I am extremely picky about who buys a 2 day old calf. I put an extreme amt of dedication to raising calves. ....
I was training my friend on bottle feeding , giving them documented info, my experience and all. But their intrest is in$ . So I get upset when I see these calves underweight even after I tell them to worry about perfecting bottle raising. ....
I have gotten rid of about a dozen ppl I tried to set up with the bottle feeding. It seems that a non cattle farmer believe that profit comes at the beginning. No it's at the end. This is one reason why I choose to do it myself. Work from 9 pm-230am @dairy and 4am-12 pm @ beef far here at home. And on top make time to bottle feed. And get very little sleep
Well I just got ridd of her . Found out she had gotten someone else to do the job w/o me knowing. He was unqualified in my eyes to handle calves . I pulled the plug on the bottle calf program. After all I could do to give her the tools to be successful in return she attempts to hustle Me . I take great pride in raising a fine steer for an individual to have and have great returns on it. Mediocrity is not good enough for me
Farming is not a get rich scheme. In fact it's not a get rich at all scheme. You can make a decent profit for your work. That's it. By the time you figure in labor and supplies, you will do okay, but you don't do it at the expense of the animal. Healthy animals always make you a bit of money. Just a bit though. The only reason to work with bottle calves is because you like the calves and cows. You can make better money with less work elsewhere.
Yep. I love it. But she worried on how much she can get and not enough on health. I took my bull from our deal but he's 8 weeks old and not in optimum health. now im doctoring him back to health but urge damadge has been done. It will take about 2 months to bring him up to health. He's under weight. I am ill about this. I gave her at least 10 gallons of milk a day to do the job right. These r lil babies who we take on the responsibility to bring them up like if they were our own kid.
These lil ones is going to be my first group of steers. I've always sold them quick. Not these.im raising them to a year old. And see where it goes
Are you going to dehorn? Around here you get more at the sales for cattle with no horns. Not sure how it is there. Are those Jerseys?
Yes jersy and holstein . Yes devalued with horns . They a trial run of an idea of creating my own feel lot with 2 day old calves . I am late for dehorning. not sure if I will do others
How many two day old calves do you plan on having in a feedlot and where will you be getting them from? www.calving2014.wordpress.com
On calving season at work I try to get atleast 4 every 4 weeks. Kinda rotational . Have 4 new ones this month at a month old I start ween down and get the next 4 new ones and get them going. This goes for about Oct,Nov till about Feb . Some sold as ppl want them. Any that got sick r not sold till a year old, if desirable for stockyard the a group. If not butchered. But I still have until Oct ,Nov before the boys r ready. ....
I just ordered 2 more except these im going to try feeding 1 bottle every3 or 4 hrs. I need to achieve feeder look on a dairy steer. Ill be happy maxing out at 100 dairy steers and bulls and about 20 head of beef cows 10 dairy cows.
well the little fella I bought 5 days ago. had a bad start. he had gotten wet before I pick him up. He ended up getting pneumonia. and I battled against it for 3 days. Nope, I lost him. yesterday morning he gave me a sign that he was giving up. I somehow knew the results but I work with it hard and very aggressively.
I still have one. But out of three years and around 50 calves only lost 6. Ppl say that those r good odds. Not good enough for me.
So this last calf that got sick quick onme the mama cow ended up getting gangrene. Could this have been the culprit that caused the calf to get sick, eventually nothing helped. Could he not have gotten enough colostrum? Could he have ingested bacteria from her toweaken his system?
Here is my lil test subject, he is a month old drinkin 1g raw milk 3 times a day. I do belive if i keep this up for 3 months i can blend him in with a group of beef steers . He a jersy bull calf. RATE MY CALF.
