Jersey Bull calf

[cow pollinater]

Why not see if you can find a brown swiss bull? They make nice quiet cattle that are a good start on a beef herd and there a few up your way.

 

[Flatbroke]

The most dangerous bull there is, is a Jersey and the most dangerous of that kind in a bottle fed one. He will be your buddy right up to the day he takes you, and as some one has noted there is no quit in them. They turn on you they will kill you. Cut him and eat him they do eat good.

 

[VCC]

A little story on why I would castrate your calf

Buddy the (dairy) Cattle Dog

Back in the early 80's when they were known as Queensland Heelers we had a litter of pups, we sold all the females but could not sell the single blue male pup we had. Well I had gone to school with a kid, Jake, whose family had a dairy outside of town said he would take him off our hands and see if he worked out, but if he harassed the cows he'd fined himself taking a long knap in the river bed.

Well Buddy had not had his tail docked as a pup and it was quite the tail, he would wave it at the cows as he ducked under the fence after harassing them (he never did make it the river bed, but we'll get to that) Buddy was helping Jake move cows to get preg checked and got himself in a tight corner, he dove under the fence and almost cleared trouble when he came to a sudden stop. One of the big old play toys had stepped on his tail, breaking it at in half, the vet finished it off for him after preg checking the cows. It seemed to take him about a week to find his balance after that.

Well Buddy's favorite game was to run through the pens and grab a cow's tail, swing way up in the air, then let go just before he came to a stop and fly. Jake was pushing cows from the pen to the milk parlor and Buddy was up to his old trick of flying when Jake was suddenly charged by the bull that was in the pen with the cows. The bull had Jake pinned up against the fence and would have likely killed him had it not been for Buddy. Buddy had come from nowhere, first striking the bull full force broadside, and before the bull could blink, Buddy had him by the nose and pulled him away from Jake. Jake was able to scramble away and get out of the alley. Buddy let go of the bull and went to fly some more.

What does this have to do with your Jersey bull; Jake bottle fed this bull, he was his pride and joy, he was the beginning of Jakes Red Holstein herd. Jake had shown him as a Jr. Bull at both the county and state levels, he had spent hours upon hours with this bull, washing, leading, and grooming him. The day the bull attacked him was the first day he showed any aggression; he attacked with no warning what so ever and had intended on killing him.

Castrate your bull, find some beef cows/heifers or even some dairy/beef crosses and AI for beef calves, you will be ahead in the long run. My friend, Jake had been around cattle from his first days on earth, he knew the dangers and how to avoid them, he let his guard down once and it nearly cost him his life.

 

[Commercialfarmer]

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[Loch Valley Fold]

From reading this thread you are only going to end up hurting or killing yourself or someone else castrate the Jersey bull have a steer instead. To hand raise a Jersey bull takes knowledge, understanding & knowing when play becomes real I've reared plenty of Jersey bulls over the years for our dairy to know how quickly they can change & the worst thing to do is turn them into a "puppy dog" even super quiet heifers are hard to handle. In all the years of raising Jerseys we've sold 3 that started to get mean & they went before they killed someone, having children its a no brainer on what going to go first

 

[Kathie in Thorp]

I'll say this again, with more emphasis. Don't keep that bull as a bull!

We raised a Jersey steer last year. Got him at about 7 mos. old or so. He LOVED us! He LOVED to be petted, scratched, rubbed. He was curious about anything new, alive or just "something" -- including a little dog on the other side of the gate from him. He stuck his head waaaaay under the gate, so he was on his knees, trying to check out that dog, and he was curious about shoes, also -- did the same thing with shoes.

The bigger he got, the more animated and fearless he got, so he'd come at you curious at a dead run with heels flying, and not pay ANY attention to where you were in his exuberance. It got so he was dangerous if you were in his space. On the day he was scheduled to be slaughtered (thank God it was that day!), when his feed was limited, he stuck his head through a panel he couldn't get back out of, trying to reach hay. And that's how he died -- head in a panel and a$$ in the air. Just that experience with a Jersey STEER -- never a bull!

