[highhorse]

 

hi

my hubby and i are taking on a smallholiding this summer with grazing and a barn. we would lke to do something that gives a regular income ( im only talking a few thousand, not making big money) and wondered if calves were viable?

say we reared 20 at a time? sourced them from dairy farms when they were just a few weeks old, sold them on between 12 and 16 weeks?

any experiences, tips, figures would be very much appeciated with regards to the business/financial aspects.

thnks

[SallyintNorth]

I'm not sure you'll make much if you only keep them a few months.  A beef cross will cost you £150-£250 depending on breed, and won't fetch a great deal more than that at 3-4 months.  If you take them on at less than a month old, you'll lose the odd one, and have the odd vet bill.

You need to keep them to 9-10 months old, really.  And I wouldn't advocate having them so young, certainly not when you're starting out.

[twizzel]

Calves are very labour intensive as well as the points sally raised above. If you want to go into beef I would think about buying a few 6-8 month old beef stores and rear them on until finish... but whatever you do decide to go for make sure you've got the handling systems in place, calves don't stay small for very long!

[langfauld easycare]

hi

my hubby and i are taking on a smallholiding this summer with grazing and a barn. we would lke to do something that gives a regular income ( im only talking a few thousand, not making big money) and wondered if calves were viable?

say we reared 20 at a time? sourced them from dairy farms when they were just a few weeks old, sold them on between 12 and 16 weeks?

any experiences, tips, figures would be very much appeciated with regards to the business/financial aspects.

thnks

  i bought my place on a business plan much like what you describe . but it worked out more like sally described . rearing one lot over winter then they are ready to graze now .decent calves are hard to come by . i stopped doing them for a year or 2 as couldnt get decent calfs at a decent price .we used to buy them at lanark and ayr mart but both almost  dried up. then went to Carlisle but calves were dirty and a fair travel . the calves were not great . i now get some from a local farm not big numbers hereford bull only sweeps after ai. but good clean calves . i have jaged 1 out of 30 for pneumonia no scour far less stress on calfs . there is a return but you need to be on your game with them .   

[highhorse]

thanks guys. would it be more effective then to buy young calves, rear indoors for say 8 weeks, then turn them out for 8-10 months and sell them on before their 1st birthday?

do you guys sell  on through markets?

what weight do you expect them to reach by about 10 months?

and advice on breeds? is dairy x beef ( say angus) a good way to go or should i not worry about breed too much but rather concetrate on health and quality?

are heifers easier/better natured?

sorry for so many questions but knowledge is power a wise man said ;/

thanks

[shygirl]

it would depends when you bought them as most cattle winter inside. especially if being sold for meat.

[Backinwellies]

Regular income?
  No livestock enterprise is likely to give a regular income, except dairy milk production.   (unless you count annual as regular) .


Is there a local dairy farmer who might like his calves reared for him? Could be a way to go?

[highhorse]

hi

yes annual or regular as in a couple/few times a year (will be keeping some sheep too)

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[twizzel]

I live on my OH's beef farm- suckler heard of 30 (soon to be 40) beef cows varying breeds limousin, charolais, Simmental but mostly lim, and purebred lim bull. They sell calves at 8-12 mths old as stores through local market and get very good prices for them on the whole but they are very well fed, good quality stock.

You need to decide on a breed- no point rearing pure dairy calves, and a lot of continental beef breeds (lim, charolais) can be hard to handle at the best of times. A neighbour of ours has 4 or 5 Red Ruby Devon stores that he keeps for a 12-18mths and they were pretty docile, so a native smaller breed may be better. I would try to go purebred rather than a dairy x beef calf unless you want to breed the heifers later on.

Heifers can be just as stubborn if not more stubborn I think than steers but again that depends on breeding and how much they are handled. Ours are fairly good but are in all winter and the heifers especially are bedded down whilst still in the pen so are used to being handled.

I think they would have to come in October/November time until March/April, ours come in from October till mid April or whenever the weather improves and the grass starts growing.

[SallyintNorth]

You mostly can't buy pure beef calves as they are, pretty much by definition, reared on their mothers.

So you will be buying calves out of dairy cows, which the farmer needs off the cow so he can milk her.

Rearing pure dairy calves is a specialist job, so don't go there.

So you will be buying and rearing beef x dairy calves.

The problem with heifers is that they come a-bulling and can give you a management problem.  However if you are selling at under 12 months, and any bull calves you have are castrated, then you shouldn't have too many problems.  (And you definitely want the bull calves castrated, whether you have heifers as well or not.)

Any of the native beef breeds that you are likely to get are fairly docile - Angus, Hereford, Beef Shorthorn, Red Devon, South Devon to name a few - as are British Blue.  Continentals are, on the whole, more challenging - perhaps best to start with something easier.

Depending on where you are, you may be able to outwinter.  They will need good shelter.  If you are going to outwinter then you definitely want a hardy native breed.

You should go to your local mart now and see what is being sold at 11-12 months old now.  That will show you what sort of size and price your calves would be.

I've said it before but I am going to repeat it - try to buy calves direct from a local dairy farmer, especially as you start out.  S/he will give you a little bit of support, you won't have the complication of diseases picked up through the mart, and I won't have to write pages of information about what to look for and what to avoid when buying through the mart!  (Which would be hard work when I would have to explain every term, less hard to do when you have a bit of experience under your belt. )

[highhorse]

thanks everyone.

sallyintnorth, thanks for the info, i was thinking something like angus? we have very sheltered fields with woodland on a slope so drainage is really good. will defo be getting them castrated, less testosterone-less hassle in my book, goes for all species
im assuming they are fairly hardy so with that are they more resistant to disease/illness?

next thing i have to learn about is all the required paperwork and routine health stuff

thanks to everyone on here though the picture is becoming clearer

x

[shygirl]

what part of the uk are you in? that affects the tb/bvd testing etc

[Sbom]

Animal health will advise on paperwork and your local vet is the one to speak to about routine health care for your area. Good luck 

[Marches Farmer]

I suggest starting with no more than 3, that way you'll be able to pay them a lot of attention.  Good quality milk powder and calf creep are expensive  Must come from a good farmer who ensures all his calves have the correct quantity of colostrum and has a Johnes, BVD and IBR-free herd.  Dehorn if necessary.  Have a basic handling system and constant source of clean water.  Good fencing.  We buy in week old beef X heifer calves in May and sell the following February as potential suckler cows. leaving the lambing shed free for the ewes.  If you do this you must ensure you don't get freemartins (heifer calves twinned to a bull calf) as they'll likely be infertile.  Profit isn't that great but we're getting known for good quality stock and it's improving.  A couple of hefty vet's bills could wipe it out completely, hence the emphasis on healthy stock to begin with.

[highhorse]

hi shygirl

we are in scotland

x