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Veal Industry

  • Thread starter Thread starter Anonymous
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I have a few questions regarding the veal industry, but I'm not real sure where to start. A friend of mine suggested that I check into it being as I have a way to raise them pretty cheap. I'm just not sure what all it entails or what is required. Another big question is where and/or how do you market your product? I've never been around this aspect of the industry and must admit that I don't know as much as I would like. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
 
I think most of the veal growers and harvest facilities are in the Wisconsin/Minnesota area and back that direction. I think your location in Wyoming is going to be a real challenge as far as trying to sell into that market. Those Holstein calves are often a dime a dozen in the dairy regions and I'd bet that any freight as an added cost would take you out of the market.

I'm sure no expert, so maybe you'll hear more accurate information from someone else.

They sold 350 pounders last week on Superior for $169.00 / cwt., so maybe you ought to raise them up to that size and sell them FOB the ranch!!

HP
 
That's pushing $600.00 for a 350 pound calf! Do they know something we don't know??? :shock: :shock: :shock: We bought a bunch like that this spring and were pretty sure we were overpaying at $1.20.
 
600 lb steers in our area were bringing $125 cwt- Oct/Nov delivery... :D Higher in the areas closer to the feedlots..
 
Yeah, those prices were pretty nuts on the 350-weights. Not realistic at all unless the grazing is free or something.

Today, with corn at almost $4.00 and the April futures at $97.00 for fed cattle, 600 pounders in October would break even at about $122.00 standing in Miles City, with age/source verified premiums factored in and a couple bucks of carcass premiums too. That's being a little generous while also assuming 1% death loss and normal health cost in the feedlot. Who wants to buy a breakeven?? I wouldn't bid the $125.00, that's for sure. Feeders are looking at empty pens and they are getting pretty heady with their money again. :D Hope you get some of that money, Old Timer, and the rest of the ranchers on the board for that matter. 8)

HP
 
Folks, I really could use some insight here. If I'm not mistaken, I don't think the corn and feed prices affects the veal market, as I don't think they feed the veal anything other than milk. Am I wrong? I honestly don't don't know. I do realize that I will be feeding the cows to produce the milk though. But does feed price have any affect on veal? I'm asking because I've never been around it. I have a few milk cows and have an affordable source for holstien steer calves. That's why I'm wondering. I have room to expand a little and get a few more milk cows. I know that they have paid for themselves several times over just raising bums. Eventhough these cows raise 3 to 4 calves at a time, the calves are usually some of the best we sell. Who does a person market veal to? Are there requirements as to feed? Or size? Someone has to raise it, but I don't know who does or where it is most prolific. Do they have some sort of verification program? I would really appreciate some information.
 
Try this site, BAR BAR 2. I just googled 'raising veal calves" and
quite a bit came up.

http://www.vealfarm.com/industry-info/facts.asp

Apparently there is veal and "red veal".

Here's another link:

http://www.veal.ca (this is a Canadian site and looks to be very informative)
 
i googled veal--and yur pretty much on target.no grass or grain,,weaned early and put on a milk diet.

with that being said,,my only experience with veal was when a neighbor
had a young calf with a broken leg.not many steaks or roasts.but made good soups and hamburger.

i'd guess you'd have to check the larger cities for the market.

it can probably be found here,but u may have to order or ask for it.

search for specialty meats.

good luck with you're endevor
 
Hey thanks a lot FH. I will give it a look. Why aren't you in bed yet? Most normal people would already be there. Are you not normal? LOL. I have a reason for my insomnia. All of these dang meds have my system screwed up.the physical therapy today sure as heck didn't make me feel better either. I guess it will eventually, I HOPE. Thank God for the Hostile Native. She has sure stepped up and been a huge help to me. It bugs me because I'm unable to do much right now. Eventhough she has a regular job, she still comes home and does my stuff. I am truly blessed to have her. Hopefully what the doc says is right. He keeps saying to give it time and I will be better than new. I'm looking forward to it too. There are several oppurtunities staring me in the face. I just have to get mobile again to pursue them. Anyhow, these meds are making me ramble. Thanks for the link FH.
 
FH, I checked out the two sites that you sent links to. They were both very interesting and informative. There was quite a bit to be learned on each site. It seems that in the U.S. there are six states that are the leading producers of veal. I'm guessing that's due to the availability of young male dairy stock. Although, veal doesn't "have" to be male or dairy stock. I think the male dairy stock is used more for praticality than anything. They will grow out to the desired size just as easy as a beef calf and there is really not much market for them otherwise it seems. It wouldn't take very much and I would have suitable facilities to shift over to raising veal. I've been wanting to expand my dairy herd by a few head anyhow just so I could raise more bums. I know that's not exactly "cowboy", but I'm looking at the $$ end of things too. We have a herd of commercial red and blacks. With them I need 40 acres atleast for one cow to raise one calf. Eventhough I have to feed them, I can get these jerseys to raise 2 to 3 calves at a time. And that is being conservative because I don't milk them out. I just let the calves get their own meals. If I were to buy some milking machines I could actually up that number, especially if I used an automatic feeder. If a person could raise 4 calves at a time and get 2 sets a year, that's 8 calves per cow. Even with feed costs its not looking too bad. Say a person milked out 10 head, that's 80 calves a year. Our beef cows need 3200 acres to raise that same amount. Because we are just a small outfit, I will actually have time to do this if we decide to pursue it. If we were bigger and could find more lease land I wouldn't even consider it though. We got these cows just to have around for raising the occasional bum, but they have sure earned their keep and started me to thinking on how to better utilize them. I'm just wondering about how to market them, or who to contact in this region. Anyhow, thanks for the links FH. They were very helpful.
 
We put up barns at alot of dairys, the thing I notice is with sexed semen their is way less bull calves. Don't know if it will lead to a shortage or not.
 
I hadn't thought about the sexed semen issue. You're right, a lot of dairies are going to that. I've even got some sexed semen coming to use on my cows. Most dairy farmers will still have a cleanup bull turned out though. Plus, there are some guys that still don't use it. I can't understand their reasoning though. But, if there is a shortage of dairy bull calves, a person can use beef calves. They just cost a little more. I have a friend in N.E. Tx. who day labors and works the sales, he can pick up calves for me a heckuva lot cheaper down there. I would just have to buy enought to make the trip worthwhile. He and I talked earlier this evening, he said he can pick up holstien bull calves for little to nothing. You raised a good point though Hoop. If I end up trying this, I'm gonna be flying blind some. That's for sure. Thanks for the thoughts Hoop.
 
I have no desire to raise pigs other than for our own use. I'm looking into this because it compliments our existing operation and won't take many modifications to get started. We are not set up to raise pigs, nor do we want to be.
 
BAR BAR 2 said:
I have no desire to raise pigs other than for our own use. I'm looking into this because it compliments our existing operation and won't take many modifications to get started. We are not set up to raise pigs, nor do we want to be.
Click to expand...

You'll be sorry...................


The PETA folks LOVE to visit veal prod farms.......
 
Well, I'm sure I already do enough to p*ss off the PC police. Luckily, here in Wyoming peta isn't held in very high regard, nor are trespassers. There really won't be much different than what I'm already doing. Of course there will be more dietary restrictions, but they will still be in the same big pen. If I pursue this, there are no plans to use crates. Parts of Europe have already passed laws banning the crate method. There's no point in spending money on something that is very likely to be outlawed here. We already use a barn with big inside and outside pens. This method seems to work well with the bums we raise. With veal we will just market them sooner and will be able to raise more.
 

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