What would you recommend to start an 8 year old boy?

[jbevans]

Hello everyone! I've been lurking on the boards for probably a year or more now and we have finally decided to go ahead with our plans to let my little boy start from the beginning. He will be 8 years old in June. I have 2 other boys that are "interested" but he has been obsessed with farming for several years now. I should also probably note that he is dx'd with ADHD but we have always chosen not to medicate. He does well in school, is very smart and just dang so lovable. He really just has a big attention problem but cows and farming seem to keep him very focused. Maybe because its not so boring. Something new everyday. Always something to learn. Always something to do. He could talk about this stuff all day. It just really seems to be his "calmness" or his "release" maybe. He asks every farmer he knows, every chance he gets, to help on the farm. From pulling weeds, toting square bails to cows, tagging ears, checking for newborn calves, cutting grass, etc. He usually helps during 2 sessions at a milk dairy every weekend on a family member's dairy. Hooking up the milkers, spraying udders, releasing, etc. And then he has 2 uncles that have beef cattle farms and a family friend that has a beef farm. He wants to learn everything he can and will ask a million questions (that sometimes can drive you crazy) and actually google search for info. Heck this boy will even check craigslist and beg me to buy this one or that one!
Anyway, for sometime now we have been trying to get some things ready for him to start with a bottle calf. We have just finished a calf area here at home and have all the needed essentials to keep a good healthy calf. (I bottle fed many calves before we ever had kids so it's not foreign to me) But I've ran into a dilemma with asking for guidance here at home. I hear both sides of Dairy v/s Beef. And it all makes sense so now I'm torn on which way to go. Our long term goal is to start his very own herd. Slowly and 1 small step at a time. We will front the money in the beginning but then it's up to him to put his money in eventually. Here's the scenarios we are considering.
Buy the Jersey/Holstein cross Heifer 2 week old calf that has been presented to us. Let him raise that one. Take that one to the sale (which would be hard lol being his first) when she is ready and let him take that money and put back into one of his choosing.
Or keep her and breed so he can use her for a milking mama cow and bring in a few calves for him to bottle or to try and use on her? And that would be the start of his own herd. Taking the latter calves and selling them off and buying calves or pairs or 3in1's. With the long term plan being to bring in beef calves. Once that time gets here (1 1/2-2 years), we would be willing to lease land for him to have more room. We do not have it here at our home site for anything more than a pair or so (5 acres). And actually by then, he would be eligible for the FSA Youth Loan up to $5000.
Or..... would you go totally different and start with a Beef cow pair? I just kind of want him to experience it all and know the in's and out's of everything he possibly can. So I figure with time on his side, bottle calf would be best to start. What is your thoughts?
Also, another thing my husband has brought up is the Dexters. Smaller breed that would possibly be better for him to handle. (Even though he has been around huge cows already and understand safety and never fully trusting an animal and keeping his guard up at all times)
I just don't know which way to go. I have all these ideas/plans running through my head. Hence the reason I've been lurking for so long. lol After all this time, I'm ready to commit and still don't know the exact direction to go. If it was more for ME, it would be different. I just want to make the hopefully "right" decisions for him to give him the best start possible. I don't see this "phase" going away. It's hard to explain, but I see it in his eyes. It's like I can look right into his soul and know this is where his heart is. (Now with my other 2, they are all typical boy and don't care which way the wind blows) Either way, I will be by his side every step of the way. Morning-Noon-Night. I am a stay at home mom raising these boys of ours so I would be his main helper. Dad is available as needed usually but he does work outside the home. And at the dial of the pad, we could have backup in less than 10 minutes from farming family and friends in our immediate area to help.
So after reading this novel - Anyone want to give any suggestions? As I stated, this will be a slow steady growth. Very slow probably to a lot of people But we are ready for the 1st step. And it may take 8 years to get to a herd count of even 5 (just throwing numbers out there) but that's ok with us. Yes we want to make a profit so that he gains something each time, but more than anything to us its about learning, hard work, and life lessons. Setting a foundation for my children as I believe that the other 2 boys will enjoy all this just as much once it's here and theirs to work with. That's the most important thing!
I will shut up now Thanks for any tips!

 

[jasonleonard]

jbevans.... First thing, You need to put your location in your profile so we know what we are dealing with. I don't like the idea of the jersey cross to start with, if you are gonna use it to start a herd. I know of a young man here that does well with a nurse cow, he uses baby beef calves off of old cows or really good holstein bull calves.
Denvermartin on here has started lots of calves and i'm hoping he answers this thread.

