Holsteins or Jerseys? Pros and Cons?

[mississippicalf]

Im just getting into the cow buisness and Im going to be bottle feeding some calves and reselling them around 6 months old or so. Anyway Im trying to decide between Holsteins and Jerseys. Which would you choose and why? Talk about the pro and cons of each. Like as far as raising each and maybe the sell price of each. I appreciate any input.

 

[bigbull338]

ok lets talk jerseys 1st.the jersey calf is born looking for a place to die.hence they are hard to raise an keep alive.now mind you they have to have moms 1st milk.an even then its a tough go.that said id rather raise holsteins or crosses.an i have done so an lost my shirt.the death losses are killers.you might buy 8 calves an lose 8 calves.that can an does happen.

 

[TexasBred]

:clap: :clap: :clap: Spoken like a man that has been there for sure. :clap: :clap: :clap:

 

[backhoeboogie]

What is your goal and what type facilities do you have?

If you are looking to buy calves and sell them at 6 months, and that's it, go with beef splits. Go to the salebarn and find cow/calf pairs that are split because the cows are old and no one is bidding. Buy that calf when it is split. It is best to get them about 2 weeks old if you can. You may have a hard time getting them to take a bottle the first couple of times at that age, but you'll get a lot more profit selling beef calves at 6 months old versus dairy steers.

If you are looking for heifers to make nurse cows out of, I prefer jerseys. Other than that, I prefer holsteins.

Lately, I just graft splits onto a nurse cow. Splits that are two weeks old generally are already healthy and you can pretty much rest assured they received colostrums from the cow when they are beef animals.

 

[Defarm]

Hi ya
Why this type of calf, dont get me wrong i like jerseys.
Why not angus or herfords they would be easier to rear and easier to buy.

 

[mississippicalf]

Ive found that angus and hereford are alot more expensive calves than the dairy calves is why I was looking at either the Holstien or Jersey. Have really been leaning towards Holsteins more than anything.

 

[mississippicalf]

On average at the sell barn here recently Ive been seeing dairy calves go for an average price of $25 and all the beef calves going for over $100 a head.

 

[HOSS]

I've raised several Jersey bottle calves. Got them at 3 days old. They were on momma for 3 days to get the colostrum. I had very little health issues with an exception of the first one. Tried raising him in a barn till he got big enough to run with my beef cows. Big mistake. Barns are where the germs are. Wound up having to give him a shot of mycotil (dangerous stuff) to pull him through. Let the rest roam a 5 acre pasture and they did fine. Raised one good specimen up to a two year old and leased him out to some dairy farmers as a clean-up bull. Another mistake. He went from sweet, easy to handle bull to a snot slinging, hoof pawing injury waiting to happen. I got smart and took him to the dairy sale where he was snatched up by one of the farmers that leased him earlier.

 

[Defarm]

Beef calves are about the same price over here as yours but diary calves are fetching $300 and above.
I have 5 jersey heifers in calf due this spring, i intend taking there calves of about 3 weeks old and replacing them with angus or herfords.Did this last year with a jersey cow it worked well money ways.
Dont be scared to ask questions on here there are people on here with a world of info.

 

[Defarm]

I've raised several Jersey bottle calves. Got them at 3 days old. They were on momma for 3 days to get the colostrum. I had very little health issues with an exception of the first one. Tried raising him in a barn till he got big enough to run with my beef cows. Big mistake. Barns are where the germs are. Wound up having to give him a shot of mycotil (dangerous stuff) to pull him through. Let the rest roam a 5 acre pasture and they did fine. Raised one good specimen up to a two year old and leased him out to some dairy farmers as a clean-up bull. Another mistake. He went from sweet, easy to handle bull to a snot slinging, hoof pawing injury waiting to happen. I got smart and took him to the dairy sale where he was snatched up by one of the farmers that leased him earlier.

Here here HOSS jersey bulls should be shot at birth there dangerous.Two farmers near me got badly injured with jersey bulls one will never walk again.

 

[backhoeboogie]

Ive found that angus and hereford are alot more expensive calves than the dairy calves is why I was looking at either the Holstien or Jersey. Have really been leaning towards Holsteins more than anything.

angus were really cheap last year. I picked up a two week old heifer for next to nothing over in Dublin. No one there bid. They started her and kept dropping and dropping. The ring man look at me with an appeal so I bid. I had already picked up the numbers I wanted and I had eared calves. I took that heifer to the lady who runs several nurse cows and she gave me my money back on her. I didn't see them split any angus after that.

