nurse holstein cow

[Sir Loin]

TB,
Re:

Use to raise over 400 dairy calves a year on nothing but mama's milk right out of the pipeline still warm along with a high quality calf starter and would lose about 3=4 a year. No meds. at all unless you had to treat an individual calf.

And that is as it should be------- in a closed heard situation.
But we are talking about " hand milk a holstein cow & use that milk to bottle feed sale barn bottle calves.

Re:

you need to spend another ten=fifteen bucks a bag and get a good milk replacer medicated only with Bovatec. The calves will do much better.

You can only get what is available in your area. I have never seen a milk replacer medicated with Bovatec.
That is why I use Corid.

FYI:
The Active drug ingredients in my replacer are:
Neomycine Sulfate--------------16 g/ton
Oxytetracycline------------------16 g/ton

The Active drug ingredients in my calf starter feed are:
Chlortetracycline ------------140 g/ton
Lasalocia------------------------68 g/ton
SL

 

[mwj]

22,
Re:

Have you priced milk replacer lately?

Yes!
It's $58 per 50 lb. I generally use 2 bags per calf. ( 20% P - 15% F)
I also use 2 bags of 18 % palletized calf starter feed @ $12.40 per 50 lb bag.
Both are medicated.
Plus about $10 of hay.

For total cost of $150.00 to raise a bottle baby up to around 300 lbs when they go on pasture and hay only.
Plus ½ hr labor = $5.00



1/2 HOUR OF LABOR TO RAISE A BOTTLE CALF TO 300LBS. :bs:

Now what is the cost to buy a cow and feed and maintain her for 3 months?
Remember cows depreciate at a rate of around $100 per year.
What is your labor cost?

33,
Re:

Since when do bottle calves require antibiotics to thrive?

Since they have virtually no immune system of their own until they are around 3 mo old.
Plus they have no momma to attend to their external medical needs and need to be protected.

SL

 

[Sir Loin]

Mwj,
LOL.
That should read "Plus ½ hr per feeding labor = $5.00"
Good catch.

Now use that same pencil to this:

My cost is about a dollar a day per calf when they are on the nurse cow. That's the cow's feed and keep pro-rated. Milk replacer is much more expensive and the calves don't do as well, for me anyway.

SL

 

[ousoonerfan22]

Milk replacer here has almost doubled in price $38-$45 for a 25 lb bag and $80 or more for a 50 lb bag.

 

[Nite Hawk]

Lets do a little math here--
$80 a bag X 2 bags per calf = $160 per calf
times that by how many calves say a cow can raise 6 calves in a summer- 3 calves for 3 months and the average cow milks about 9-10 months before dry off, so more calves can be put on her after the first batch.
( some people raise 4 at a time)
but lets say $160 X 6 = $960 it cost to buy milk replacer for those 6 calves. Plus the price of the calf.
If you raised 4 calves
$160 X 4 calves =$640
for the first batch and if you raise a second batch of 4 you are looking at another $640.
So for the two batchs of 4 calves you are looking at a grand total of $1280 just to feed 8 calves using milk repolacer at $80 per bag, and that doesn't include the price of the calf..
Haven't bought milk replacer for a long long time, but if I remember right the price used to be between $50-$80 a bag years ago.
I think the cow just paid for herself in the first year......
my opinion...

 

[backhoeboogie]

When I retire I will run several nurse cows. Don't know of anything more profitable in the commercial industry. Calves may be hard to come by with the cattle shortage.