 

[denvermartinfarms]

I would buy him or let him buy his own bottle calves preferably bull calves until he can get the Fsa loan, the buy some good bred cows. He will learn a ton about cattle and sickness and how to treat, and make money along the way. I would say buy about five baby beef calves if you can find them or some good Holsteins and raise them to about 500lbs sell them and buy more. Just keep doing that until he can get the loan then start the cow calf side of it. Hope this helped some, I may have missed something you said that goes against my advice, but this is the best plan I can come up with as a outsider. Oh and when I say raise the baby calves I mean with replacer not a nurse cow.

 

[jbevans]

I would buy him or let him buy his own bottle calves preferably bull calves until he can get the Fsa loan, the buy some good bred cows. He will learn a ton about cattle and sickness and how to treat, and make money along the way. I would say buy about five baby beef calves if you can find them or some good Holsteins and raise them to about 500lbs sell them and buy more. Just keep doing that until he can get the loan then start the cow calf side of it. Hope this helped some, I may have missed something you said that goes against my advice, but this is the best plan I can come up with as a outsider. Oh and when I say raise the baby calves I mean with replacer not a nurse cow.

Thank you both for your time and responses. I updated my profile to state my location (Notheastern Georgia). I really believe that is the general idea I had to begin with. Start out with calves, feed them up, sell and do it all over again. I guess I was just kinda hung up on the very first one most likely being a keeper. His beginning so to speak
With each group sold, we would hope he would be able to buy more and then pocket the rest to save. That savings and the FSA loan would be a pretty good start to getting his first pairs. The more I say that out loud, the more I think that would be our way to go.
If anyone else has any more tips or ideas I would love to hear them. Even if its a totally different direction.
Thanks again!

 

[E in PA]

I like the nurse cow idea, it might be rough on him getting rid of his 1st cow. Bottle babies can become pets real quick. Just my opinion.

 

[Chris H]

He sounds like a very bright, active boy. I'd probably go with a couple bottle calves. You can buy & sell them easier than breeding stock. The initial investment is smaller. The interaction between the boy & calves would be a lot greater than a cow/calf pair, and that would probably be a good thing for your boy. If that Jersey/Holstein heifer is not a freemartin, he may make a few bucks raising her to breeding age and sell her.

 

[Texas PaPaw]

Would suggest buying 2 bottle calves. If you have only 1 he could get more attached to it than with 2 or more. Also make it clear from the start that they will be sold at some time and if he does a good job he can buy some more at that time.

Just another 2 cents worth.

 

[Taurus]

I would keep the Jersey/Holstein heifer and breed her to a beef bull of the breed that your boy desires and use her as a nursing cow for your bottle calves. She would be a good start for your son to get hands on with the calving experiences as she is familiar with you and your son than use a complete stranger cow.

As for the Dexter cattle, I would ditch that idea. Nasty creatures with attitude.

 

[Kingfisher]

Can he come help me run a post hole digger or did you leave that out on purpose?

 

[HOSS]

I may get into trouble for this but I would stay away from ANY debt when it comes to cattle. I taught my kids lessons that I learned the hard way in the debt is bad. Paid for up front stuff is good.

I like the bottle calf idea. Buy 2 or 3 bottle calf bulls calves from a dairy, castrate them and raise those steers up for sale. Take the proceeds and buy a few more......raise those up and sell them and he should have enough money to start with a beef 3 in 1 to get started. By this time he will have learned quite a bit and you will know if he will stick to it completely. He will also be the proud OWNER of a cow and 2 calves and owe nothing to anyone. It will teach him the greatest life lesson he will ever learn and he will be a millionaire following the principle of delayed gratification in order to have it all later.

There is nothing wrong with jersey bottle calves.......I have raised several. They can usually be bought cheap and they are easy for kids to handle (when the calves are little). Just do not leave them intact as they make for some nasty bulls. :2cents:

 

[denvermartinfarms]

I may get into trouble for this but I would stay away from ANY debt when it comes to cattle. I taught my kids lessons that I learned the hard way in the debt is bad. Paid for up front stuff is good.

I like the bottle calf idea. Buy 2 or 3 bottle calf bulls calves from a dairy, castrate them and raise those steers up for sale. Take the proceeds and buy a few more......raise those up and sell them and he should have enough money to start with a beef 3 in 1 to get started. By this time he will have learned quite a bit and you will know if he will stick to it completely. He will also be the proud OWNER of a cow and 2 calves and owe nothing to anyone. It will teach him the greatest life lesson he will ever learn and he will be a millionaire following the principle of delayed gratification in order to have it all later.

There is nothing wrong with jersey bottle calves.......I have raised several. They can usually be bought cheap and they are easy for kids to handle (when the calves are little). Just do not leave them intact as they make for some nasty bulls. :2cents:

I have no problem with your idea on debt, but I know that me or any of my family would have nothing if we never bought anything that we could not pay for at the time. Because in both businesses that me and my family are in takes money to make money. But I certainly see your side hoss. I still say all I would get the boy doing is bottle calves for a few years.

