Vaccination question about dairy heifers

[TCRanch]

Seriously, Jan, you are a wealth of information and truly an asset to this board!

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

I have a family that I sponsored with showing beef cattle in 4-H. The family runs an organic grass fed dairy. They calve for 60-90 days once a year. They choose certain cows to be nurse cows. They put all their heifers on nurse cows. Get them "bonded" then turn out on pasture all summer.

 

[Harris2346]

No you are fine Jeanne I appreciate everything you have said Iam glad you were honest when I raised calves in high school which was back in 1998 I was making bank off these calves raising them on nurse cows, the number one reason was the dairyman were giving me the bull calves for free and I was buying the heifer calves for $75 a piece. And my dad bought cull cattle from the dairyman and we always had a abundant amount of cows to choose from to buy from the dairyman to use for nurse cows, but things have changed a lot now from 1998 to how they are now and I am for sure not going to try and raise replacement heifers if there is no market for them. So I appreciate your honesty and advice very much.

 

[Harris2346]

Because you brought this to my attention about there maybe not being a market for the springer heifers I have been thinking about other ideas to raise cattle. I don't want to run a dairy I don't have the money to build a barn, I don't want to run beef cattle cause I don't have enough acres of pasture to run them on, but another thing I thought of is raising the dairy heifers until they are weaned or maybe a little bit older then selling them but I think I would run into the same problem as trying to sell them as a springer because there might not be a market for them because who wants to buy a heifer that's not bred. If you have any other ideas for a cattle operation I would love to hear it. What my situation is, I have a buddy that has a 30 acre farm and it's paid off, 20 acres of it is in alfalfa that someone is renting from him and growing the alfalfa and he will pay us in hay for the rent instead of money. So right there we don't have to buy the hay. And we have the 10 acres of pasture and we have a little section of it in corrals but they need to be fixed and we need to build some cattle shelters.

 

[suzorse]

you could put beef calves on nurse cows , or beef dairy crosses
more profitable than straight dairy ,
Suzanne

 

[Harris2346]

Thank you Suzorose I was actually thinking about raising beef heifers instead of dairy heifers. Or another idea I had also would be to raise beef steers and sell them to people so they could butcher them. I know of a lot of people that don't have property in the country to raise a steer to butcher, that would rather buy a steer and butcher it rather then buying beef at a supermarket.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

You could buy beef calves in early spring, graze on the 10 acres in summer, then finish feeding them out on hay & grain to sell as freezer beef.

 

[Harris2346]

I think that is a really good idea and because me and my buddy would get free hay we would for sure make a really good profit.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

You will have to decide if you are going to try to sell grass fed beef or grain fed beef. I would strongly suggest that you buy a good steak from a good grass fed operation before you tried to sell a grass fed side of beef. Finishing out a steer is a business in it's self, but I believe it could be a good business.

 

[farmerjan]

I think that raising up some steers and selling as beef would be a little better deal for you ... if you have the contacts to sell the beef. I raise a few to sell each year. Mostly jersey or jersey cross, steers. It flucuates and I get tired of dealing with people who want it, then don't have the money or want you to finance it... or change their mind when the steer is already hanging in the butcher shop.... Mine are 99% grass fed, I will feed a little grain the last month to get the animals to come into the catch pens but by no means are "grain finished. Don't push it as much as I did but it can be a good source of extra income. Make sure you check your rules... we sell "live beef" on the hoof, but most take a half so we co-ordinate the buyers so to speak.
I am not saying grain fed is bad, I just like the taste of grass fed better. But again, jersey and guernseys have a yellow fat and a little sweeter meat so a different flavor. They both do marble good.
If you were to buy something in the 700 lb range in the spring, get it on grass and gaining weight good, then it could be butchered in late fall at 1000 or more lbs. Hoping for a gain of at least 2-3 lbs per day average, would get you about 10 to 1100 in 6-7 months. If you grained the last 45 to 60 days, the animal ought to put on some decent weight. But again, what is your carrying capacity of the pasture? Here we figure 1 cow/calf pair for 1 1/2 acres per year, on a good year for rain and grass, so a beef steer would be like maybe 1 per acre or maybe 1 per 2 acres? If you wanted to stagger them, with the hay through the winter, then you could get away with a few more of different sizes, and replace the ones you sell with smaller ones....
Technically the grass farmers, that graze animals, figure on a carrying capacity by weight rather than by head, but this gives you some basics. If you really want to do something like that, get a few copies of the magazine Stockman Grass Farmer, usually can find at TSC and do some reading.

