Just wanted some opinions. How many would you raise a year and when would you sell them? Larry you mentioned 14months they are holsteins. I thought about 10 a year rotate them them through the youngest 2 would not be off the bottle long when the oldest 2 or so would be sold. Our field is thick we have limed and fertilized it. We also give one or two pounds of 12percent feed a day.
If you had 2 acres and bottle fed
- Thread starter dgott
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larryshoat
Well-known member
Sounds like you've got a reasonable idea of what you want to do . As dun says you're not gonna make much if anything at it but, if thats what you you want to do there are worse things to spend your time and money on .You'll make adjustments in what you're doing as time goes by but you've got to start somewhere .
Larry
Larry
larryshoat
Well-known member
That is when the are heavy enough to meet the specifications of the contract .
Larry
Larry
bigbull338
Well-known member
if you have 2acs of good grass you can raise 6 calves on it for 6 months to a year.but as dun said its a good way to loose your shirt.in my opion your under feeding the calves.id feed them 6lbs of grain a hd a day.even in knee deep lush grass.they wont gain anything on 2lbs of feed a hd a day.
in this area you can make a small profit doing that, the bum calves go very cheap when you can find them. These are beef calves though, not holstien. I guess it depends what your time is worth, if you figure in your time you don't make diddly. Some folks around here raise their freezer beef that way, makes for some cheap meat for the family. Either way, you won't get rich, but it's very rewarding, especially if you have kids at home.
msscamp":qdlpn42s said:
Yes, I haven't done bottle calves in a few years because the price of milk replacer is so high. Maybe get a nurse cow if you really want to do that. Also, feeding bottle babies is fun, kinda, for the first couple of days, then you are chained to their schedule, not unlike having an infant, only infants have car seats. I will raise a couple of calves at a time on my little pasture in back of the house for our own beef. Once again, when grass is good it is far better. Get caught in a drought and you are screwed. And you will never make money at it by the time you factor in the milk replacer and feed if you plan on selling.
It is something good for the kids, though, and a good way to know where your meat comes from.
