County Fair

[MistyMorning]

Good Morning all,

Heres my question. So my daughter and I went to the local county fair yesterday and of course she wants to spend 2 hours in the cattle barn. She sees a couple of bottle fed holstein calves and now just has to have one. I of course tell her that it is a lot of work and money(with me supplying most of the work!) She insists that she will do it all. Now can somone tell me what actual costs are involved and how long do you feed them, how many times a day, how long to butcher etc.

Thanks all

 

[MistyMorning]

Thanks TM,

Now heres my next question. We have a small beef herd and the reason to get the bottle fed is just to butcher them. Can they be put in with the rest of the herd and just seperated to feed (we don't generally grain our beef. Only those we butcher). Are they really that good of a deal ($100.00 around here) or do they just eat up your costs in special food and replacer? P.S. the kid already has two halter trained calves that follow her everywhere :roll: . Thanks for any in put

 

[randiliana]

OK, here is what we have done. Keep in mind that I am talking about a beef calf in this case.

We started, of course with colostrum, after the second day we moved on to milk replacer. 3 bottles a day, at first we were feeding 1.5 litres (about 1.5 quarts) each feeding. As they got older we increased to 2 litres each feeding. After the first week we had a calf starter ration available free choice, and for the first few days we would hand feed the calf that after each bottle. It only took a couple days to get the calf started on that. Once the calf was eating that well, we changed to feeding 2 lbs of that per day. At about 8 weeks we weaned the calf off milk, and slowly increased the grain to 3 lbs per day. This calf is now about 4 months old and I would estimate her weight to be around 300 lbs. She is now getting 3 1/3 lbs of calf starter per day, and all the hay (good quality) that she wants.

So basically, free choice water, free choice hay, at minimum two 2 quart bottles of milk replacer per day, and 2 lbs of a calf starter ration per day. Remember that you have to work up to these amounts, and once the calf is weaned to increase the amount of grain the calf is getting.

As to how much it costs, I figure it will cost about the same amount to raise this calf by hand as it would have cost to keep a cow for a year.

Milk - $160
Calf Starter - $90
Plus hay and time, and any medications if it gets sick.

Now this all depends on what your feed and milk replacer is costing you.

 

[TheBullLady]

In my opinion, raising a Holstein calf for beef is going to cost WAY more $$ than simply raising a good beef calf, after it's been weaned from it's mother. Milk replacer is VERY expensive.

 

[MistyMorning]

Thanks all, I keep telling her there is no such thing as a free lunch ;-) She is still at the age where shes thinking with her heart instead of head.

 

[dun]

Thanks all, I keep telling her there is no such thing as a free lunch ;-) She is still at the age where shes thinking with her heart instead of head.

I hope she never gets "old enough" that she doesn;t sometimes still think with her heart instead of her head

 

[MistyMorning]

Dun she is genetically engineered to be a softie. Her mom is a classic case. I've been known to sit with a blanket on a calf in 30 below weather for a couple of hours when the mom would have handled it just fine on her own.