Plan O' Attack

[Mudge]

Well, i got a plan on what i want to do, but im not quite sure if it will work or not, so im looking for some insight on what ya'll will think about this plan.

Come march/april time, i plan on buying 5 Bred Jersey Cows. Once the baby drop's, i would purchace 4 Semmintal calves per Jersey cow, so in the end i would have 25 Baby Calves milking off from 5 Jersey NurseCows. Do that while giving a plentiful amount of hay and calf starter. Once they hit around 300-400 LBS, i would sell the 5 Jersey cows at the sale barn so i dont waste hay/food throughout the year feeding them. then with the 25 Calves id then raise them until roughly 650-800 range then sell the 20 Sim's and 5 Jersey' at the sale barn also. at those current weights the time periouid would make it where i wouldnt have to worry about the winters in michigan and i'd give me time to rethink my plan of attack during the winter for the next year process.

i choose simmental because i got a seller for them so i dont got to mess with the livestock auction.

so the question is, do you think this plan has the potential to make money? is the 5calves on 1jersey cow sounds realistic? this will be our second year doing cattle, our first year was bottle calves, and in the beggining it seemed like nothing went right for us, no we understand the system a little bit better, so next question is, 25 cattle to much to handle for a 2nd year person?

 

[rockridgecattle]

First, look at your set up. Can you keep these new animals totally isolated from your main herd? Water included. Remember to clean your boots and change coveralls before moving to the main herd...cross contamination.
Next, is the main herd vaccinated with some sort of BVD IBR Colostridial, and all else?
Do these cows and calves you are planning to buy come from vaccinated farms or are you planning on the sale barn...?
Remember each farm has it's own variation of disease your animals might not be prepare to handle and visa versa.

Bringing in close to calving (6 mo) can lead to disaster if not handled right. I'm talking about diseases. Talk to your vet...
Can you make money? I dunno!!!
This is not my area because honestly i would not put my herd through the risk. All i would need is a few calves to get sick from scours and die or PI calves that were bought infecting my main herd causing some poor schelps in my calves and then i would loose money.

Really weigh the risks in planning this veture...
Good luck,

RR

 

[Hippie Rancher]

think you will have access to 25 Simmental calves all at the right time?

 

[Mudge]

20.

and i forgot to think that far ahead

 

[backhoeboogie]

20.

and i forgot to think that far ahead

The nurse cow idea is fine, if you have the time. Do you have the time? They are all not neccessarily going to make nurse cows. You could potentially be putting 3/4 of them in a head gate (or else build a crate) to let the calves nurse, twice a day. Unless you have a nursing crate or head gate for each cow, that is a long duration each cycle. Don't think you are going to just turn them out to pasture and each cow knows which calves she is supposed to adopt.

I doubt very seriously that you will find pure bred calves to put on the cows of any beef breed. You are lucky to find any that are choice. I have set thru the Dublin, TX salebarn for over 16 hours and only saw a few cow calf pairs split that were the right age and decent. Depending on who is there looking and bidding, the cost could be prohibitive.

If I were going to enter this venture, I would build a portable nurse crate for each cow such that you could put feed in it and run the cow in. I would build a pen for each crate and house the calves. At feeding time, let the cow in, put feed in the end of her crate, shut the gate behind her once she enters, and then turn the calves in. The lower back of the crate would be open such that the calves could access her.

I would limit her to 4 calves and not 5. At two months, I would gradually cull the weakest calves off of each cow, weaning them to feed, while allowing the choice calves (keepers) to continue nursing. Once those calves are weaned, you could cycle another 4 calves onto the cow.

I would not allow the cow to nurse more than 8 calves, in two cycles.

If you have a really good nurse cow, you can turn her out to pasture with the calves at about one month or so.

Just my opinion, based on my experience with a nurse cow. You do what ever you want.

 

[shorty]

Your plan might look good on paper , but in the real world it probably will never happen , beef breeders , simm or whatever breed don't normally sell calves that need to be nursed , that's what they feed a cow all year for , you probably won't find that many calves at one time of a certain brred , I'm also not sure a jersey would have enough milk to handle 5 calves unless she were fed for heavy milk production, you would never do it on just pasture. If you want simmental calves to sell get 5 simmental heifers and do it the same way everyone else does.

 

[Hippie Rancher]

20.

and i forgot to think that far ahead

me too on the math

don't be embarrassed for asking - getting good info is way better than making a real mistake!

 

[pdfangus]

even 4 calves is a lot for one jersey cow in my opinion. Will do well early on but after calves get a month or six week old they will need more than she will produce.

Make money ?
Depends on the price of feed you will be putting into the Jersey cows and the calves
depends on what you think you can get for the calves.

Lot of work?
Most definitely. How much time are you willing to devote to it on a daily basis.

Jersey calves also will not compete well at the cow with the more agressive beef calves and growth will suffer.

 

[preston39]

Mudge..,

You can do it but, I will predict you will probably only do it a time or two.

We have a short horn Jersey/Brown Swiss and always put an extra calf on her when she calves. It is a 3-5 day ordeal to get her to accept the calf.....while she is eating her favorite sweet feed mix....which greatly helps. You must allow one to suck at a time at first and that can be a hassle. At 1 week old they know your routine and will dart under her belly to the other side when you approach to remove them....x 20!!!!!!!

