bottle calf price

[texhallMT]

Dun
I was at the sale today and watched a little black baldy bull calf that looked to be about 7-10 days old sell. He was a good calf but was so wild they could hardly keep him in the ring!! It took about 2 minutes to sell him and he went for $330 :shock: I am now thinking of early weaning my calves :cboy:

MWJ , Ha Ha...know just what you mean! I've been telling folks that I'm gonna take mine to the sale as soon as momma's got 'em dried off and they suck a little. Shucks, I had one little calf last fall that was kind of sickly, but we nursed him back and just decided to sell him when I took some others to the sale thinking whatever we got would be better than risking him taking sick again in bad weather -- he brought $1.56 :heart: a pound! Week old calves sell nearly as good or better than fresh weaned calves. Who's buying all these little things? Shoot, I'll make a package deal on all my calves less than 3 or 4 months and let those mamas rest . It's a great time to be selling (but I'm sposed to be building a herd )

 

[R ^ 5]

Wed. at the sale on the 23 of March baby calves brought $200.00 to $325.00 ropeing calves from 150 # to 180# calves $250.00 to $380.00. 2 to 3 weight steers 1.50 to 2.00 per/#.Gambleing without going to Las Vegas.

 

[mwj]

Wed. at the sale on the 23 of March baby calves brought $200.00 to $325.00 ropeing calves from 150 # to 180# calves $250.00 to $380.00. 2 to 3 weight steers 1.50 to 2.00 per/#.Gambleing without going to Las Vegas.

Like the big boys at the pool hall say''first your money, then your clothes'' :shock: Like another guy told me, they should watch the ''fats'' sell so they have a clue what they are worth. I told him when it comes to bucket calves some people have the ''hobby horse owner'' mentality when it comes to cost versus return. Shouldn't complain since some one got a good price that probably took some of the ''sting'' out of a bad situation.

 

[Cheyenne]

Hi all another newbie here. I have been reading the board for about a month or so, but finally decided to put my 2 cents in.

It is getting to be fair time and I personally am looking for 2 bottle calves for 4-H projects. I would bet that there are alot of other people doing the same. I know I am not looking forward to paying $300.00 per calf, but what else ya gonna do.

I promise not to ask too many stupid questions. We do have a very knowledgeable person to act as our mentor so hopefully I won't have to ask to many questions. This board has been very helpful answering a couple of my questions already.

Thanks for letting me put in my 2cents.

Cheyenne

 

[mwj]

Cheyenne
Welcome to the wonderful world of cattle! Why don't you take a look at buying some weaned calves for your first project? Bottle babies are high priced and take a lot of skilled care to raise. The chance of death loss is a lot higher with the little guys Make it as easy as you can the first time and you can gain more experiance as you go along.

 

[msscamp]

Calves that just hit the ground are bringing in the neighborhood of 385.00 as of a week ago at the local salebarn here.

 

[dun]

Cheyenne
Welcome to the wonderful world of cattle! Why don't you take a look at buying some weaned calves for your first project? Bottle babies are high priced and take a lot of skilled care to raise. The chance of death loss is a lot higher with the little guys Make it as easy as you can the first time and you can gain more experiance as you go along.

At many of the local fairs there is a specific class for bottle calves. It's generally for samller kids, every body gets a ribbon and they start early learning the responsibilitys of raising livestock.

dun

 

[KANSAS]

Havnt seen any go for under 200.00

For some reason bull calves are going for around 225-275.00 while heifer calves are getting between 250-325.00

 

[buckaroo_bif]

Anybody know what beef bottle calves are bringing these days?

thanks
dun

we sold one for 270 wednesday and one for 230. the latter was a dwarf. somebody probably wanted her for roping practice...

 

[buckaroo_bif]

Hi all another newbie here. I have been reading the board for about a month or so, but finally decided to put my 2 cents in.

It is getting to be fair time and I personally am looking for 2 bottle calves for 4-H projects. I would bet that there are alot of other people doing the same. I know I am not looking forward to paying $300.00 per calf, but what else ya gonna do.

I promise not to ask too many stupid questions. We do have a very knowledgeable person to act as our mentor so hopefully I won't have to ask to many questions. This board has been very helpful answering a couple of my questions already.

Thanks for letting me put in my 2cents. Cheyenne

I agree with mwj there about the bottle calves. I don't remeber where I was reading about bottle calves the other day but the death loss rate is Very high.. Seems like it was something like 80% !!! I think the biggest reason is that their rumen does not develop well. Don't remeber much more about what i read, probably was early morning and was half asleep still... If you do raise a bottle calf get he she on some starter grain and a little hay asap. That would help the rumen develop. I don't think it is considered fully developed until they are 350 - 400 lbs. or so.
Good luck!

 

[Cheyenne]

Thank you all for the warm welcome and the good advice given. As Dun said the bottle calves are for the younger 4-H members. I don't really want my 8 year old son trying to handle a Market Steer right now. I wouldn't even attempt this project if we didn't have an experienced livestock farmer/animal nutritionist as our mentor and an excellent relationship with our vet.

I have been trying to do as much homework as possible, such as reading this awesome board, to make sure we are ready and able to care for these animals. I don't feel it is fair to the animals to bring them home and then try and figure out what the heck you are doing. I am a big believer in owner responsiblity no matter the species.

Anyway thanks again for the welcome.

Cheyenne

 

[cowspider]

Just bought a nice 3 day old RED Hereford heifer calf Saturday, Had to take mom too. paid $390.00. Mom is a little rangy, hope she will gett some weight on some more groceries.

 

[sidney411]

cowspider - that sounds like a good deal to me, for a pair. I think I would have bought too. You could turn around and sell them and make money on that one.