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Bottle Calves

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Southdakotahunter

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Im lookin to buy a few bottle calves......something my kids can raise....Have looked at a few different possibilities...Holstien bull calves, or crosses. Can you give me an idea of what i should be paying for these critters? How long would a new calf take to get on grass? I am also looking at selling them in the fall as soon as the water in the pond freezes. How much should one weigh by then? Is it worth my time?
 
Worth your time and money, as milk replacer is over $25 per bag now, probably NOT.

Worth your kids time and fun they'll have....SURE!!!

I'd say go fer it!
 
I'm with K,kids'll have a great time,it will do them good,daughter loved bottle feeing calves,go for it
 
Southdakotahunter said:
Im lookin to buy a few bottle calves......something my kids can raise....Have looked at a few different possibilities...Holstien bull calves, or crosses. Can you give me an idea of what i should be paying for these critters? How long would a new calf take to get on grass? I am also looking at selling them in the fall as soon as the water in the pond freezes. How much should one weigh by then? Is it worth my time?
Click to expand...

Don't know what the holstiens are bringing (none in this area) but baby calves have been selling for $250- $350 around here-- which cuts the money making part all to hell......
 
I don't know how old your kids are, but I'd say do a lot of research on bottle calves, and be prepaired before you go pick em up. Have some of the main necessary medications on hand, instead of gettin home with a few bottle calves and have them get sick and not have a clue as to how to treat them. Baby calves go down hill fast when they get sick. Explain to your kids that sometimes baby calves dont make it.
It's well worth the cost of raisin calves, for your kids to be involved in the experience. You probably won't make much money on them tho. When we have a calf we hafta bottle feed, we always get the medicated milk replacer. Less chance of it getting sick with it. Also we put calf starter ( a pelleted feed ) out as soon as we get it goin good on the bottle. Not a whole lot at first, about a half a 1 lb coffee can. Then as it learns to eat that gradually increase the amount (directions are on the bag) After about 30 to 45 days on a bottle you can decrease the amount of milk given until they are on just feed.(Or you can continue to bottle feed as well for a few weeks, it won't hurt. ) A little hay in the pen for them to nibble on as well. And always fresh water.
If you are planning on buyin from a dairy, I'd ask around and find one that lets the calf stay on the mama a couple days before they are pulled off, that way they've got the colostrum and have a much better chance of surviving. Hope this helps.
Bottom line tho.....raisin critters is a great way to keep your kids busy, and they learn so much from the experience.
 
I just sold a heifer calf to a kid yesterday. I asked $400, but he said he was buying it with his money, so I took his $400 and gave him back $50 told him it was seed money for next year.
 
jigs said:
I just sold a heifer calf to a kid yesterday. I asked $400, but he said he was buying it with his money, so I took his $400 and gave him back $50 told him it was seed money for next year.
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Gee, for that kind of money I hope it was a Charlois. :wink:
 
I heard milk prices were at a low right now......Cheaper calves may just be around the corner. Spring is always the worst time to jump in,


PPRM
 
Faster gains on dairy calves can be achieved with starting on grain asap. Wean from the bottle as soon as grain intake is sufficient. A higher protein milk replacer will give faster rates of gain. The cost per day increases slightly but the total time and cost feeding is decreased. The industry calls it Accelerated Heifer Growth. One of my professors at Cornell did a ton of research on maximizing lean tissue growth.
No hay is needed until weaning. Hay does not help develop the Rumen, the VFAs in grain does. Once they are eating sufficient grain then they can have hay.
 
I could have bought ten holstein calves at Three Forks last December for 5 bucks a piece, I was just sittin on my hands, don't like to work that hard I guess. Now they're bringin three to four hundred a head. Who's the dummy now? :wink:
 
several years ago holstien calves were of no value here... they had ran a bunch through the barn and had no bids. so a guy brings in6 of them and the fellow running the dock says to not even unload them, so he puts a sign on the trailer that they are for sale CHEAP, after the sale is over he comes out of the barn and some one has dumped 4 more into his trailer!!!
 
A similar story: several years ago, the sheriff came to a cattle producer's house in the night and said, 'Edgar, somebody's cut the fence into your cattle pasture and backed a semi in there.'
The old guy said, 'How many did they take?' The sheriff said, 'It's worse than that, they dumped out a truckload.' :shock:
Just goes to show you that things truly are cyclical.
 
We always laugh when we can't seem to find the cattle where they should be. " Maybe someone stole them and left a ck nailed to a tree"...... my reply is " we ain't that lucky"!!!
 
When I was in high school ( about 100 years ago) I had a deal with a local dairy.

They provoded me with new born calves and the first 48 hours of milk the cow produced and I fed the calves. For every 400# hiefer I returned to them I was allowed to keep a bull. I did this for a couple of years and enjoyed the experience and learned a lot- - - It made money for both of us and often there would be more bulls than hiefers and they would charge very little for the extras.

If you were to approach a local dairy you could possibly work a deal.
 
In my opinion bottle babies are a gamble. This year nice angus calves are brining an average of 300 dollars. Then the milk replacer for a bag is 51 dollars. How we figure is one bag of milk replacer per calf. We feed it 6 weeks and in that time they are usually going on grain. So you have 351 dollars in the calf plus your labor. Then you throw in some grain costs and I would think with that and hay you easily get 400 dollars in them. If the calf brings 500 at fall yeah hard to say it was worth the 100 bucks for all the labor however if they bring 750 then it's easier to see it being worth it. However once you watch a child learn responsibility and see them enjoy the calf that makes it priceless.

The fair bucket calf I can already see being a money losing project! He will get fed three times a day for two months and gets calf starter from town. However the guy selling calves let the kids have them for 250 dollars since he knows they truely do it. So less cost there. I guess we get their calves and a bag of milk replacer for the same cost basically.
But once again for the fun times it brings and the bonding time for all of us grandma and papa are even into helping him lead and watching the learning process I can see this calf ending up being priceless.
 
Lowbirthweightspecial30pounds.jpg

Little bitty baby calf
Littlebittybabycalf.jpg

Low birthweight special, 30 pounds of beef on the hoof

This one is for sale, ten dollars per pound, price negotiable. :wink:
 
You would be suprised how quickly most of the bottle calves will learn to steal from the herd if they are allowed to run with a small group up by the house. We have had several that we bottle fed ywice a day for about two weeks and then let them with the cows and calves after that. The calves will come when called but after a week or so will start taking less and less milk until they stay with the herd and seem to do very well.
 
Soapweed I have one that will match yours the most fun thing on the place however we don't see him turning out to be a profit more a pet! :wink:

Oh and let me start the bidding! :wink:
 

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