Salebarn Calf Mortality Rate

[AngusLimoX]

I believe the death loss rate in average cow/calf is about 6%.
( Yes I realize some folks will come and say they do better than that, but there will be a lot of quiet folks as well :lol: ).

If a relatively experienced person ( not a vet ) were to give reasonable care to the average/random ( not a select one ) calf of less than 6 months age ( include bottle calves ) from the sales barns across North America, what would the death rate be.

Don't read into it or add all sorts of variables or "what if's".

 

[tom4018]

Tried to count up all that we have raised in bottle calves. Came up about 13% loss, first couple years lost some to our stupidity done better last few years. Some were salebarn calves others came off nearby farms.

 

[Alice]

As I've said before in another post, around here the death loss is at least 10%...at least 10%. I think if the mega sale barn holstein baby calf raisers around here were honest, they'd admit to 15%.

Around here it's a business...buying sale barn holstein babies. He'll pay up to almost $300 for a baby bull, I mean cord hanging, baby bull calf if it's big and active. He'll pay up to $600 for a baby, I mean cord hanging, baby holstein heifer. And, in this county that is a dairy farm driven county, that man pays God know how much at each sale. He'll then take them to his farm and keep them for 2 weeks...then he ships them to California, New Mexico, and another state that I can't think of. Apparently he's under contract to someone, something, in different states to provide these calves.

He likes to tell ya' that his death rate is 3%...and to that I say, "Liar, Liar pants on fire."

Alice

 

[milkmaid]

He might be right, Alice. After all, a person can't afford to pick up $600 heifers and have a mortality rate of 15%, so you have to learn quick how to keep them alive.

Off the top of my head, I believe my losses due to anything are under 2%. (The ones that did die already had something wrong with them that I knew about at the time of purchase.) I raise quite a few calves, holstein calves, both on the bottle and on the cow. I personally can't afford to lose anything I pay for and my pride can't handle losing anything I didn't pay for (freebies). LOL. Still lose a few occasionally, but overall I'm doing alright.

 

[Alice]

He might be right, Alice. After all, a person can't afford to pick up $600 heifers and have a mortality rate of 15%, so you have to learn quick how to keep them alive.

Off the top of my head, I believe my losses due to anything are under 2%. (The ones that did die already had something wrong with them that I knew about at the time of purchase.) I raise quite a few calves, holstein calves, both on the bottle and on the cow. I personally can't afford to lose anything I pay for and my pride can't handle losing anything I didn't pay for (freebies). LOL. Still lose a few occasionally, but overall I'm doing alright.

Well, sale barn gossip has it that his 3% claims are fixin' to catch up with him, along with the IRS. 'Course, that could be nothin' but sour grapes...it's gotten pretty cutthroat.

Myself, I'm content to lope along with my little crossbreeds now. They are made of sterner stuff...

Alice

 

[BRG]

When we calved our cows in March we ran around 5%. But now that we switched over to June. Last year we had 3 dry cows out of 400 mommas. But they are calving on green warm grass, instead of cold wet wind and mud.

 

[msscamp]

I haven't ever lost a salebarn calf - but I have never tried to raise a dairy breed, either.

 

[Susie David]

No problem....don't buy dairy calves, seldom buy a calf at all unless it's one that I know from a friend's farm and then it's weaned or about to be. Dmc

 

[tom4018]

We bought anything when we first started and learned some "bought lessons". Our experience latlely has taught us what to watch for and buy better calves. First calves is what made our loss so high, experience helps not to make the same mistakes.

 

[AngusLimoX]

I guess I didn't communicate it real well, but I wanted to eliminate your selection experience - I know a whole bunch of you who replied you could smell a trouble calf from the far side of the salesbarn - I mean just a random, out of the sky pick of calves - no selection. Say you just had salesbarn calves dumped randomly on you - what % would not make it?

I believe in the 6% for cow/calf in general, but of course TTCLM and others with established herds of proven cows are gonna have lower rates than someone who is herd building and breeding a lot of heifers. There are lots of variables.

 

[msscamp]

Sorry, I misunderstood. With random salebarn calves, probably greater than 5%.

 

[memanpa]

TTCLM the question was SALEBARN calves not calving at home!
i buy a lot of calves at the salebarn and am only guessing at my % of loss over the past 10 yrs but i put it at about 2%,
i would venture to say experence, time of yr, facilities, locality, and salebarn would have a lot to do with the mortality rate of salebarn animals.

i am a regular at 4 different barns in the state and i do see differences in livestock, handling proceedures, cleanliness, etc etc
this is just mho

 

[Howdyjabo]

Ave. Deathloss depends on what size and type calf and the time of year. And even more on the quality of care given.

The smaller the calf the higher the Deathloss
Cold and wet especially if its mixed up with hot weather-- increases deathloss.
Hit a hot humid spell and deathloss will increase.
Discount calves tend to have a higher % deathloss.


here (6 wts and up-lots of discount calves) our deathloss ranges between 0-6%
Average DL last year (1000+ calves) was less than 2 %

 

[AngusLimoX]

Ave. Deathloss depends on what size and type calf and the time of year. And even more on the quality of care given.

The smaller the calf the higher the Deathloss
Cold and wet especially if its mixed up with hot weather-- increases deathloss.
Hit a hot humid spell and deathloss will increase.
Discount calves tend to have a higher % deathloss.


here (6 wts and up-lots of discount calves) our deathloss ranges between 0-6%
Average DL last year (1000+ calves) was less than 2 %

Are you a feedlot/veal producer howdy? I was thinking more the smaller calves and not select feeders. You are obviously doing a great job by anyones standards though.

And that was a comment I expected to see from memanpa as well about the difference in salesbarns.

 

[Howdyjabo]

Thanks--- I'm pretty proud of our opperation.
We precondition salebarn calves for feedlots and grazers.

Smaller calves will give a tendancy for a higher deathloss.
We did a load of 3 wts a few years ago-- they are really tender.
I think it has to do with they aren't thinking independantly yet(still following Momma around). So it takes longer to get them to settle and get on feed.

If I did 3 wts again I would concider metaphalatic treatments now that they have longer acting antibiotics . The cost of calves now and the trouble they could give would make it cost efficient.
And I'd pull out every trick in the book to get them to start eating faster-- even if it cost greatly in time and money.


Trick to keeping DL down--- is to check calves twice a day(especially days 10-20) and pull if they twitch an ear wrong. we average pulling 20% - but its worth it.
And its REALLY important to do everything you can to get them on feed ASAP. If I had to choose between having medicine to treat sick calves or having calves guaranteed to eat from day one-- I'd pick having the calves that eat from day one.
And my deathloss would still be less......

 

[milkmaid]

Say you just had salesbarn calves dumped randomly on you - what % would not make it?

If I was handed every bottle calf under 2 months of age that walked through the sale barn, I'd guesstimate at 10% loss, possibly more. That would include not just loss of the walking-dead calves that come through with pnemonia, scours, PI calves, etc, but also the calves that I've seen go through with frostbitten feet, infected navels/joints, etc, that I would eventually have to shoot.

If I were to pick only good healthy calves, I wouldn't expect to lose any.