Bottle Calves... Give me the low down

[BIGASH Farms]

Well I'm new to this site, but I will introduce my self. I am a young farmer, recently married, and live in SW Minnesota. My wife wants to become more involved in the farm, and we are considering getting some bottle calves. We have the facilities and equipment available, so thats not a problem, I have some experience with cattle, but not calves. I am not up on current market prices or feed costs either. Can someone fill me in on the current prices? I know they are variable from area to area and what type of calves we get. Just looking for general info on current prices. We want to see if there is any money to be made before we start. I know corn prices are high, but have heard that cattle are up as well. Thanks for the info.

 

[grubbie]

Not much money in bottle calves, I'm afraid. Keeping them on grass after weaning and butchering them as a yearling can be profitable, but not a get-rich thing. That is, IF you have the grass. If you have to feed them, there goes any profit.
Example:
Last bottle calf I had was a bum (2 years ago), so I didn't have to buy him. It cost me $550.00 in feed costs, in the fall I could have sold him for around $550.00. I ended up just pasturing him and butchering him a year later, but I had lots of grass.

HOWEVER.....bottle calves can be very rewarding in other ways, especially if you have kids. I am a grandpa, and I still get a kick out of having a pet calf around......profitable or not.

Just my opinions and experience, your mileage may vary.

 

[ANAZAZI]

Hello and :welcome:

 

[ozarkbulls]

Around here the most popular is Holstein bull calves, a by-product of all the surrounding daries.
I raise about 150 bottle calves a year for my self, and contract raise about 75 a year for other people.
As far as profit, it's dependent on season, market prices etc. I sell most all of mine right after weaning, profit is average of about $80-100 a head. The ones I raise on contract, the profit is about the same, maybe a touch higher per head.
If you have enough grass to turn them out, you can squeeze a bit more out of them, again depending on market.(Right now the Holstein steers are outrageous)
As far as buying them, I get mine straight off the farm. Contracted a set price last year at $80 a head at about 5-7 days old. Unfortunatly, the has run out and most farmers want 120-150 a head now.
If your just going to do a few, jump into it, but don't expect to make a fortune. If your going to do a bunch of them, factor in the amount of "infrastructure" you have to carry on hand, i.e., meds, vaccines, and all the incidentals that come along with the little buggers.
Also, it's a lot of work! tht's why a lot of people just contract me to do the "hard-parts"!

 

[John SD]

Not much money in bottle calves, I'm afraid. Keeping them on grass after weaning and butchering them as a yearling can be profitable, but not a get-rich thing. That is, IF you have the grass. If you have to feed them, there goes any profit.
Example:
Last bottle calf I had was a bum (2 years ago), so I didn't have to buy him. It cost me $550.00 in feed costs, in the fall I could have sold him for around $550.00. I ended up just pasturing him and butchering him a year later, but I had lots of grass.

HOWEVER.....bottle calves can be very rewarding in other ways, especially if you have kids. I am a grandpa, and I still get a kick out of having a pet calf around......profitable or not.

Just my opinions and experience, your mileage may vary.

LOL grubbie, I just couldn't butcher my baby! I should have started him on creep. I let him run loose in the yard and fed him way too much milk replacer late into the fall. I figure he ate his weight in milk replacer. It was getting out of season so the stuff was harder to find. Finally weaned him with the rest of the calves. He was good "help" to settle down the rest of the bunch. When I sold him he weighed 700 lbs as a yearling. He was a Hereford steer and had that "bottle calf" look. They cut him off by himself and sold seperately. Of course he didn't fit in with anything else I sold that day because I took a small load of odds and ends. Of course he didn't act like a normal calf when he came in the ring. Told the guys he was a bottle calf so that probably didn't help. ;-)

 

[grubbie]

It was hard, for sure. Actually sold him to some friends of ours but I hauled him to the butcher. I'll never forget the look on his face as I drove away.......it was actually my wife that made me do it, I told her that "Tater" (my grand daughter named him) should just grow old and die on the ranch. My wife is a heartless beast..........

 

[grubbie]

3 pics of "Tater", rest in peace. They tell me you taste good.....


As a baby

Grown up

Saying Hi to one of my grand daughters

 

[msscamp]

Well I'm new to this site, but I will introduce my self. I am a young farmer, recently married, and live in SW Minnesota. My wife wants to become more involved in the farm, and we are considering getting some bottle calves. We have the facilities and equipment available, so thats not a problem, I have some experience with cattle, but not calves. I am not up on current market prices or feed costs either. Can someone fill me in on the current prices? I know they are variable from area to area and what type of calves we get. Just looking for general info on current prices. We want to see if there is any money to be made before we start. I know corn prices are high, but have heard that cattle are up as well. Thanks for the info.

This will give you an idea of what calves are going for in my general area - scroll down to see the calf prices:

http://cla.casauction.com/2011/05/sheep ... s-5-18-11/

5 miles down the road, baby calves are bringing anywhere from $200 to $500 in the last 60 days - those calves range from newborns to around 200 lbs. Factor in the cost of milk replacer, meds because they are exposed to everything under the sun at the sale barn, and the projected price of hay hitting $200/ton in my area this summer and there is no money in bottle calves. However, if you could find a private treaty bottle calf and buy a dairy goat you would probably be able to turn a profit. I know of quite a few people around here that raise calves and bum lambs on diary goats - either by milking the goat and bottling the orphans, or by training the goat to allow the calf/lamb to suck. Make sure the calf has received colostrum before you buy.