 

[HighTimeRodeo]

I'm going to kick myself for posting this after the... response, but when did I say we were definitely going to keep him as a bull? I don't believe I did.

And A) Of course I'm nuts, I have the certificate to prove it B) Of course I'm making excuses to myself. I live in Michigan, I have to.

For the moment, these jersey calves do make sense for us. We cannot afford beef calves. I'd love to have a pair of cross heifers and use AI to start a small herd. But, despite what the finance people on Wall St. say, it's going to take a long time for my states economy to get better.

And a smaller hanging weight is what we want. Our poor freezer can hardly handle a 300# hog, much less a 1400# steer. We already have customers lining up through our CSA, what with the price of beef going up and all.

I never said I knew everything. I never said I thought reading a book would prepare me for anything. I've raised chickens for meat for three years and I still have a high mortality rate among them. But this is a first step to a long future and, up until now, a relatively postive one.

Thank you for all the helpful comments and suggestions. Especially the Brown Swiss one. That's definitely worth looking into.

 

[BC]

I'm going to kick myself for posting this after the... response, but when did I say we were definitely going to keep him as a bull? I don't believe I did.

And A) Of course I'm nuts, I have the certificate to prove it B) Of course I'm making excuses to myself. I live in Michigan, I have to.

For the moment, these jersey calves do make sense for us. We cannot afford beef calves. I'd love to have a pair of cross heifers and use AI to start a small herd. But, despite what the finance people on Wall St. say, it's going to take a long time for my states economy to get better.

And a smaller hanging weight is what we want. Our poor freezer can hardly handle a 300# hog, much less a 1400# steer. We already have customers lining up through our CSA, what with the price of beef going up and all.

I never said I knew everything. I never said I thought reading a book would prepare me for anything. I've raised chickens for meat for three years and I still have a high mortality rate among them. But this is a first step to a long future and, up until now, a relatively postive one.

Thank you for all the helpful comments and suggestions. Especially the Brown Swiss one. That's definitely worth looking into.

You never said that you were "definitely" going to keep the Jersey for a bull, but you were considering it. The advice was to not even consider keeping a Jersey bull for breeding purposes (unless you have a dairy). You also made the comment that you could not afford the price of beef calves. The American consumer has had has had cheapest food cost for as long as I can remember. We spend about 10 to 12 percent of our income for food. Many countries spend 35 to 50 percent of their income for food. We (Americans) are going to have to decide if we want to eat or play with our disposable income. Sorry for the rant, your post just pushed my "old fart" button.

 

[dun]

Cut the calf and gradually increase him to 2% of his weight in grain, at least 16% protein. Keep increasing the grain weekly as he gains weight but keep it at about 2% of his weight. Keep hihoice pasture/hay and divide the grain into a 2 feedings a day.
You always here complaints that bottle calves are potty and don;t grow well. If you'll notice, dairys don;t have that problem, that's because they feed the calves properly to get the growth that they should have.

 

[HOSS]

I would think that the extra money for a beef animal is much cheaper than an emergency room visit but your mind is made up. Good luck with your endeavor.

 

[djinwa]

This is a pay me now or pay me later deal. Sure, a jersey is cheaper up front, but it's going to cost alot more to make a pound of beef from him than from a beef calf. It's all about feed conversion, and Jerseys don't have it. If they did, they would be roaming the range of Montana. Dairy cattle are intentionally bred to not have much muscle (meat) so it doesn't take away from milk production.

My 2 cents on Jersey bulls. I used to think these stories applied to everyone but me. Got a Jersey bull calf about 6 years ago and kept him to breed at a year old. A guy I know wanted to use him, so I sold him and told him to use him quick and eat him before he got mean.

I called about 4 months later to see how friendly Freddie worked out. The wife told me that they had decided to keep him around to breed more cows, and he nearly killed her husband's dad a few months prior. Apparently Grandpa got between Freddie and his girls, and he saw that as competition. Was working gramps over pretty good, and would have killed him if a neighbor hadn't seen it and come running. Couple weeks in the hospital with chest injuries.