I think it is great that you want to utilize the grass in the pasture on the farm, and there are ways to do so. You don't have to get big, and maybe a small "freezer beef " operation would fit in with what you have available. There are books available for you to read and learn from others experience...you don't need to re-invent the wheel, but pick up from what others learned by doing, and making their own mistakes, so you don't have to make the same ones.

 

[farmerjan]

Seriously, Jan, you are a wealth of information and truly an asset to this board!

Thank you for the compliment, I feel like I am a beginner when I see some of the guys that have big spreads, like the ones in Canada, or the ones that do the registered route. It's been alot of years of learning, and I am always trying to learn something from someone else. I know we sure don't do everything right.

 

[Harris2346]

Farmer Jan that is a great advice and gives me good ideas thank you very much. I will look in to finding some books on raising steers. That was another idea I had was buying the steers at 700 lbs and then finishing them out and selling them so I don't have to hassle with raising baby calves. And I think raising a jersey cross would be a great idea cause they have a lot of marbling. And Jeanne I think you are absolutely right with raising the steers only on grass I think more people would want to buy them. It seems like there is more of a market for them thank you for the advice. I have another question if I bought steers at 700 lbs or whatever what kind of vaccinations should I give them as soon as I get them home.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

First off, I do not promote grass fed beef. I only eat grain fed beef. I was trying nicely to alert you to the fact that it will be a different eating experience. Not saying bad - different. I love venison, but I do not like grass fed beef. Yes, I have tried it. But, in all fairness, our deer are pretty much grain fed. LOL But, I'm not worried about you liking the grass fed, it is your customers. Everyone THINKS they want to have grass fed (although I do not know why, the advertising is FALSE - it is NOT healthier then grain fed. (https://animalscience.tamu.edu/2013/12/ ... it-matter/) Grass fed hamburger and pot roast are excellent, it is the steaks that are not up to grain fed standards - and I think your customers will notice. People don't react well when they have a freezer full of steaks they don't like.

Jan might be able to get 2-3# gain on grass/hay, but that is a huge goal. I don't know anyone getting that kind of gain. I believe grass gains are more like 1.5# (Stocker Steve might know better).
I would graze them thru the summer, feeding maybe 5# whole shell corn, then in fall start increasing to max amount they will eat at a feeding (twice a day) for about 60-90 days along with hay.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

If possible, try to buy direct from another producer (not a sale barn). You can base your price on them being "pre-conditioned" (already have their initial shots).

 

[Harris2346]

I think that's a good idea i want more gain, and more marbling. And yes it would be a lot easier to buy from a producer then from the sale barn cause I can ask the producer questions, like if they have been vaccinated already and other questions and I would have more time to walk through them and see if they have any abscesses or see if there sick or any problems. It's hard to buy at a sale barn cause you don't see if the cattle are sick or have any problems because they are scared and have all that adrenaline running through there bodies because there in a new place being herded from this pen to the next then into the sale barn with people everywhere and lots of noise, so they tend to hide symptoms of being sick then you get them home and your screwed.

 

[pdfangus]

I also do not care for grass fed beef....but I was raised on grain fed beef and have been eating my own for over thirty five years....
not knocking grass fed....it just does not suit my taste...
I have clients who are doing very well marketing grass fed beef. and since they are SUPERIOR graziers....they are getting growth and production over three lbs per day....it is because of their attention to the grazing management. I have one client who keeps the stockers in the same herd with the cows...another grazes stockers in one herd and cows in another. Both are having a hard time meeting demand for their product.

 

[Harris2346]

Thank you pdf angus for your comment you are absolutely right I would rather have a steak that has grain fed then grass fed I think there are a lot of people that would agree. I am going to to stay away from raising grass fed beef unless I have someone that wants me to raise one that is grass fed.