You folks who want angus need to come to this climate to get them.

 

[Dave]

Beef calves may be more expensive to purchase but look at the difference in price when you go to sell them. They are worth a whole lot more. More than the difference in original price. The cost to raise a beef calf, holstein, or jersey is all relatively close to the same so look at the difference is sales value. If you want to use less expensive dairy calves to learn with, that is probably a good idea. Holsteins can make you money in good times but jerseys seem to be a break even at best and a loser most of the time.

 

[glover36]

try milking shorthorns easy calvers and right up there with milk production with holstiens and you can get those calves really beefy

 

[FarmGirl10]

I've raised a lot of bottle babies/bucket calves/whatever else you wanna call them, and I've had the best luck with Holsteins. Unless you know the genitics of the Jersey farm they came off of, then buy Holsteins. I'm not going to knock on Jerseys, because I've seen some that are better than Hosteins, but generally you best bet would be holsteins.

 

[milkmaid]

Beef calves may be more expensive to purchase but look at the difference in price when you go to sell them. They are worth a whole lot more. More than the difference in original price. The cost to raise a beef calf, holstein, or jersey is all relatively close to the same so look at the difference is sales value. If you want to use less expensive dairy calves to learn with, that is probably a good idea. Holsteins can make you money in good times but jerseys seem to be a break even at best and a loser most of the time.

Ditto to that. If you're just learning, don't put too much money into the purchase of 'em, but if you know what you're doing than you'd be best off buying calves that you can actually get your money back on and maybe make a bit in the process. Have to spend money to make money.

 

[CattleHand]

I'd get herefords or limousine or angus if you were serious, they are a little bit hardier. Holsteins are cheaper cattle and raising them you get what you paid for.

 

[mississippicalf]

If you're just learning, don't put too much money into the purchase of 'em, but if you know what you're doing than you'd be best off buying calves that you can actually get your money back on and maybe make a bit in the process. Have to spend money to make money.

Ya I am just learning. Ive helped some family and friends with theirs but never owned any of my own. So next week Ill be buying cows for myself for the first time. I was orginally really interested in the angus cows but was really kinda scared to invest money in them with me being inexperienced. If everything goes well and I get a little more experience under my belt I will probably consider either angus or hereford. I was looking at the Jersey or Holstein based on not losing alot of money if I didnt do well right away. Friend of mine has Jerseys of course he's like me and is not real experienced but he hasnt had good luck with them. Didnt know if other people had bad luck with the Jerseys too. He's only had one Holstein and had no problem with it. I really dont know anyone personally other than him that fools with Jerseys. Most people I know that have cows have beef cows, I do know several with Holsteins that are doing well with them.

 

[jt]

once you get it figured out, and can afford to, imo you will come out way ahead to buy GOOD beef calves and put them on your nurse cows. you might even have to pay 200 for one, but that little dude (get bull calves) will be worth 400 before you can turn around, if your cow is any good.

i guess i am taking it that you are in the nurse cow business maybe.. if you just want good cattle, go beef.

jmo

jt

 

[angie1]

mississippicalf ~
It has been my experience that the money you spend buying the beef calves is more than saved by the time you've paid the vet bill trying to pull dairy calves through. As a beginner wanting to gain experience, I really think you should take another look at raising beef calves. They are much hardier than the dairy. Learning to raise calves with a dairy breed is kind of a school of hard knocks way to go about it. Even the crosses are easier. If beef calves get sick they fight, dairy calves will get sick and give up. Just my experience and just something to think about.....

 

[Hunny Do Ranch]

Im just getting into the cow buisness and Im going to be bottle feeding some calves and reselling them around 6 months old or so. Anyway Im trying to decide between Holsteins and Jerseys. Which would you choose and why? Talk about the pro and cons of each. Like as far as raising each and maybe the sell price of each. I appreciate any input.

I started to get into this this year. I use nurse cows. I had 20 over 6 months and lost 8. They were treated for scours and such and other things. I had the most luck with calves that were aggressive and over 2 weeks old. We have access to holstein bulls calves for fairly cheap or free so we figured we would try it. It was fun but a lot of work. Up where we are holsteins are worth more than jersey's to sell. You can't even give a jersey bull calf away. We will do it again at some point this year. Right now we are waiting for the neighbors to calve out their beef cows because if something happens they want us to raise the calf for them on on jersey's. So its lots of hand milking for me right now. I have run out of freezer space haha.

I found that the holstein's are bottemless pitts. They can eat and eat.