Do bottle calves pay?

[TexasBred]

I agree with BHB... if you know what you're doing you can make money on bottle calves, and a lot of it. I've made some very good money off bottle-raised calves, but once I figured out I could graft calves onto nurse cows and raise the calves bigger, faster, and cheaper, that's pretty much all I do now. It's probably been 3 1/2 years since I've raised calves on a bottle.

Hard to beat "mother nature's way".

 

[angie1]

Reasons I would not keep a Bottle calf for seed stock:
Reasons I would keep a Bottle Calf for seed stock:
1. Too pet like; producing an animal that can ultimately hurt you :help:
Producing an animaleasy to work with ~ make good nurse cows as adults.
2. Too much time, investment involved to see real returns until years down the road :roll:
Time well spent. No more than if you save your own heifers for replacement. And is a good time, fun and rewarding to see it perform as an adult.
3. Possible reasons as to why the calf is on the bottle :devil2:
Buy private treaty ~ should eliminate this issue. Must admit though this one sticks me too.
4. Difficult to determine the true performance potential the calf possesses due to the fact that it is not growing under natural circumstances. A lot of time and investment at stake to make decisions off of a hope or prayer as to what you think the calf could of would of should of. :?:
90% of this business is hope and prayer. Raised correctly will perform as well as a cow raised calf. Any deficiencies resulting from being bottle raised are neither genetic nor passed along to future calves.
5. And all the :cry2: :drink: and :lol: along the way
And all the :cry2: :drink: and :lol2: along the way

Personal Enjoyment. I said after 06 I would never do it again. Skipped 07. Broke down in this Spring. Someone's gotta do it :nod: , might as well be me. :help:

 

[ToddFarmsInc]

I think a little bit like angie I guess. :nod: On a scale from one to ten, a pet cows is a little higher on my list, like a 7 or 8. I've had wild ones, and they get wheels under them pretty dang fast. I've never sold off a cow because it was too tame. My maternial grandparrents run a dairy for years and years, they new each cow by name. I'm not going that far, but I like a herd that gathers around me when I go out to the pasture in the summer. Personally I prefer cows who are a little more pet like, and a little less skidish. It just makes it easier for me to check on them out in the pasture, when they come running to me, and not from me. The only time I ever have issue with my cows being too tame, might would be when I catch their calves out on pasture. :shock: And then, I have learned to not be on the ground level with them when I have their calf unless I have the "shark cage". My cows do a pretty good job of keeping out of the back of my pickup, and thats where I go with the newborn calves usually. (ya my pickkup is an old beater, that's pretty beaten up, but it's better the truck than me. ;-)

I won't go out and buy someone elses bottle calf, but if I have one of my own orphan and it's a heffer, I'm really tempted to keep her for my own amusement. If I don't keep it back as a replacement cow, at least she will make a tasty steak. :clap: The bottle steers I will bottle up untill they are the same size as the other yearling I sell, then they get wheels under them.

 

[mnmtranching]

I have 6 bottle raised cows in my herd. I think they are great. I use them for lead cows, they come when called, and the herd follows. I put a good old cow in with the heifers and a tame cow will make all the cattle a little calmer. I can walk right up to them and spray for flies. If the cattle ever get out for any reason, the lead cow would follow me back through the gate and the herd would follow. Pets? call them what ever. A tame critter is much safer to work with then wild ones.

 

[TexasBred]

I don't think I would want a bottle calf for replacement stock anyways

Ya gotta remember, nearly every Holstein ya see was a bottle baby. I got me one what provides a freezer animal for us every year. Wouldn't take 2k for her.

Yep but holstein heifers are raised as replacements and will be worth thousands of dollars and produce several thousand dollars of milk per lactation. The bulls will usually be sold small so someone else can put out the labor and expense of raising them. (Registered bulls being one exception).

 

[spinandslide]

I've read this thread...Kind of disheartened me folks saying they wouldnt retain a BC as a replacement heifer...until I got further down and read angie's and toddfarm's posts...and they echoed my feelings.

I like "tame" animals..My neighbor joked that my BC would be moving into my kitchen when she was ill. I guess I kind of enjoy the work and its a great experience for my son. Granted Ionly have two cows, but I guess this thread really shows the different backrounds and operations and priorities on this board.

I plan on keeping mine.

 

[angus9259]

Does any of it pay? Really? . . . sorry, went philosophical there . . .

 

[backhoeboogie]

Does any of it pay? Really? . . . sorry, went philosophical there . . .

Properly managed, yes they do pay and they can pay year after year if they become productive cows.

Remember that my "bottle babies" are beef calves acquired by a split at the sale barn. They are grafted to a dairy cow. I prefer brangus calves in general but any calf with ear is good for this climate. Generally the dam is an aged cow that was culled. You get to look at her when you decide to purchase. Usually you know nothing about the sire. Some work out great and some wind up average. Cull the average and move on. You are money ahead on the average at the auction if you use a nurse cow.

 

[angus9259]

Does any of it pay? Really? . . . sorry, went philosophical there . . .

Properly managed, yes they do pay and they can pay year after year if they become productive cows.

