. Anyone have experience with that?

I don't know a lot about it, But I believe that the 4H and FFA kids look for a special kind of calf. So you may want to do some research as to age/wt and time of sale that goes with their show schedule if that is to be part of your market.

Tag in for our county is June 1st. Anyone showing dairy feeders is just looking to show in our county. It is the discount way to show cattle at our fair. The beef classes are super competitive and expensive to be competitive in. Most of them are in the 400lb range for fair but I don't have any idea when said calves are born. I am going to talk to a person in my club who has shown bottle calves to get a better idea on that part.

Thank you all for comments so far!!

 

[trappersteve]

My suggestion would be get a good jersey cow from a dairy that's maybe down a quarter or not quiteaking production. With milk replacer $80 a bag you could almost buy the cow then when she dries up you can sell her for probably What you have for her.

Only downside to it is a milk cow eats alot.

I raised a few calves this way and they do much better on a cow than they do on replacer

 

[trappersteve]

My suggestion would be get a good jersey cow from a dairy that's maybe down a quarter or not quite making production. With milk replacer $80 a bag you could almost buy the cow then when she dries up you can sell her for probably What you gave for her.

Only downside to it is a milk cow eats alot.

I raised a few calves this way and they do much better on a cow than they do on replacer

 

[Craig Miller]

I dont know how fast they will gain. I meant i would expect to pay $200-250 each for them and i would think you would have over 400$ in milk replacer alone if only giving one bag per calf before weaning. The last i bought was $45/ bag and i gave a bag and a half before weaning.

 

[Craig Miller]

My suggestion would be get a good jersey cow from a dairy that's maybe down a quarter or not quiteaking production. With milk replacer $80 a bag you could almost buy the cow then when she dries up you can sell her for probably What you have for her.

Only downside to it is a milk cow eats alot.

I raised a few calves this way and they do much better on a cow than they do on replacer

One cow gave enough milk for ten calves?

Edit..let me rephrase that so it dont sound like im calling you out. Will one cow give enough milke for the ten calves?

 

[trappersteve]

10 calves? What? No craig I meant just a couple of calves per cow.

The last ones I sold were weaned at 10 weeks with all the calf starter they wanted weighed 232 pounds. They were holstiens.

 

[backhoeboogie]

My suggestion would be get a good jersey cow from a dairy that's maybe down a quarter or not quiteaking production. With milk replacer $80 a bag you could almost buy the cow then when she dries up you can sell her for probably What you have for her.

Only downside to it is a milk cow eats alot.

I raised a few calves this way and they do much better on a cow than they do on replacer

That's what I do. I put 4 calves on each nurse cow.

Calves are going for over $400 now. That is buying beef calves split off of aged cows. They are getting harder and harder to find as the herds have dwindled. Most of the old cows were sold back in the drought.

Cost per calf per day is $1.25. That includes the cow's feed cost pro rata across the calves. Calves sold from $1125 to $1360.

I have a dairy heifer at the house that will be bred soon for a replacement nurse cow. I have a half holstein half charolaise heifer that's momma was an excellent nurse cow through the years. I think this will be a replacement too. I kept a heifer that was a twin that came from Tx PawPaw - at a bargain that is simply being added to the herd.

10 calves on a bottle is a chore, but it will be educational. If you have any losses, you will lose your profit. Best be prepared and knowledged before you take on ten. I would not trust this task to hired kids. My opinion.

I would have banamine and nuflor readily available at the house before I brought the first calf home.

 

[skyhightree1]

First thing I would do is not estimate what the calves will cost go to the barn and find out how much they cost and do a cost analysis and hopefully someone will be there selling what you are trying to buy. I am building a small rearing shed. I ran reports for 2 months and know where I am and all my costs involved. If market doesn't drop I'm in good shape and will make decent profit however the more you raise the better you will be. Trappersteve is right however I do not plan on getting a nurse cow yet but will if I find one cheap. I also would not raise a Jersey bottle calf to me they grow too slow. I would stick with Holstein. I also would suggest buying calves that are around 200-250lbs and raising till 5wt or 6-7wt lil less work. I bought 2 small heifer calves that are not on bottle that I will keep till 5wt then sell them. In my opinion it would be more fruitful to buy thin calves and also thin cows too. I have been running reports on cheapest sale barns and highest to see what profitability I would have when selling. I also will tell you that I would buy red cattle they go dirt cheap but there is still room for profit. I do my homework big time before stepping out into bottle calves and I am starting with 2-3 if I had 10 I would get a nursing tank.

 

[backhoeboogie]

I totally agree with you skyhigh. @$450 a calf, I can still turn a good profit. That is simply because the market is so good right now.

There are far fewer calves available. But at $450, there's not a lot of ladies eewing and awing and wanting to take them home. $450 takes out a lot of competition from the aliens (legal and otherwise) as well.

The challenge is to keep your cost at around $1.25 per day. $450 cost plus $300 rearing selling for a $1250 average aint bad. The guys are perfectly backgrounded when you market them. You can buy cheaper calves at the dairy sale, but the cost of rearing is the same. You won't average $1250 a head sale on those calves, in my opinion.

When we were buying them for $125, they were selling for $500 to $600. Much less profit margin. It wasn't worth it.