Proper set-up is key.

Getting that many new calves will be a challenge. Staggering births will help. I would breed them to a beef bull...so assertiveness is relatively equal with the add-ons.

A key will be to get the little fellows eating as soon as possible because with growth there will not be enough milk in a few weeks. A holstein or Brown Swiss would be a better choice for that type program.....because of milk volume available.

Finding that number of Jerseys..repeatidly will be a challenge. They are not plentiful.

Make money? Yes. Worth it? Depends on the time and available energy.

 

[Beef11]

find a feedlot ask to buy any calves they have accidentally. Feedlots that feed killer cows are best. Believe me many slaughter animals are bred.

 

[backhoeboogie]

find a feedlot ask to buy any calves they have accidentally. Feedlots that feed killer cows are best. Believe me many slaughter animals are bred.

Beef you are only two away from guru status. :shock: Congratulations :lol:


I don't know of feedlots in my proximity any more but would give that a try if I could. I have been relying on the splits from the sale barn to put on my milk cow.

Jersey can take 4 with no problem. I'd still wean one off a bit earlier as I described above. The lady I know who does this constantly and consistently uses nothing but Jersey.

 

[Mudge]

glad i asked the question, since im new to the hole ordeal. i just figured throw a bunch of calves on a jersey cow, and the jersey's mother instincts would kick in and just feed the other calves right away.

I dont know i may just do my original idea, of just buying 200 lb steers, anywhere from Beef or Dairy minus jersey, and just raise them to around 600-700 lbs. That would probbaly be a little easier compared to my other idear.

anyway, thanks for the help its greatly appreciated.

 

[OhioRiver]

interesting

Your plan might look good on paper , but in the real world it probably will never happen , beef breeders , simm or whatever breed don't normally sell calves that need to be nursed , that's what they feed a cow all year for , you probably won't find that many calves at one time of a certain brred , I'm also not sure a jersey would have enough milk to handle 5 calves unless she were fed for heavy milk production, you would never do it on just pasture. If you want simmental calves to sell get 5 simmental heifers and do it the same way everyone else does.

 

[backhoeboogie]

glad i asked the question, since im new to the hole ordeal.

Mudge, there is an elderly lady locally who produces more steers, on fewer acres, than a lot of the bigger ranches. She does it with nurse cows, Jersey. She is THE GURU. She has the time to devote to it. Vets use her. She is well known. She's been at it a while. She raises high dollar orphans for a fee. If I had a twin that was rejected and I didn't have time to mess with bottle feeding it, I'd sell it to her.

Your idea is not a bad idea. Except for finding all those pure bred calves. Once you had a good set of nurse cows, it would be easier. It would take time and culling to get there.

 

[Beef11]

Nurse cows are time consuming money makers. Get yourself some "Orphan No More" or as we call it "ONOMO" it will save you alot of time and trouble.

 

[msscamp]

Well, i got a plan on what i want to do, but im not quite sure if it will work or not, so im looking for some insight on what ya'll will think about this plan.

Come march/april time, i plan on buying 5 Bred Jersey Cows. Once the baby drop's, i would purchace 4 Semmintal calves per Jersey cow, so in the end i would have 25 Baby Calves milking off from 5 Jersey NurseCows.

Works well in theory, but have you done any research on this, or on what young calves are bringing in your area, or given any thought to the time it's going to take to graft these calves onto a cow? Around here, young calves are going for anywhere between $200 and $300/head through the salebarn - even for newborns that have probably had no colostrum. I'm sure you're aware that the salebarn is a good source for illness and disease, so you would need special handling of these calves to prevent them from coming into contact with your main herd (that goes for the foster mothers, as well, as they will be carriers of a lot of bacteria/viruses the calves are carrying), and grafting calves tends to be very time consumptive - especially with these numbers. You will have to pen the calves, bring the cows in twice a day and monitor them while nursing to make sure that the calves are getting enough milk. It could get really expensive, and very tiring really quickly. Do you have a plan of how you're going to train the cows to come in twice a day? Do you have the resources to do it? You could pen them, but then you're looking at providing feed - as opposed to grazing. The price of salebarn calves could be offset by utilizing a private source, such as a feedlot or local rancher, but that brings up a whole other set of problems - being able to deliver the number of calves you're looking for, not to mention the fact that heifers on a feedlot ration for very long prior to delivery tend to produce calves whose intestines are damaged due to the use of high concentrate feed. There is also the factor that beef calves tend to grow faster, be heavier, and can put a very high demand on a dairy cow that requires a lot of expensive grain to fix.

Do that while giving a plentiful amount of hay and calf starter.

What are you going to do about the couple of calves who are aggresive, and gobble all the calf starter, vs the ones who are timid and don't get any?

...so next question is, 25 cattle to much to handle for a 2nd year person?

No, I don't think 25 cattle is too much for a 2nd year person - depending on the person - but I don't believe I would go this route with your experience. Quite honestly, I would'nt go this route - there is simply too much potential for losing my shirt.