That did not make me feel very good.

 

[HighTimeRodeo]

Well, the point is now moot (pardon the term), as we lost him this morning. Michigan is in the middle of a hot/cold snap and he got too cold.

We still have two Jersey calves that we're going to eat. And besides, didn't most beef/dairy breeds start out as dual-purpose and were selectively bred for meat or dairy?

 

[Kathie in Thorp]

Well, the point is now moot (pardon the term), as we lost him this morning. Michigan is in the middle of a hot/cold snap and he got too cold.

We still have two Jersey calves that we're going to eat. And besides, didn't most beef/dairy breeds start out as dual-purpose and were selectively bred for meat or dairy?

Sorry about that, HTR. How old was that calf?

And you're right . . . many years ago, except for the obvious dairy breeds, cattle were bred a more dual-purpose animals. Back when you'd drive the horse and buggy or ancient tractor to town to pick up the mail, sugar, flour and coffee (cuz you grew everything else at home)!

 

[HighTimeRodeo]

3 weeks on March 24th.

Are calves tagged when they're old enough or at birth? And he was skinnier than the two we got on wednesday. Those two have nice heads.

 

[Kathie in Thorp]

3 weeks on March 24th.

Are calves tagged when they're old enough or at birth? And he was skinnier than the two we got on wednesday. Those two have nice heads.

Tag them when you can get your hands on them, if you're talking ear tags. If you're talking castration, there was recently a good discussion on the board about that -- within the last week or so.

Do you have any beef feedlots in your area? That often can be a good place to get brand new baby calves. If a cow calves in the feedlot, generally, they sell them or otherwise dispose of them ASAP, because that calf will drain the weight off the cow. However, those are iffy babies, as they are often pulled away before they even get colostrum. You'd have to have a battle plan in place, that includes a colostrum replacer (or maybe you could get and freeze fresh colostrum from a local dairy), good & dry housing, vacc. shots, and antibiotics, as scours and pneumonia are common and deadly with those little ones.

 

[Kathie in Thorp]

HTR, you might also check with the state cattlemen's association to see where there might be feedlots in Mich. I found this link: http://www.micattlemen.org/

 

[dun]

Well, the point is now moot (pardon the term), as we lost him this morning. Michigan is in the middle of a hot/cold snap and he got too cold]

We still have two Jersey calves that we're going to eat. And besides, didn't most beef/dairy breeds start out as dual-purpose and were selectively bred for meat or dairy?

At 3 weeks if he was healthy and being fed properly it would take subsero temps to kill him. Sounds like another cause to me

 

[Kathie in Thorp]

Well, the point is now moot (pardon the term), as we lost him this morning. Michigan is in the middle of a hot/cold snap and he got too cold]

We still have two Jersey calves that we're going to eat. And besides, didn't most beef/dairy breeds start out as dual-purpose and were selectively bred for meat or dairy?

At 3 weeks if he was healthy and being fed properly it would take subsero temps to kill him. Sounds like another cause to me

Yes -- Dun, you're right. HTR, did you call in a vet while you were messing with this calf, and/or otherwise determine cause of death?

 

[HighTimeRodeo]

We have a heat lamp in their stall, plenty of hay and he was covered in horse blanket.

Second, would a cold rainy day, with temperatures in the forties, with pouring rain and drizzling all day and a freezing wind from the north do it?

We don't call vets unless it's something we can't handle. My parents used to work on a cattle farm and have seen a lot having to do with calves. The fact that he had diarreha couldn't have helped at all.

 

[Kathie in Thorp]

We have a heat lamp in their stall, plenty of hay and he was covered in horse blanket.

Second, would a cold rainy day, with temperatures in the forties, with pouring rain and drizzling all day and a freezing wind from the north do it?

We don't call vets unless it's something we can't handle. My parents used to work on a cattle farm and have seen a lot having to do with calves. The fact that he had diarreha couldn't have helped at all.

HTR -- What do you think that calf's cause of death was?

No, your weather conditions weren't optimum. But alot of pasture-born calves survive that. And he was scouring? Was his breathing compromised?