For the light weight calf buyers

[DCA farm]

What kind of feed ration are y'all putting your light weight calves on I see people buying the 150-200 pound calves. I'd like see y'all pencil it must be super sharp

 

[Son of Butch]

Nearly all calves sold under 200 lbs are dairy or dairy crossed calves. Properly managed they
can be very feed efficient. They would go on a textured calf starter for 1-2 weeks.
Then if a guy was running a decent number of them, they would use their own corn to make their
own complete calf feed containing both concentrate and roughage to control the forage intake.

When they reach 350-375 lbs then on to a grower ration containing either higher levels of
forage or they might continue on a high concentrate program depending on their end goal and
available home grown feedstuffs. Like hogs, it's a volume based program.
In effect they are adding value to their corn by selling it through the calves/steers.

 

[DCA farm]

Nearly all calves sold under 200 lbs are dairy or dairy crossed calves. Properly managed they
can be very feed efficient. They would go on a textured calf starter for 1-2 weeks.
Then if a guy was running a decent number of them, they would use their own corn to make their
own complete calf feed containing both concentrate and roughage to control the forage intake.

When they reach 350-375 lbs then on to a grower ration containing either higher levels of
forage or they might continue on a high concentrate program depending on their end goal and
available home grown feedstuffs. Like hogs, it's a volume based program.
In effect they are adding value to their corn by selling it through the calves/steers.

I watched a man buy every calf he could yesterday they called them 45-50 day olds he just kept saying he's buying money makers he probably bought 20 calves they were all just around 100-120 pounds

 

[Petercoates87]

I own a Jersey & Jersey cross cow. I breed them beef but then buy a dairy bull calf when the cows calf. so it's like they got twins every year wean the twins off at 5 months old and then buy another calf to finish off her lacation. So that calf is 4 months when weaned and it works so far. The calf grows pretty good, no beef calf but theres a market for it. then uses the brewers grain and cracked corn to feed it. I have a September dairy bull now that's pushing 550 lbs

 

[Allenw]

Nearly all calves sold under 200 lbs are dairy or dairy crossed calves. Properly managed they
can be very feed efficient. They would go on a textured calf starter for 1-2 weeks.
Then if a guy was running a decent number of them, they would use their own corn to make their
own complete calf feed containing both concentrate and roughage to control the forage intake.

When they reach 350-375 lbs then on to a grower ration containing either higher levels of
forage or they might continue on a high concentrate program depending on their end goal and
available home grown feedstuffs. Like hogs, it's a volume based program.
In effect they are adding value to their corn by selling it through the calves/steers.

I watched a man buy every calf he could yesterday they called them 45-50 day olds he just kept saying he's buying money makers he probably bought 20 calves they were all just around 100-120 pounds

180 was about as light as I was satisfied with performance when starting them, a little heavier was better. The lighter calves just don't take off as fast.

 

[DCA farm]

Nearly all calves sold under 200 lbs are dairy or dairy crossed calves. Properly managed they
can be very feed efficient. They would go on a textured calf starter for 1-2 weeks.
Then if a guy was running a decent number of them, they would use their own corn to make their
own complete calf feed containing both concentrate and roughage to control the forage intake.

When they reach 350-375 lbs then on to a grower ration containing either higher levels of
forage or they might continue on a high concentrate program depending on their end goal and
available home grown feedstuffs. Like hogs, it's a volume based program.
In effect they are adding value to their corn by selling it through the calves/steers.

I watched a man buy every calf he could yesterday they called them 45-50 day olds he just kept saying he's buying money makers he probably bought 20 calves they were all just around 100-120 pounds

180 was about as light as I was satisfied with performance when starting them, a little heavier was better. The lighter calves just don't take off as fast.

What kind of feed do you put yours on

 

[kenny thomas]

Nearly all calves sold under 200 lbs are dairy or dairy crossed calves. Properly managed they
can be very feed efficient. They would go on a textured calf starter for 1-2 weeks.
Then if a guy was running a decent number of them, they would use their own corn to make their
own complete calf feed containing both concentrate and roughage to control the forage intake.

When they reach 350-375 lbs then on to a grower ration containing either higher levels of
forage or they might continue on a high concentrate program depending on their end goal and
available home grown feedstuffs. Like hogs, it's a volume based program.
In effect they are adding value to their corn by selling it through the calves/steers.

