[TG]

Our next door neighbour has a Holstein dairy heard and has to get rid of the bull calves as he tells me they are not worth raising.
We have 2.5 acres and the eight Shetland sheep are not keeping up with the grass. We were wondering if it is worth having a go at raising a couple of his calves for meat.
I know we don't have much land but is this worth considering or would we be better with a Shetland / Dexter. Just seems a bit of a waste to dispose of these animals in this way.

Thanks
TG

[Corrie Dhu]

I think if you got them for free (presumably he is going to chap them on the head and have to pay to dispose?) you might break even if you were lucky, but milk powder and feed is really expensive and they will need a lot of both to rear them properly.  If you do do it, make sure they have had adequate colostrum and their navels done etc.  Calf rearing is a bit of an art and even the experts struggle to make a good job and make a profit.

[Hopewell]

Holstein don't fatten well, so if you want good steak etc its much better to go for beef breeds, or if you have a Dexter then you will end up with a more manageable about of meat. Holsteins are better suited to produce veal, which can be done in a welfare friendly manner. Needs lots of expensive milk powder, which they stay on until about 6 months old when they will weigh about 200kg. They need additional fibre as well and grass would be absolutely fine. I've not actually done it but did investigate it. The meat will be pink when reared in this way.

[Rosemary]

In my experience, the dairy farms that fatten their bull calves have arable as well, othersise they go to specialist rearers. The bulls are kept entire, fed cereals, kept inside and slaughtered at about 14 months ie an intensive system. Because they are entire, you need pretty good housing and handling facilities as they get big and boisterous very quickly.

The beef, apparently, is good but tends not to be in the right places for prime cuts.

This, to me, is another example of how the dairy industry shot itself in the foot by going to intensive milk production. Now they are reliant on the milk price - and Godknows the supermarkets arescrewing them on that - and the price of grain, because these high yielders need so much of it to stay alive. And they don't even have the cross- beef breed heifers and bullocks, and pure dairy beef bullocks to sell as another income stream. The fertility is so low in these cows that they all have to go to the Holstein to breed their own replacements. Sad.

[SallyintNorth]

Worse still, some can't get enough replacements in this country so import.  I know they'll all have to be certified free of TB, Bluetongue, etc, but it is just a matter of time before an infected midge or tick hitches a ride...