How do you think they are doing this?

[dbro]

I am very green to cattle but I have watched the dairy sale in Stephenville Texas here and there over the past year or more and have watched some of the same men buying these baby calves. My question is how do you think they are doing this and making any profit? I am not the most social nor am I a well known face at the barn so the information I have gotten from these guys is minimal. Until I can try and get some info from the men that are doing this I was hoping for some knowledge from this sight. Also is anyone raising these bottle babies on this sight anymore? Thanks D

 

[WalnutCrest]

Lots of potential answers.

Locals buy dairy steers for some real tasty beef. Not much yield, but what's there is pretty good.

 

[Lucky_P]

don't know about today...
Raised a bunch of 'em, back in the late '80s - bought straight off the farms - from my dairy clients, not at the salebarn. Lucked up and had minimal sickness or death loss. Made enough money on the steers to pay for raising a bunch of their heifer mates, which I sold at a pretty good clip as bred/springing heifers; was a win-win deal all the way around.
Got back into 'em again, for a short time in the mid '90s; lost a bunch to scours, and they brought about as much when we sold 'em as 400-450# calves as we paid for them as 2-3 day old babies.
Don't care if I never have another Holstein on the place, or a bottle calf of any sort, for that matter.

IF you get healthy calves, and don't experience ANY sickness or DEATH LOSS, you can probably do OK with them - but sometimes it turns into a trainwreck. Somebody on CT, just recently, bought a truckload of 85 baby dairy calves out of FL and had lost all but 11 inside of a week or so - haven't revisited that thread recently to see if ANY survived.

 

[sim.-ang.king]

Pm Llarryshoat on here if he doesn't reply. He takes care of quite a handful every year, and handful is a understatement.

 

[denvermartinfarms]

I use to raise sevarel hundred every year, now there just no money in it. You can go buy a weaned 200lb Holstein steer for less than it cost to buy a baby and get it weaned, plus your not taking near the risk buying a weaned calf at 200lbs.

 

[Jogeephus]

I can get them for nothing but I am allergic to milk bottles so I won't fool with them.

 

[ChrisB]

Last I checked in my area baby dairy calves where around $100 but they have probably gone up a bit. I think most calf raisers get them to 300# and I heard they were $1.50/pd. lately. 1 bag of milk replacer for $90 and a couple bags of calf starter for $25. I think if you keep them alive there is for sure money in it.

 

[bigbull338]

most all of the people that you see buying alot of calves are order buyers.so are hobby calf raisers an buy calves to raise.

 

[NC Liz 2]

It could be that they are in the veil business with an already established market price.
Liz

 

[backhoeboogie]

I am very green to cattle but I have watched the dairy sale in Stephenville Texas here and there over the past year or more and have watched some of the same men buying these baby calves. My question is how do you think they are doing this and making any profit? I am not the most social nor am I a well known face at the barn so the information I have gotten from these guys is minimal. Until I can try and get some info from the men that are doing this I was hoping for some knowledge from this sight. Also is anyone raising these bottle babies on this sight anymore? Thanks D

Do you speak spanish? I have been to that barn several times. If you cannot speak spanish, you aren't going to communicate much. Some of those guys are running nurse cows, that they grew out of bottle calves at that very barn.

I went with friends last year a few times. They wanted to be sure they were not buying free martins. There was a pen of a dozen or so with colored necklaces on to signify they were heifers. 5 of those were free martins. Obvious signs.

If you are looking to flip bottle steer calves, you're money ahead to go to Dublin and buy beef calves split off of aged cows. Get them about a week to two weeks old. They have had colostrum. Mortality is better and the price will be better when you sell them.

A whole lot of those calves there in Stephenville have not had colostrum.