I watched a man buy every calf he could yesterday they called them 45-50 day olds he just kept saying he's buying money makers he probably bought 20 calves they were all just around 100-120 pounds

180 was about as light as I was satisfied with performance when starting them, a little heavier was better. The lighter calves just don't take off as fast.

To me it seems more related to age than weight but I still try not to buy less than 275lb. But even then I buy the rough calves not the good young ones. The rough ones seem to respond to good care better.
I use a 16% feed with no gluten and added wet molasses to make it sweet to them. They start licking then eating because it taste good.

 

[Allenw]

I watched a man buy every calf he could yesterday they called them 45-50 day olds he just kept saying he's buying money makers he probably bought 20 calves they were all just around 100-120 pounds

180 was about as light as I was satisfied with performance when starting them, a little heavier was better. The lighter calves just don't take off as fast.

What kind of feed do you put yours on

I was hand feeding some good crabgrass hay with protein pellets, about 3/4 lb per head per day and rolled corn.
Add corn until you get where you want to be, protein pellets plus corn equal to 1% to 1.5% of body weight. I play it by ear too much to get too precise, goal is to keep them gaining and building frame until they can be turned out . If you can pick up a bottle calf or two that is about the same size really helps to get them started eating and drinking.


Kenny
I agree age plays a role in their growth rate, calves I was buying come off older cows that were split when sold. I think getting too far below the 200 lb mark they're younger and aren't used to grazing as much and would need to be fed a different ration, then what I was feeding to do well, an early wean TMR mix would work.

 

[AndersonAg]

Newbie here and I would love some input on what I'm doing and how I might be able to do it better. I'm also showing how dull my pencil is for the original poster. I'm pretty new to raising stockers and recently moved onto a 20 acre place (ranchette or hobby farm if you want to call it that) in central Texas that I divided into 6 paddocks using a hot wire. Cows didn't make any sense because there'd be a lot of expense feeding all year to only sell a small handful of calves a year. That said, I started buying smaller calves, averaging 225# which seems like the sweet spot, 10-15 at a time that are mainly angus or charolais cross. The first two weeks I have them, they're in a pen to make sure they stay healthy. They eat around 15 bags of either a 10 or 12% protein and go through around 4 square bales of hay along with some mineral containing bovatec while i'm getting them started. All said, purchase price plus input in the first 3 weeks I have around $400-$450 in each one. After the first 2 weeks, I turn them out into a coastal pasture (winter months I overseed with ryegrass) but still supplement feed them while they transition. I usually have 20-30 at a time and rotate them every 5-7 days allowing each paddock to rest nearly a month. Thus far, I have been selling them anywhere from 425# to 500# after 4 months so they've been averaging 2# or more of daily gain on mainly just grass (without overgrazing because we are grass farmers after all), netting me $150 - $225 per head on a buy/sell model (I base income on sell/buy because you have to replace your stock at some point). Following all this, I am buying and selling around 75 calves per year when there's normal rainfall and haven't had any die yet (fingers crossed).

I guess my question is this: on small acreage, do the small calves like this make sense because I can stock more of them or is there something I could do differently to net more in the end (and still not overgraze)?

 

[Bigfoot]

Newbie here and I would love some input on what I'm doing and how I might be able to do it better. I'm also showing how dull my pencil is for the original poster. I'm pretty new to raising stockers and recently moved onto a 20 acre place (ranchette or hobby farm if you want to call it that) in central Texas that I divided into 6 paddocks using a hot wire. Cows didn't make any sense because there'd be a lot of expense feeding all year to only sell a small handful of calves a year. That said, I started buying smaller calves, averaging 225# which seems like the sweet spot, 10-15 at a time that are mainly angus or charolais cross. The first two weeks I have them, they're in a pen to make sure they stay healthy. They eat around 15 bags of either a 10 or 12% protein and go through around 4 square bales of hay along with some mineral containing bovatec while i'm getting them started. All said, purchase price plus input in the first 3 weeks I have around $400-$450 in each one. After the first 2 weeks, I turn them out into a coastal pasture (winter months I overseed with ryegrass) but still supplement feed them while they transition. I usually have 20-30 at a time and rotate them every 5-7 days allowing each paddock to rest nearly a month. Thus far, I have been selling them anywhere from 425# to 500# after 4 months so they've been averaging 2# or more of daily gain on mainly just grass (without overgrazing because we are grass farmers after all), netting me $150 - $225 per head on a buy/sell model (I base income on sell/buy because you have to replace your stock at some point). Following all this, I am buying and selling around 75 calves per year when there's normal rainfall and haven't had any die yet (fingers crossed).