Remember that my "bottle babies" are beef calves acquired by a split at the sale barn. They are grafted to a dairy cow. I prefer brangus calves in general but any calf with ear is good for this climate. Generally the dam is an aged cow that was culled. You get to look at her when you decide to purchase. Usually you know nothing about the sire. Some work out great and some wind up average. Cull the average and move on. You are money ahead on the average at the auction if you use a nurse cow.

Subtract out input costs, realestate value / opportunity lost and depreciation and divide that final number by your hours and me and my McDonald's paycheck will win every week. You gotta want to do it. It can't be calculated in pay rates.

 

[backhoeboogie]

Subtract out input costs, realestate value / opportunity lost and depreciation and divide that final number by your hours and me and my McDonald's paycheck will win every week. You gotta want to do it. It can't be calculated in pay rates.

You are exactly correct on costs, which is the whole reason to justify the time and effort for this climate. I can buy cold climate cows cheap and if I were in your environment, that is exactly what I'd do. In this environment, they lose weight all summer and do not produce enough milk to wean good calves. Cows suited for this climate are expensive.

I will lose all the way around if the herd evolves in to low lines.

 

[Santas and Duhram Reds]

imo opinion there is a difference between a tame cow and a pet cow. My cattle do not go running for the hills, I walk amongst them and they keep eating the grass away. That is the way I like it, naturally.

Where a pet is dangerous is the unintentional hurt. When I do feed a little grain (getting them in the lot, etc.) I don't want the blasted things running over me or swinging there head around to get to the feed. Having only one leg makes it kind of difficult to get away sometimes.

As far as enviroment, my brahman influenced cattle (santas) do better in our winters than some other cattle do in our summers

 

[backhoeboogie]

As far as enviroment, my brahman influenced cattle (santas) do better in our winters than some other cattle do in our summers

Grandaddy ran a bunch of Santas in the 60's and they did well in this environment. Most of the popular breeds of today do not do well in this environment.

On the splits, the ringman used to split calves at the sale barn when no one was bidding on the pair. Now that cutters and canners are bringing top dollar, people are dropping pairs at the sale barn and splitting them out of the trailer, before they ever go into the ring.

 

[chippie]

You can bottle raise a calf and not make a pet out of it.

Yes, you can make money with them. Buy them cheap, get them started on a bottle, and turn around sell it on Craigslist list for double to triple what you paid for them.

At Craigslist, people will pay $175 to $300 for a bottle calf. Pretty crazy huh?

 

[backhoeboogie]

The whole point for me is not about taking advantage of someone or getting around things or marketing. It is straight apples and orange comparison.

The naysayers have obviously never used a dairy nurse cow. That is cheaper than buying milk replacer and better for the calf. I can take their best beef cow on their farm, split of the calf from the natural mother, put it on a milk cow, and put it on the small pasture at my house. The calf is going to get more milk and richer milk than it would otherwise. Yet they want to tell me that the calf is no good. Their logic makes no sense to me whatsoever.

MM and others know the difference. The nursed calf is better off than it would have been had it stayed on its natural mother.

 

[MoGal]

Do btl calves pay? I agree that on a nurse cow it is much simpler. Hubby and I are buying a place and although we won't have room for all the cows.... we are going to keep the 2 holsteins and the bred heifers with us so I can watch them closer. I enjoy it, spending the time outside and with animals is relaxing so I really don't count my time.

It don't bother me to keep one either. Hubby said I couldn't have a charolais bull unless he was gentle. We got one back in Jan. that was a twin and the cow claimed the other and was leaving him behind. I had to bottle him for 2 1/2 weeks before the holstein had her calf but he's now six months old, growing well and I can still go up to him and scratch him on the neck or under the chin.... I won't continue that but at least he should qualify as "gentle" for the hubby's requirements..... I call him Scooter because when I first got him he would brace all 4 legs and I'd have to push him anywhere I wanted him to go... scoot him around.
I just hope I can convince the hubby to allow him to be bred to the angus/holstein x cows next year because those calves need a butt and some muscle which he can provide.

As far as keeping a heifer btl calf I would as I think many times a lack of milk is a management issue and not always the cows fault.

 

[msscamp]

imo opinion there is a difference between a tame cow and a pet cow.

Please enlighten me, because I don't see the difference. Granted, there are different degrees of 'pet', but regardless of whether an animal is called 'tame' or 'a pet', she has lost some degree of her fear of humans - and that is just as dangerous as a wild animal. As far as your reasons for not keeping a bottle calf as a replacement - whatever floats your boat, but I think you're ignoring a potentially good source of replacement heifers. It is entirely possible to raise a bottle calf and not end up with a 'pet'. Had you seen my bottle calves at 6 months of age, I doubt you would ever have suspected they started out as bottle calves. Most of the reasons you stated are also true if you were to buy a replacement heifer - especially from the salebarn, but can also happen via private treaty - so what is the difference? I don't understand. :? Do all bottle calves make the cut? No, but that is true for dam raised heifers as well. You might want to re-think your position on bottle calves - there are some good opportunities out there.