Possible Business Idea... Would this work??

[Belties R Us]

So I am a college student and am looking for a way to raise some additional money (through an ag venture) to help me get my American Degree. We are new to cattle so I was curious if anyone thought this was a good idea or maybe it's just crazy. Tell me what you think.

I want to raise up a couple of bottle heifer calves. I've seen them for sale but didn't know they were available. Is this rare/something wrong with them? Anyway once they were breeding age we would implant some high quality beef cattle embryos into them. Once they dropped calves we would consolidate calves of the same age onto one cow. Then the other cows could get bottle calves grafted onto them to raise up. From there we would have two options. The easier one is to get them to feeder size and haul to an auction.

Not sure this is really realistic but here goes. At some point if we got large enough, I have always found byproduct feeding very intriguing. I would attempt to feed them out as steers on a at least partial byproduct diet to help improve profit margin.

Questions I haven't figured out yet:
Why are they offering bottle heifers for sale? I thought producers retained all females.
How complicated is it to graft calves onto a cow?
How many calves could an average Holstein cow support?
Realistic timeline of raising up calves.
If this is cost effective after feeding the cows because if I understand Holsteins correctly they won't be able to be only hay fed?
Probably more but that's all I have for now. Thoughts appreciated!

 

[Bigfoot]

A lot there to digest. It's good to see a young person with iniative. Many of your ideas would be successful. Biggest hole in the plan is putting embryos in heifers. Not that it wouldn't work, it's just a gamble on both ends.

The heifers may be free martins

It's not hard to get a cow to accept a graft.

The number that raise varies on production. 3 at a time possibly. More over the course of year.

The byproduct thing. That's pretty much what we are all feeding anyway.

 

[Howdyjabo]

I like your thought process- you have the right idea of finding a "bargain" and adding value to it.
But I think you need to Keep thinking.

Generally using byproducts is for running large numbers. If you are buying out of a sack you will go broke unless you find a niche market.
Do you have pasture? right now pasture with cow/calf is where the money is at.

 

[Jessica06]

Depending on your financial situation, you might consider bypassing the whole raising heifers and putting in embryos idea and just buy a couple of mature cows, dry and bred or otherwise. While startup would be a bit higher, your risk would be MUCH lower and you would be making a return on your investment MUCH sooner. Things to consider:

Cost of milk replacer and feed to raise two heifers to breeding.
One or both heifers could die prior to breeding.
You would have to FIND and probably buy the embryos.
One or both could not settle to embryo (likely, and mucho expensive)
One or both could lose the calf, before or during calving.
One or both could be poor mamas.
They probably won't be able to raise as many calves as a mature cow.

Lots of variables. With heifers, in any breed, there are going to be obstacles.

 

[Chris H]

So I am a college student and am looking for a way to raise some additional money (through an ag venture) to help me get my American Degree. We are new to cattle so I was curious if anyone thought this was a good idea or maybe it's just crazy. Tell me what you think.

I want to raise up a couple of bottle heifer calves. I've seen them for sale but didn't know they were available. Is this rare/something wrong with them? Anyway once they were breeding age we would implant some high quality beef cattle embryos into them. Once they dropped calves we would consolidate calves of the same age onto one cow. Then the other cows could get bottle calves grafted onto them to raise up. From there we would have two options. The easier one is to get them to feeder size and haul to an auction.

Not sure this is really realistic but here goes. At some point if we got large enough, I have always found byproduct feeding very intriguing. I would attempt to feed them out as steers on a at least partial byproduct diet to help improve profit margin.

Questions I haven't figured out yet:
Why are they offering bottle heifers for sale? I thought producers retained all females.
How complicated is it to graft calves onto a cow?
How many calves could an average Holstein cow support?
Realistic timeline of raising up calves.
If this is cost effective after feeding the cows because if I understand Holsteins correctly they won't be able to be only hay fed?
Probably more but that's all I have for now. Thoughts appreciated!

Often a bottle calf heifer will be a free-martin.
I know a guy who used to have a Holstein or two and raise bottle calves on them. He'd bring the cows into the barn morning & night to feed them grain. While they were eating their grain he'd turn the calves loose on them. He'd have one calf per working teat. He'd often get a good cow at kill price that had lost a quarter due to mastitis.
You can wean the calf as early as 6 weeks, and replace with a new calf. If you have a younger calf nursing in a group, let it on first to be sure it gets its share.

The biggest drawback is the labor requirements. You have to take care of them 2x/day, 7 days/week. It's hard to find temporary help for you to get a break.

 

[denvermartinfarms]

The plan is to far off for my likening, buying baby heifer's to make your cows out of puts you at nearly 3 years before getting anything back out of them. Buy some older dairy cows for 85cwt put about 4 calves on each one, and you will make money.