Buy or pass?

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HOSS

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I have been given the opportunity to buy a BA heifer about 600 pounds and a black baldy heifer about 500 pounds for 1.00 per pound each or 1000 dollars for both. Strictly commercial stuff, well fed and decent builds albeit a little shorter in the legs than I prefer. I know the guy that owns them well and he bought them and they were raised on a bottle. I have never bought bottle fed heifers before. Ya'll think that they should be worth a buck a pound?
 
The only reservation I would have is the same as with show heifers, they have been babied so much that they fall apart for a month or two when they have to go to work for a living.
 
Caustic,

some of our best momma cows are former show stock. We dont baby them. We put them in the pasture with the rest of the cattle, and just like the rest of the cattle, they have to preform or theyre on the road.

I say go for it!
 
Sounds to me like a bargain. I wouldnt hesitate to buy them. If you dont like them later, you can always sell them for more than you are paying
 
Caustic Burno":1po272uk said:
.....they have been babied so much that they fall apart for a month or two when they have to go to work for a living.

Not necessarily. There are actually a number of people out there that don't baby bottle calves - at least in this area. I would be willing to bet the same is true for other area's, as well.
 
if you have any doubts, buy them and take them straight to the sale barns. You won't lose any money that's for sure.
 
short in the leg is my preferance because the long in the leg just helps them jump fences better.
 
I would be curious as to the reason they were bottle calves. Is there a chance they're half Holstein from a one of the dairys?

dun
 
~

When were they born ?

Did the moms reject them or die, is that why they had to be bottle fed ? Were they each twins born to male calves ? Are they all BA beef and no dairy in them ? Get some history on those calves.

The price is good. The price will be even better when you get the "good" answers to the questions.

We are selling for $1.10/lb here--cash and carry.

My concern in buying bottle fed beef heifers is that they most likely are smaller and less growthy than their herd mates.

They will catch up in size, but it takes awhile.

And.......

Bottle babies don't seem to have space boundaries like their herdmates do. You might find yourself butted around once or twice. You will have to use some "tough love."

We have one bottle fed heifer from April whose mom walked away from her. We have buddied her up in the field with a wise old steer who is teaching her the ways of the farm/"rules of the road" etc, and her space issues have improved.
 
I know that they were bottle babies due to rejection and neither was a twin. The original farmer lives some distance from his cows and did not want to mess with bottle feeding. He sold them to this guy I know who raises bottle feeders. As far as my eye can tell they are all beef breeds. The original farmer does not raise any dairy according to the current owner of the cows. They are a little small for their age but I have time and plenty of hay and pasture to wait on their growth. I may buy them and watch their progress. If I am not happy with them I will ship them to the sale barn and get my money back.
 
Growing up, we milked cows and kept every heifer and bottle fed them. If they were holstein or jersey, we would keep them for milk cows, if they were beef cross, we kept them for beef cows. Due to the ease of handling and the temperament I would take the bottle fed calf to make a cow every day of the week over the calf that was raised on her mother.
 
Contrary to popular opinion(as usual)I would never buy a bottle calf in hopes of making her into a brood cow.
 
ga. prime":50gvj1p3 said:
Contrary to popular opinion(as usual)I would never buy a bottle calf in hopes of making her into a brood cow.

We started a herd from nothing but bottle calves. F1 Angus or Hereford and Holsteins. Our feed source was gauranteed so the foraging ability of the Holstein part wasn;t an issue. Bred to heavy muscled Gert and Angus bulls we did very well with them. They made excellent cows, a little light in the rear, but that was taken care of by our bull selection. They were no harder to work then any others. Even after being bottle raised, some were friendly, some were standoffish, not much different then calves raised on cows.

dun
 
My experience with bottle calves varies from yours a great deal, dun. I won't go into the boring details.
 
ga. prime":2d6a697v said:
Contrary to popular opinion(as usual)I would never buy a bottle calf in hopes of making her into a brood cow.

Based on a number of responses to different things here lately, it would appear that you are a bit narrow-minded with a cut and dried approach to a lot of things. I must say, I'm more than a little surprised at that.
 

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