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Author Topic: are calves viable/profitable?  (Read 16301 times)

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: are calves viable/profitable?
« Reply #15 on: May 01, 2014, 07:29:41 pm »
Great, no TB to worry about then, and I think most herds now know their BVD status.  Ideally you would buy from BVD-free herds which have been vaccinating for at least two years.

Which would be your nearest mart?

Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

twizzel

  • Joined Apr 2012
Re: are calves viable/profitable?
« Reply #16 on: May 02, 2014, 10:13:44 am »
You mostly can't buy pure beef calves as they are, pretty much by definition, reared on their mothers.


Yes sorry I meant buying pure beef stores not calves, so 6mth old weaned heifers and steers (castrated males, therefore running with heifers shouldn't be an issue).

highhorse

  • Joined Feb 2014
Re: are calves viable/profitable?
« Reply #17 on: May 02, 2014, 01:44:32 pm »
Great, no TB to worry about then, and I think most herds now know their BVD status.  Ideally you would buy from BVD-free herds which have been vaccinating for at least two years.

Which would be your nearest mart?

nearset mart would be craig wilson at ayr. its only about 20 mins away. might be worth going along to check out the prices etc x

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: are calves viable/profitable?
« Reply #18 on: May 02, 2014, 03:05:01 pm »

nearset mart would be craig wilson at ayr. its only about 20 mins away. might be worth going along to check out the prices etc x

You'll learn loads - and have a gazillion more questions!  lol
Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

langfauld easycare

  • Joined Apr 2012
Re: are calves viable/profitable?
« Reply #19 on: May 02, 2014, 11:05:07 pm »
Great, no TB to worry about then, and I think most herds now know their BVD status.  Ideally you would buy from BVD-free herds which have been vaccinating for at least two years.

Which would be your nearest mart?

nearset mart would be craig wilson at ayr. its only about 20 mins away. might be worth going along to check out the prices etc x
i used to buy alot of calfs from there but they got a bit scarce not sure what they are like now . its a decent mart .there are still alot of dairy farms down that way so you may have a chance of buying direct but the mart will be a good start

belgianblue

  • Joined Jun 2010
Re: are calves viable/profitable?
« Reply #20 on: May 04, 2014, 05:23:13 pm »
calves at this present moment are making between £150 to £400 from markets so do your research.
milk powder cost £?? you have to ask the supplier

Cluckinggoodpoultry

  • Joined Mar 2009
Re: are calves viable/profitable?
« Reply #21 on: May 12, 2014, 08:53:54 pm »
You must be around my area, milk powder for calves £40 a bag or thereabouts, then good quality feeding I use I'ansons which is fabulous stuff at £11.25 a bag. The dairy farms around Ayr mostly shoot their bull calves although I do take a few home on odd occasions and rear them. The BVD status doesn't have to be negative if selling bull calves currently it is only for the sale of breeding heifers and cows. Johnes is quite prevelant in this area as well. Most of the dairy farms vaccinate for BVD, and you can find the status of someone if you have their holding number on the BCMS website.




highhorse

  • Joined Feb 2014
Re: are calves viable/profitable?
« Reply #22 on: May 12, 2014, 09:37:00 pm »
You must be around my area, milk powder for calves £40 a bag or thereabouts, then good quality feeding I use I'ansons which is fabulous stuff at £11.25 a bag. The dairy farms around Ayr mostly shoot their bull calves although I do take a few home on odd occasions and rear them. The BVD status doesn't have to be negative if selling bull calves currently it is only for the sale of breeding heifers and cows. Johnes is quite prevelant in this area as well. Most of the dairy farms vaccinate for BVD, and you can find the status of someone if you have their holding number on the BCMS website.

hi
are the ones they shoot/you take home pure dairy or x beef?
do you raise them for yourself or for profit?
:-)

Backinwellies

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  • Joined Sep 2012
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Re: are calves viable/profitable?
« Reply #23 on: May 13, 2014, 07:55:12 am »
Highhorse... it is only the pure dairy bull calves that are worth nothing which are shot..... because they have no worth as meat .... cost the same to feed as a beefx and don't produce a commercial carcass at the end .... Ok for home use ofcourse. A few people are trying to produce rose veal from Jersey bull calves... but a difficult market.


Having read your questions both here and in the sheep section you are very keen to try anything which makes a profit ... whilst profit is important (though  illusive generally in smallholding) your abilities and knowledge of what you are tackling are far more important,  as is a real passion for what you are rearing.
  I would suggest many market visits, show visits and probably some HelpXing on other smallholdings before you start on any venture .... decide what you really like working with because 24/7 care and cost out running income for at least several years (whatever you do will involve investment) will soon dull enthusiasm on anything else.   Good Luck
Linda

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SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: are calves viable/profitable?
« Reply #24 on: May 13, 2014, 09:48:14 am »
Not all dairy bull calves are shot/worthless, good Holstein and Friesian calves sell reasonably well as young calves and very well as grown stirks, but rearing them is a specialist job.

Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

highhorse

  • Joined Feb 2014
Re: are calves viable/profitable?
« Reply #25 on: May 13, 2014, 03:50:08 pm »
Highhorse... it is only the pure dairy bull calves that are worth nothing which are shot..... because they have no worth as meat .... cost the same to feed as a beefx and don't produce a commercial carcass at the end .... Ok for home use ofcourse. A few people are trying to produce rose veal from Jersey bull calves... but a difficult market.


Having read your questions both here and in the sheep section you are very keen to try anything which makes a profit ... whilst profit is important (though  illusive generally in smallholding) your abilities and knowledge of what you are tackling are far more important,  as is a real passion for what you are rearing.
  I would suggest many market visits, show visits and probably some HelpXing on other smallholdings before you start on any venture .... decide what you really like working with because 24/7 care and cost out running income for at least several years (whatever you do will involve investment) will soon dull enthusiasm on anything else.   Good Luck

hi

yes i do need to think about at least doing something which wipes its face or turn a small profit. in an ideal world i would do it for love but the world is far from ideal. ;)

i had a smallholding years ago with sheep, pigs, goats and chickens but they were pets/weeders or for own freezer and thats quite a bit different from keeping them for business purposes. made my money back then by breeding horses but i do not want to go down that route again, however tht stood me in good stead for the 24/7/365 delights of animals. there will be no shocks for me there, nor in their ability to be sick when least expected or inconvenient.

so difficult to know what route to go down, would love sheep, goats and cattle but feel it may spread me a bit thin.... :-)

this forum has been great though, given me lots to think about and a few good ideas, just need to research the local market now and jiggle a few figures ( love the ord 'just')

:-)  xx

Cluckinggoodpoultry

  • Joined Mar 2009
Re: are calves viable/profitable?
« Reply #26 on: May 13, 2014, 07:32:34 pm »
Hi, I rear pure dairy holstein friesian calves, there is a small amount of profit in this, I just tend to do it as a savings plan more than anything plus the pure enjoyment of rearing them. I also buy beef x dairy heifers to bring on to put back in calf to a beef breed, have been successful in this and left calves with their mother and fed them with them up to 8 months and was offered £850 per calf from a local farmer just prior to the winter, knew he would make a profit come the spring but outweighed the cost of feeding etc over the winter.


You need to bear in mind whilst there is viable profit in some things I paid quite a lot for a belgian blue x friesian bull calf, lovely big strong healthy calf, took pneumonia and despite being treated with numerous things to the tune of a few £100 I lost him. These are things you have to take into consideration, rearing of calves isn't a doddle but it's a great thing to do but building up knowledge, being able to recognise signs of illness and any problems etc puts you in a far better standing for starting this from scratch, plus it is labour intensive if done correctly. I reared calves for a number of years learning by trial and error, then I worked full time dairy rearing calves and milking etc, that taught me an awful lot and was a great experience, I still work in the dairy industry as well as running my own place, hence the access to a number of farms in the area.








If you want an easy option and profit calf rearing isn't it, although one of your other ideas maybe be a hit depending on where you are located, the horse side, field livery etc. Breeding horses now is a no no really value is right out of them.

twizzel

  • Joined Apr 2012
Re: are calves viable/profitable?
« Reply #27 on: May 13, 2014, 10:18:07 pm »
Hi, I rear pure dairy holstein friesian calves, there is a small amount of profit in this, I just tend to do it as a savings plan more than anything plus the pure enjoyment of rearing them. I also buy beef x dairy heifers to bring on to put back in calf to a beef breed, have been successful in this and left calves with their mother and fed them with them up to 8 months and was offered £850 per calf from a local farmer just prior to the winter, knew he would make a profit come the spring but outweighed the cost of feeding etc over the winter.


You need to bear in mind whilst there is viable profit in some things I paid quite a lot for a belgian blue x friesian bull calf, lovely big strong healthy calf, took pneumonia and despite being treated with numerous things to the tune of a few £100 I lost him. These are things you have to take into consideration, rearing of calves isn't a doddle but it's a great thing to do but building up knowledge, being able to recognise signs of illness and any problems etc puts you in a far better standing for starting this from scratch, plus it is labour intensive if done correctly. I reared calves for a number of years learning by trial and error, then I worked full time dairy rearing calves and milking etc, that taught me an awful lot and was a great experience, I still work in the dairy industry as well as running my own place, hence the access to a number of farms in the area.








If you want an easy option and profit calf rearing isn't it, although one of your other ideas maybe be a hit depending on where you are located, the horse side, field livery etc. Breeding horses now is a no no really value is right out of them.

I would steer clear of liveries, horses trash ground, trash fencing, picky grazers, plus if DIY you have several owners to keep happy, then you've got insurance, field maintenance etc. unless offering part or full or breaking services I wouldn't put horses on your land.
« Last Edit: May 13, 2014, 10:21:17 pm by twizzel »

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: are calves viable/profitable?
« Reply #28 on: May 13, 2014, 10:19:51 pm »
Did you forget to write anything, twizz?  All I can see is CGP's post quoted.
Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

twizzel

  • Joined Apr 2012
Re: are calves viable/profitable?
« Reply #29 on: May 13, 2014, 10:21:58 pm »
Ha stupid phone and small buttons, pressed post before I had written anything ;)

 

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