 

[bigbull338]

your son sounds like he has his mind set an not going to back up on having cattle.eating breathing an sleeping cattle is good.im an old man i do the samething still.he needs to start off with 2 or 3 bottle babies as said.an try to get him real healthy calves.

 

[Fire Sweep Ranch]

I am coming from a totally different mindset here. Having an 8 year old myself (and a 11 and 16 year old), and each kid had their own cattle, I would say start him with a beef heifer. He will get attached, and not want to sell. Why not let him build a great bond, and foster the love for raising cattle? We bought our 8 year old son a 6 month old heifer, and halter broke her. He absolutely loves her, and showed her last year as a yearling (never won, but did not care since he raised her and loved her regardless). She calved this fall, and he has worked with that calf now. We steered the calf, and he will be sold to a church family we know to raise for beef. My son is OK with that. Since his heifer is just average, we both decided to put an embryo in her for her calf this fall. My son got to pick which embryo he wanted (out of the collection we have), and he is excited because his cow (Jackie) has been sexed as having a heifer embryo calf in October. Since you have such a small place to start with, you are limited on your animals to keep, so why not just start with a beef heifer and build from there.
In our household, the kids know that all bulls/steers belong to the ranch and the money earned from selling pays for the feed, taxes and grass. All heifers the kids get to keep, breed and sell or show or whatever they want to do. My oldest daughter has built up quite a fund in her account already. She now owns 9 cows ON HER OWN that she bought with her own money or raised from her cows. My middle daughter owns 5 heifers/cow on her own also. My son just has the one so far. They have all learned great money management skills because of this lesson, and we started each of them before they were 9.

 

[hevmando]

I like firesweep's reply. I think beef is the way to go long term vs. the dairy breeds because of your small size. My kids are 12, 14, 17, started 5 years ago with a steer and a heifer. For baby steps I like the heifer calf idea, show it, grow it, breed it, calve it, show the calf, etc. For quickest way to better show cattle, if I was to do it over again I'd buy the best bred heifer or proven cow I could afford. But for the show experience, start with a calf. None of the suggestions are "wrong", just what is right for you.

 

[jbevans]

You guys are awesome!! Thank you so much for all your input. It helps to see more ideas than those of just family hollering beef beef beef or milk milk milk. Sometimes people can get stuck in their own ways and nothing is the right way but theirs. As I stated, if this was for me, I would maybe do things a little different but its not. Its for the future of my kids and getting the best start learning everything from the ground up is more important. So hearing from those that's been there and those that have done the same for their kids is great! We are going to think through some of the suggestions for a few days and make some phone calls. Maybe I will be able to update this weekend on which way we decided to go!
Talk to you all very soon!!

 

[Dave]

My Dad bought me a day old holstein bull calf when I was 8 (gosh that was a long time ago). I raised him up and sold him as locker beef. By the time I graduated from high school I had enough cattle to pay for two years of college. A bottle calf or two or twenty is a great idea for a kid. All of my kids raised some when they were in school. They learned a lot (and not just about cattle) while making a little money.

 

[denvermartinfarms]

My Dad bought me a day old holstein bull calf when I was 8 (gosh that was a long time ago). I raised him up and sold him as locker beef. By the time I graduated from high school I had enough cattle to pay for two years of college. A bottle calf or two or twenty is a great idea for a kid. All of my kids raised some when they were in school. They learned a lot (and not just about cattle) while making a little money.

That's why I say bottle calves and then switch to a momma cows in 3 or 4 years. You can learn so much about cattle that will help later on with cows,i really think it is the best way for a young person to start.

 

[angie1]

Definitely beef calves, and preferably heifers. Whoever said he was going to get attached was right, I have done this with my kids as well. I have bottle raised literally countless bottle calves and the beef babies (hand down and calf after calf) are significantly hardier than the dairy. Dairy is fine once you have some experience under your belt. You want this first experience for him to be a good one, and you dramatically increase his pleasure if the calf doesn't keel over before you want it to. Yes, get more than 1 but preferably no more than 3. I really hope he enjoys it, sounds like he has a great base, and it is wonderful that you have some experience. It will sure come in handy! Best of luck!! :nod:

 

[~Tomboy~]

Don't let some of this forum put you off to the possibility of the Dexter breed. I have been raising them for about 12 years here in Texas. What you put into an animal is what you will get out of an animal. My neighbor who used to have a commercial herd has now switched over to Dexters. The large framed cattle are just having a tough time with the past drought conditions in several states making more folks looking at smaller framed cattle.
Here is a link to an old video put out buy the Wall Street Journal, while I don't necessary believe all that is said the kids sure are having a great time. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=De3XjqPVa0g

I'll try and send you a pm

Barb

 

[TexasBred]

Start him with a couple of lambs. He'll work his way to cattle soon enough.