Bottle-fed calves????????

[bulldog]

Here in NC I pay $50.00 per head for Gurnsey and Red Holstein/Gurnsey cross from one dairy, and I usually get about 4 or 5 a month here lately, and he always leaves them on the cow for 4 to 5 days. He will not sell them less than 4 days old, he says that he owes giving them a good start to the animal, when I found this guy I thought it was too good to be true, but we have been doing it for months now, and it does make a big difference. So far I have not had any to die or get sick other than mild cases of scours. Also remember that this is a rather small family operation, and that makes a difference too. Before I found this guy I was paying $75.00 per head for 2 or 3 day old calves (Holstein). You can find Jersey bull calves from $35-$50 per head. Here is a pic of my last Jersey that I raised from a bottle, and I do mean my last Jersey!! I got him the first week of September and you can see that they do not put on the size like other breeds.

 

[Beefy]

and he always leaves them on the cow for 4 to 5 days. He will not sell them less than 4 days old, he says that he owes giving them a good start to the animal

what a great outlook! i wish all producers were like this.

 

[ctlbaron]

That's dirt cheap. Especially if you get heifers in the mix. If they are healthy and clostrum fed you won't beat that deal. I'd check it out really well first. If it looks good I'd jump on it.

 

[T-Bone]

Here in NC I pay $50.00 per head for Gurnsey and Red Holstein/Gurnsey cross from one dairy, and I usually get about 4 or 5 a month here lately, and he always leaves them on the cow for 4 to 5 days. He will not sell them less than 4 days old, he says that he owes giving them a good start to the animal, when I found this guy I thought it was too good to be true, but we have been doing it for months now, and it does make a big difference. So far I have not had any to die or get sick other than mild cases of scours. Also remember that this is a rather small family operation, and that makes a difference too. Before I found this guy I was paying $75.00 per head for 2 or 3 day old calves (Holstein). You can find Jersey bull calves from $35-$50 per head. Here is a pic of my last Jersey that I raised from a bottle, and I do mean my last Jersey!! I got him the first week of September and you can see that they do not put on the size like other breeds.

How much will you get for that Jersey in the pic?

 

[nycowgirl]

A few weeks ago at a local sale I saw Jersey weaners going for 35-40 cents per pound (about 275-300 lbs) and they only had one bidder. Some others went unsold and they did not appear to be rough looking animals. Holstein weaners were going for 60-70 cents per pound. Around here we can buy a 4 day old holstein bull calf for 100- 125 dollars. Jersey bull calves 50- 75 dollars for the same age.

 

[MoGal]

Around here the beef bottle calves are $200 (or was two weeks ago) but the holstein bull calves are between $110-$130.

To me, unless you've got a cow to put them on, the beef calves aren't profitable. I just sold a hereford x beefmaster steer, 325 pounds @ 1.77 pound (just barely broke even, with costs of milk replacer, grain and shipping him to West Plains), so I won't be having any bottle calves at that rate.

 

[BIGMUD]

Last year I bottle fed about 20 head of Jersey bull calves (then banded them at weaning time), next year I will probably triple that amount. I pay $75 head, and I usually pick them up the same day they are born, I only live five minutes frome the dairy. I sell them as fats for the freezer, or as 400-405lb calves to people looking for just a few calves to raise. In my area it has been a descent buisness, If I sell fats to private parties, I charge them what ever the market is that day (today that would be $0.94 per lb) then they pay the buthcer. I would pick them up in a heartbeat.

 

[backhoeboogie]

Buy them. Take them to Stephenville dairy sale on Friday and you'll make money. Bulls are fetching $100 and heifers are fetching upwards of $300 .

 

[T-Bone]

Buy them. Take them to Stephenville dairy sale on Friday and you'll make money. Bulls are fetching $100 and heifers are fetching upwards of $300 .

Do you have any info on the dairy sasle?

 

[Arnold Ziffle]

T-bone, assuming you are in the Victoria, Tx. that's down along the coast, keep in mind that it's almost 300 miles from there to Stephenville. If in the Victoria, Tx. that's east of Waco, it's a little over 100 miles to Stephenville.

Mighty good looking fence you have there -- glad I didn't have to run those 7 strands or pay for the wire. ;-)

 

[T-Bone]

T-bone, assuming you are in the Victoria, Tx. that's down along the coast, keep in mind that it's almost 300 miles from there to Stephenville. If in the Victoria, Tx. that's east of Waco, it's a little over 100 miles to Stephenville.

