[Jackie 2]

I'm thinking of buying some very young calves from local farms/knackerman, bucket feeding them (2 to start with) then out to grass and slaughter at 6 months. Rose veal.


 Ill buy in male calves.


Is this a viable option do you think?

[lachlanandmarcus]

Would they be intended for private sale/boxes or do you have an outlet for the meat? Only wondering as apart from rib roast and escalopes I wouldnt know what to do with all the other cuts from a veal animal.

[Jackie 2]

Its for me really but excess will be sold

[Jackie 2]

I have a sausage machine 

[kja]

i used to buy rose veal mince at melton the stall in question seemed to sell it easy enough.

the downside with any small animal when it comes to slaughter is the charge is the same as a large finished animal as most slaughter houses go on headage.

its the same for us when we take our dexters in i could have one of dads simmis done for the same money but we all preffer the dexter beef so have to pay the money.

[SallyintNorth]

If you do try it, Jackie2, please do let us know how you get on. 

One day, one of my Jerseys is going to drop a Jersey bullock, and I'll definitely be wanting him for our own freezer.  If rose veal is a viable option it would save keeping him on to 18 months or more, and also probably mean I didn't have to buy a 3rd freezer! 

[belgianblue]

calves from knackerman, are  stone cold dead,

[Jackie 2]

Ill let you know how I get on with it


No Blegian he said he would supply me with live calves

[domsmith]

Dairy bull calves are still being shot, so i can believe the knackerman can supply you.

Its well worth doing. it was the mainstay of my business for 7 years. we bought all the bull calves from2 dairy farms, at any one time we would have 60-80 ayshires on site. sometime jerseys and friesians.

get them to a decent size maybe 300kg liveweight, max. as previously said it costs the same to process a stirk as a big bullock, and keep them under 10 months old and balls on! otherwise they dont do the same.

as for cuts it endless. shoulder was as popular as loin. the french love the veal blanquet. osso bucco from the shin, calves liver. every type of steak just like beef.

i cannot understand why we dont eat more veal in this country its mad. we sold all we produced across farmers markets and resteraunts in scotland. but it took so much work!

well worth a try though. good luck

dominic

[jacoblambuk]

would the calfs be tagged if you get them from knackerman if the farmer shoots them they wouldnt be tagged

[colliewoman]

would the calfs be tagged if you get them from knackerman if the farmer shoots them they wouldnt be tagged

Legally (If I understand correctly) if it was born, it should be tagged.
Because we all tag and register our animals in the allocated timescale don't we?

[domsmith]

the knackerman cannot supply un reg calves. i assume he just knows where he can get hold of them. you cannot move calves without tags and passport these days. you used to be able to move them with just a passport application but thats changed now.

i also think they have to be at least 7 days old now.

d

[Sbom]

And no farmer will keep a calf, feeding it valuable milk, and wait for seven days for a passport, pay for tags and then have it shot 
Knackerman will be collecting animals in a knacker wagon so can't transport live animals aswell.

Better approaching a dairy farmer direct, will cost you though as they will have to feed it while waiting for passport and tags, but still cheap in the grander scheme of things. £25 would probably buy you a dairy bull calf round here, maybe abit more. Milk powder isn't cheap, around £45, you'd want more than one calf at a time obviously so they'd get through the milk quicker and would need it for 8-10 weeks depending on how well they do. Starter pellets, hay...... Killing costs....Soon adds up 
As someone else said, keep the horns and nuts on and they'll grow better.
Also check you actually like Rosé veal first!!

[sokel]

I was considering doing this last year but when we started looking we could not find any calfs available.
If anyone knows where I could get my hands on a couple in the north of england give me a shout

[SallyintNorth]

Graham, they sell hundreds of them every Wednesday morning at Carlisle mart.  Black & whites fetch up to £100, but you can pick up Jerseys and Ayrshires for tenners.  And I suspect that if you approached dairy farmers who breed their own Ayrshire or Jersey replacements, they would be happy to sell young bull calves to you direct from the farm - which avoids the risk of picking up infections at the mart.

BH used to buy in calves to rear on the bucket - beefy types, to be sold as stores, or females to be kept on as suckler cows.  He always says that anyone taking on young calves to rear on powdered milk is advised to get them at not less than one month old.  Younger than that and they are just too likely to scour or get other problems, and die.  Now that we rear bought-in calves on the Jerseys, we have found that we can buy them younger and they seem to be fine.

His other tip was to feed them only PSF (Pfizer scour forumla) for the first 24 hours, then onto the milk.  Again, we haven't found this necessary when they are going onto a cow.