[sokel]

We have our own pigs for pork
Rearing lambs this year for ourselves and familyo
We now have access to another 20 + Acres while a friend is out of the country{possibly untill summer 2013} we are thinking of beef/ rose veal. As said total newbie to cattle apart from feeding a neighbours calf its bottles for a week while they where away
Any advice needed or should we not even consider it 

[sokel]

Any advice would be good especialy anyone who has reared rose veal

[Sbom]

We keep a few Dexters, non short. They have beeN no problem to keep and handle and the beef is delicious!
We had a Simmental x that had a problem with his leg that was going to be more of a problem as he got really heavy.....anyway we decided that instead of culling him as a calf we would rear him as long as he was comfortable. Well he grew like a weed, we kept his horns and nuts intact and had him killed at around 8/9 months as this is the age recommended for Rose veal. It was not unpleasant but I wouldn't go mad for it, it tasted like a cross between pork an beef. It seemed to need lots of flavour enhansers when cooking. I guess for me it just wasn't beef and I love beef!

[Dan]

We keep Shetland cattle, and are really novices having had them less than 2 years.

What Sbom says is important - veal doesn't taste like beef, and as far as can tell to get really good beef you want a slow-maturing breed that goes to slaughter close to 30 months, off grass. If you've only got grazing guaranteed for a year that limits your options.

That's not to say don't try it - if you can get a couple of bullocks to put on the grazing then go for it. We bough a bullock last year so we'd get beef a year earlier (our own cows calved this year for the first time, so we were looking at autumn 2014 before we saw beef), and he's growing nicely.

[sokel]

Thanks for the replys
I have never tried veal personably but the others have and said they enjoyed it
I am a medium rare steak man myself so unsure
The reason I say we have the grazing for a year is because he is going out of the country till then and when he comes back he is putting the place up for sale. But who knows.it could be years before it sells
There is so much grass up there its unreal as there is nothing on it
What sort of price would we expect to pay for something older and how does the price compare to the amount of meat we would get back at the end

[tizaala]

If you get chance to grab the land now, take the grass as hay or silage then fill it with sheep , the price is still holding up well and they will grow faster than beef in the same time scale, land will always sell as the investment is safer than banks and never goes down in value, 

[Fronhaul]

If you only have the land for a year I too would go for the sheep solution.  Cattle handling and housing has its own problems and it would be a fairly steep learning curve and possibly an expensive one for only one year.  If it was a trouble free year then you would probably be fine but things are so rarely that easy.  You don't say where you are but cattle will do a lot more damage to the land than sheep, you will need to consider TB testing and your routine vaccinations etc will be different.  You may need to house for at least part of the winter.  And the market for veal is still limited, especially in the more urbanised areas.

[omnipeasant]

I agree with the last two posters. Cut the grass. Or sublet it to someone else with cattle who can move them when they have eaten up.

[sokel]

The main reason for doing this was to get some beef/veal for the freezer. We have our own pork, lamb now and maybe goat in 2013 so just wanted to add beef
most of the fields cant be cut, the 2 that can is going to be hay for our animals

[Shropshirelass]

I've tried rose veal & personally quite like it & would definatley consider rearing it, but I don't know what the markets are like for this particular type of veal x

[princesspiggy]

rose veal is a great short term option, id do it if i were u cos i was tempted at one point. i think theyd need to winter inside cos of there breed, do u have a barn too?

[sokel]

 We have 3 loose boxes 2 stables and a sort of barn thats 45ft square all at our disposal along with the 22 acres
TBH there is so much grass up in the back fields its crazy and there is no access for tractors for cutting
This is Niamh the wolfie puppy up in one of the back fields running through the grass , bearing in mind she is a bit taller than a large german shepherd

[landroverroy]

With grass that long you need cattle to eat it. If it were me I would go to my local market and see what's going cheap. And just because it's cheap doesn't mean it's crap. You can often find a small heifer with calf, or a traditional breed will go for little money. You've got stock so you will know if it looks fit and healthy. Dexters or Dexter crosses go very cheap in my local market but are ideal for the freezer. Any of the British breeds, including highland will fatten well off grass and fetch quite a bit less than the continentals.   

[sokel]

With grass that long you need cattle to eat it. If it were me I would go to my local market and see what's going cheap. And just because it's cheap doesn't mean it's crap. You can often find a small heifer with calf, or a traditional breed will go for little money. You've got stock so you will know if it looks fit and healthy. Dexters or Dexter crosses go very cheap in my local market but are ideal for the freezer. Any of the British breeds, including highland will fatten well off grass and fetch quite a bit less than the continentals.

Thanks for the reply, I will look into that because the grass is so long I just dont go up there anymore as you get soaked up to your waist
the aduly wolfhound who is 34" to the shoulder has grass as high as his back up there

[sabrina]

We are just back from our holiday in the Peak District. We stayed in a cottage on a very large diary farm. Next to us was one of the calving sheds which I found quite hard. Cows giving birth then calling for calves that were taken away. They keep the female calf's, all males were sold at 48 hours old which is far better than being shot. They are reared for the rose veal by one of his neighbours. I look at it this way, at least the male calves get some chance of life although the farmer said he had to sell them very cheap but without that calf he would not have the product of milk to sell so anything he gets above that must be some sort of bonus. Look into your cost, check that you would like to eat the veal and if all the dots add up give it a go.