I guess my question is this: on small acreage, do the small calves like this make sense because I can stock more of them or is there something I could do differently to net more in the end (and still not overgraze)?

You don't have too terribly many options on a small acreage. The sweet spot for both buying and selling is ever changing, and nobody knows the future. One other option would be buying bred cows, to calve and split later. Even buying laughter cows to fatten can be profitable.

 

[Bigfoot]

Depending what part of the country your in, that small stuff can be demanded by tiedown ropers.

 

[bird dog]

Your plan seems fine to me. With small calves you can get by with much less expense for handling facilities not to mention truck and trailer. I would think your only big risk would be a sickness that effects the whole herd but thats the same for anybody and any size animals. You seem to be doing the right things ti minimize that risk.

It would be nice if you can find a source for calves besides a sale barn which I assume is where you are buying the animals.
Maybe also look around for a buyer that knows your program and avoid sale barn costs when selling. They are the perfect type and size to go to a grazer.

 

[5S Cattle]

Newbie here and I would love some input on what I'm doing and how I might be able to do it better. I'm also showing how dull my pencil is for the original poster. I'm pretty new to raising stockers and recently moved onto a 20 acre place (ranchette or hobby farm if you want to call it that) in central Texas that I divided into 6 paddocks using a hot wire. Cows didn't make any sense because there'd be a lot of expense feeding all year to only sell a small handful of calves a year. That said, I started buying smaller calves, averaging 225# which seems like the sweet spot, 10-15 at a time that are mainly angus or charolais cross. The first two weeks I have them, they're in a pen to make sure they stay healthy. They eat around 15 bags of either a 10 or 12% protein and go through around 4 square bales of hay along with some mineral containing bovatec while i'm getting them started. All said, purchase price plus input in the first 3 weeks I have around $400-$450 in each one. After the first 2 weeks, I turn them out into a coastal pasture (winter months I overseed with ryegrass) but still supplement feed them while they transition. I usually have 20-30 at a time and rotate them every 5-7 days allowing each paddock to rest nearly a month. Thus far, I have been selling them anywhere from 425# to 500# after 4 months so they've been averaging 2# or more of daily gain on mainly just grass (without overgrazing because we are grass farmers after all), netting me $150 - $225 per head on a buy/sell model (I base income on sell/buy because you have to replace your stock at some point). Following all this, I am buying and selling around 75 calves per year when there's normal rainfall and haven't had any die yet (fingers crossed).

I guess my question is this: on small acreage, do the small calves like this make sense because I can stock more of them or is there something I could do differently to net more in the end (and still not overgraze)?

What's your vaccination protocol when you receive?

 

[AndersonAg]

Upon arrival, they all get:
1. BoviShield Gold 5. Some calves seem to have a reaction to this 5 - 7 days later so you have to keep a close eye on them to make sure they aren't getting sick.
2. Ultrabac 8
3. Multimen 90
4. Generic Nuflor (as a metaphylaxis because they're all super stressed when I'm getting them but thinking about stopping this)
5. Synovex C
6. Ear Tag (I try to keep very detailed records of how they're acting every day to help me identify health trends in each one)
7. Ivermax pour-on
8. Bull calves get cut

I welcome suggestions on what I can do differently to help the calves that come through my place.

 

[Buck Randall]

You could replace the BSG-5 with Inforce 3 and Bovishield Gold BVD on arrival. Inforce is not as hard on stressed lightweight calves. Come back in a month with the BSG-5 as a booster. I like Once PMH as well, but it gets to be a lot of vaccine and meds for a little calf. Less is probably more on those guys.

If what you're doing is working for you, I wouldn't mess with it too much.

 

[5S Cattle]

Ya, I asked because it seems to be working. I recently started buying the same size calves. I implanted everything with ralgro. You think the synovex implants are good too?

 

[AndersonAg]

Thanks for the suggestions! I'll definitely take a closer look at those.

 

[AndersonAg]

Thank you for the suggestions. I will definitely take a look at those.

 

[AndersonAg]

Ya, I asked because it seems to be working. I recently started buying the same size calves. I implanted everything with ralgro. You think the synovex implants are good too?

I honestly don't know enough to say one way or the other but all the feed store had was a synovex gun when I needed one so that's what I ended up with. I'd imagine people swear by either since both companies are still in business but I'll do some research to see what comes up in the literature. Could be real interesting.

 

[Hootowl]

Buying same size and type will allow you to sell as a group which most places adds a few cents to ther price.