Author Topic: are calves viable/profitable? (Read 16321 times)

highhorse · « **Reply #30 on:** May 14, 2014, 08:39:22 am »

definately want to steer clear of horses, ran an equestrian stud/producing yard for eight years and basically turned grey at the rude, demanding and backstabbing attitudes of horsey people ( bit rich saying this as i am one and have been a horsey person for over twenty years so clearly we arnt all rude and bakstabbing.....

) .

love the idea of rearing some calves. thought about starting with 5 and building to 20 ( once i am more proficient at it)......buy them a few weeks old in winter, keep in until early spring then turn out for spring and summer ready to sell in the autumn and repeat the process.

was thinking dairy x angus? any thoughts?

ive reared orphan foals, puppies, kittens, lambs and goats from a baby but never a calf......lots of reading coming my way :-)

x

SallyintNorth · « **Reply #31 on:** May 14, 2014, 09:09:03 am »

I've said it before but I'll say it again on this thread - get calves at least one month old, especially while you are starting.

Would you be planning to feed them by bottle or bucket?

Dairy x Angus or x Hereford would be a good choice to start with, IMO.

Your choice and timing may be limited by what regimes your local dairy farms are on - some calve all year round, some predominantly in the autumn, some predominantly in the spring. I suspect more calve in the spring than the autumn - if you think about when you would want your dairy cows to be dry for 60 days before calving, you wouldn't choose to do that when the grass is at its best

country soul · « **Reply #32 on:** May 15, 2014, 01:32:36 pm »

I reared these two belgian blue x dairy heifer calves a year or so ago.I got them at 3 weeks and kept them to 9 months old when I took them to market.They stood me at£445 each ,cost of calf ,milk,concentrate ,wormer,hay/straw etc.They looked realyy good at the market and bidding was brisk.They made £450 each,no profit but they did the land good and were a joy to have around the place.

Backinwellies · « **Reply #33 on:** May 15, 2014, 01:41:00 pm »

Country soul .... that is a great post .... the beasties look great

..... you did them proud.

Everyone who asks about profitable smallholding should see this... gain is in satisfaction and hopefully land improvement not money! Hope you enjoyed drinking the profits!!

Ladygrey · « **Reply #34 on:** May 15, 2014, 02:08:41 pm »

Quote from: country soul on May 15, 2014, 01:32:36 pm

I reared these two belgian blue x dairy heifer calves a year or so ago.I got them at 3 weeks and kept them to 9 months old when I took them to market.They stood me at£445 each ,cost of calf ,milk,concentrate ,wormer,hay/straw etc.They looked realyy good at the market and bidding was brisk.They made £450 each,no profit but they did the land good and were a joy to have around the place.

They look good and healthy! with a nice shape to them, I suggest they didnt make higher price because they were white BB's, however that might just be our area, who knows

Our BB cross freisian calves are sold off farm at maybe 2 weeks old, sometimes less, earlyer the better because of our pre TB movement tests, white ones sell for maybe £200-£250 however the mottled ones (BB colour) can sell for up to £350!!!! no idea why!!

They get sold into suckler herds as suckler cows

Limi cross do so aswell but dont go up to £350, more like £250,
AA cross heifers go for meat with the boys, contract sold to a rearer who rears them for Mc donalds, they make maybe £250 for heifers up to £350 for a big beef cross bull

country soul · « **Reply #35 on:** May 15, 2014, 10:08:50 pm »

thanks to you guys above for the positive comments.
I'm thinking of getting a couple more in the autumn,may be Hereford cross this time ,or white faced uns as we say round here.
The bloke who bought them intended to keep them as suckler cows so I'm hoping they are still around .

Cluckinggoodpoultry · « **Reply #36 on:** May 27, 2014, 07:44:19 pm »

Well was at the market today and sold 5 bull calves at 6 months old and they made £500 each they were AAxHF and I was very pleased with that. The dairy bullocks were making a reasonable trade at £240 each. As said before I do this more of a savings plan, the AAxHF calves were a lot bigger investment as I got the dairy bull calves for free with working in the industry.

There was one friesian bull calf, a little cutie still on the milk and he made £25, I used to pick them up for a £1 in the market about six years ago.

Agree with country soul regardless of what you get be it pure dairy or a dairy cross don't get white, they don't make the money for some reason. Gorgeous BB calf today same size as all the others going through the ring made £100 less than the rest.