[dragonfarmgirl]

Hi Folks,
Just looking into the possibility of getting a few jersey bull calves (unwanted from dairy herd), keeping them for a year then using them as beef for ourselves and friends and family but need some info if anyone can help.
How long are calves on just milk and how much do they drink a day? What age do you start introducing creep feeds ?
If we bought them now they would be nearly a year old before slaughter and, given jersey bulls bad temper, how old are they before they start turning evil ?
It will be our first time with cattle but we have plenty of experience with other animals, ten acres set aside just for them, and big indoor pens for overwintering so should be ok with the practical side, its just working out the cost of the first few months before they can go out to grass.
Any tips or advice is very welcome, thanks x

[VSS]

Hi Folks,
Just looking into the possibility of getting a few jersey bull calves (unwanted from dairy herd), keeping them for a year then using them as beef for ourselves and friends and family but need some info if anyone can help.
How long are calves on just milk and how much do they drink a day? What age do you start introducing creep feeds ?
If we bought them now they would be nearly a year old before slaughter and, given jersey bulls bad temper, how old are they before they start turning evil ?
It will be our first time with cattle but we have plenty of experience with other animals, ten acres set aside just for them, and big indoor pens for overwintering so should be ok with the practical side, its just working out the cost of the first few months before they can go out to grass.
Any tips or advice is very welcome, thanks x

You should be able to wean them at about 8 - 10 weeks so long as they are eating cake and straw (straw is better than hay for young calves). Cake, water and straw must be available for them from the very beginning. They will need 1 gallon of milk each per day, initially split between four feeds and then reduced to 2 by the time they are three weeks old. It is also a good idea to water the milk down a little as they are less likely to get tummy upsets that way.

If they are very young, they can be castrated with a rubber ring in the same way as lambs, otherwise you should get the vet to surgically castrate them in the spring before turning them out.

[Pentre1230]

We wean at 6 to 8 weeks of age, you want to get them upto eating at least 1kg of concentrate before you wean, we use a a 18% ration that we put in front of them after the first couple of days and they will soon start nibbling it and from day one they have water in front of them at all times, bed them down and feed them barley straw not hay, the straw gets the rumen activated and working. We only feed warm twice a day at approx 39.c invest in a bucket thermometer and be exact with your milk powder measurements, not that "will roughly do" and make sure you a meticulously clean with all milk buckets, whisks etc, feed intake depends on what age you can get them at the older the better for you!!

Ours start off in pens then once they are up and running get put into batches of 10, as a guide they are on 6, 8 an 10 litres a day for weeks 1, 2 and 3, this increases then decrease as you wean, shop around for your milk replacer but use a good quality one. I wouldn't pay a huge amount of money for the jersey bull calves as they would have probably just been shot anyway, jerseys do have a reputation but I've only seen it in much older animals, personally I wouldn't use rubber rings, you could keep them entire as you will be killing them early, some say they finish better entire, we use burdizzo bloodless castrators, cheaper than the vet and less messy and less risk of infection. watch out for pneumonia when they are in, keep drafts off them but plenty of air above them so all the crappy air is blown away. If you buy them now they'll be an ideal age for turning out come spring. dont try and aim to fatten em right up, fattening a jersey is like trying to fatten a greyhound you never will.

You wont make a huge amount of money but as long as you do the job right you'll have loads of fun, will become addicted to having cattle and be eating your own beef.. Hope it all goes well for you....     

[herdsman]

If you are going to keep them entire please be sure you are going to slaughter them within 18months to two years. Jersey bulls have a reputation for not only being aggressive, as do most dairy breeds, but they are also very quick. I worked with a Jersey show herd as a student and nearly got caught out because I became careless.
Jersey meat tends to have a yellower fat (high in carotin sp?) but tastes just fine.

I will buy a joint off you.