Mighty good looking fence you have there -- glad I didn't have to run those 7 strands or pay for the wire. ;-)

Are you saying its to far a haul?

 

[Arnold Ziffle]

T-bone, I guess you'd have to decide on that. I'd guesstimate it to be about a 5 to 6 hour haul (each way), under pretty ideal conditions, if you're from down south. Not to stick my nose in your business, but it seemed to me that you expressed interest in backhoeboogie's post about the Stephenville auction. Reading between the lines of his post, I think he might have been suggesting that you try to buy the baby calves (let's assume bulls) in your area say for the $50 you had mentioned and then "flip" them soon thereafter up in Stephenville for say $100. Riskier deal than I would be interested in with baby calves, not to mention not wanting to spend all that time riding in a truck burning high priced fuel. But that's just me, and from time to time I've been accused of being conservative. I do know a family that raises and feeds out Jersey as well as Holstein steers, but they do it for local sale and for keeping their six grown children's freezers stocked. Good luck to you in any event. AZ

 

[bulldog]

Here in NC I pay $50.00 per head for Gurnsey and Red Holstein/Gurnsey cross from one dairy, and I usually get about 4 or 5 a month here lately, and he always leaves them on the cow for 4 to 5 days. He will not sell them less than 4 days old, he says that he owes giving them a good start to the animal, when I found this guy I thought it was too good to be true, but we have been doing it for months now, and it does make a big difference. So far I have not had any to die or get sick other than mild cases of scours. Also remember that this is a rather small family operation, and that makes a difference too. Before I found this guy I was paying $75.00 per head for 2 or 3 day old calves (Holstein). You can find Jersey bull calves from $35-$50 per head. Here is a pic of my last Jersey that I raised from a bottle, and I do mean my last Jersey!! I got him the first week of September and you can see that they do not put on the size like other breeds.

How much will you get for that Jersey in the pic?

T-Bone

I put wheels under him on Sunday, I let him go for $200.00, had to have money to go and get three more calves. I figured he weighed between 200 & 225, because I literly had to pick him up and put jim on the trailer, never saw one before and he wasn't going in.

Bulldog

 

[backhoeboogie]

T-Bone, Didn't realize you were that far. There a little dairy sale on Fridays about noon in Stevenville just north of town off of 281. Mostly its local dairy calves. I went and bought a heifer a few years back to make a nurse cow out of. She's turned out a good one.

Anyway, the calves there bring a lot of nickels. Know a guy who bought a free Martin by mistake and paid $360. I have seen the little bulls go for as much as $150 at times.

After the Stephenville auction, jump on down the road to Dublin off of highway 6. They finished the cows at 7:30 that night, last time I went, and they broke for supper. Started back about 8:30 and expected to sell calves until daylight. Me and the missus left about 11. Nothing there but cows and it goes on for hours and hours, lots of trailers lined up to drop off cattle, hours after the sale starts.

 

[T-Bone]

T-Bone, Didn't realize you were that far. There a little dairy sale on Fridays about noon in Stevenville just north of town off of 281. Mostly its local dairy calves. I went and bought a heifer a few years back to make a nurse cow out of. She's turned out a good one.

Anyway, the calves there bring a lot of nickels. Know a guy who bought a free Martin by mistake and paid $360. I have seen the little bulls go for as much as $150 at times.

After the Stephenville auction, jump on down the road to Dublin off of highway 6. They finished the cows at 7:30 that night, last time I went, and they broke for supper. Started back about 8:30 and expected to sell calves until daylight. Me and the missus left about 11. Nothing there but cows and it goes on for hours and hours, lots of trailers lined up to drop off cattle, hours after the sale starts.

Looks like a good back-up plan if I decide to do this deal and need to unload. Thanks for the info.

 

[Lammie]

I bought a jersey bull calf at sale for 50.00 mid January. I also bought an angusxholstein, paid 100.00. They were a bout 3 days old and bottle broke. At that same sale I bought a Semmental bull calf, a little older, had been on his mama and never took the bottle for me once I got him home. Gave 240.00 for him. He's doing great, though. He looks a lot better than my dairy calves. That was at the sale barn in Cleburne, TX.
I saw some of the sicker calves go for 30.00. Doubt they would like until you got them home.