Raising young calves

I have finished a couple bunches of 300-400lb beef steers to 1300lbs then sold them off to butcher. That was ok, but I am looking to switch things up a bit.

I am looking to raise young bull calves, holsteins from a week old to maybe 350 lbs. I understand that working with animals this size is a bit more time consuming than the larger animals, however they eat less, and tie up less money and I don't have to worry about an aggressive one going nuts on me. Also, I currently buy all my grain for the large feeder steers that I do so that gets spendy. I do make my own hay. So my thinking is... buy these little ones from a few area dairy farms, bottle feed them milk replacer till they go on starter, then onto grower, all which will be bought. I can buy in bulk. Maybe offer them some hay. Once they reach about 350lbs, sell them off to a feedlot. I don't know much about vaccinating or treating sick calves so I'll have some learning to do there, I do have good shelter for them and don't think I'll have any problem finding a source to buy from. A couple questions about this,

How long could I expect it to take a week old Holstien to reach 350lbs if I fed it aggresively?

Any suggestions on vaccinating or treating sick calves?

Any other thoughts in general??

I'm in Central MN if that changes anything.

Depending on if the calf got colostrum. plan on at least 50# of milk replacer. Plus some grain, and 2 to 3 times a day feedings. You can expect up to a 50% death loss or more. Also scours are a major problem. This is just the tip of the iceberg. In my area, central Ne, I can not justify paying much more tha $50.00 for a calf and still make any money.

I have done this in the past (when I was in high school) and here is what I learned:
1) only get calves from a farm you know (so calves get their colostrum)
2) Vaccinate
3) Group them by age and feed them from a milk bar type feeder (I built one from a 55 gal plastic drum)
4) keep good grassy hay in front of them early to get their rumens going.
4) Put starter feed free choice (sparingly) when their about 4-5 wks
5) Keep Banamine, B-complex, penicillin on-hand.
6) Expect stuff to go wrong
7) Keep them in a well-ventilated building
8) Don't be in a huge hurry to wean them from the milk bar, just slowly replace the milk replacer with h20 (usually 7-8 wks) as long as they are eating hay and starter (less likely to scour)
9. Throw the idea that you may actually make money doing this completely out the window
Thats all I can think of for now, good luck!

Especially #6 and #9!
We raise all our holstein heifers, and 1/2 to 2/3 of the bull calves (as steers). Along with colostrum (#1), I like to give mine First Response (I think that's the right name) and iodine the navels right after birth. Helps keep a low mortality percentage.

I was just kicking that idea around, I used to raise about 40 hd a year to 600-700 lbs then corn went to $7.00 (2007-8). I spent about ten minutes running the numbers a month ago, I was losing about $100/hd before I figured in any time or equipment. I used 15% death loss, which will either be high or low. Most times when I lose money on paper there is now way I would try it for real. If corn ever went to $1.80 again I'd be all over it.

Nate

I was worried there, for a second, that you weren't going to get to #9. I think that's the most important one.

High cost of the inputs for the little ones, lots of risk, and you need to check out how little a 350# Holstein steer is worth before you start.

Food for thought- Virtually all dairymen raise their own baby heifers. Since they're feeding calves anyhow, wouldn't you think they would raise the bulls, too, if there was ANY money in it?

your comment regarding the dairymen feeding their own steers IF there was profit in it can't be banked on. Some may not have the space, the feed, desire, etc. Also, if there is no money in it, why are people even feeding them? and more so, why do you see guys at the sales barn bidding against each other to buy a small bull calf? Not looking to start a fight, just looking for the truth out of these questions

I have raised many calves over the years, I am in central Mn too. There is no money in it, I do it because I enjoy having the cattle around, and some freezer beef. I have got it down to where I rarely lose one now, but it has been an expensive learning curve! lol You have to keep inputs low, or you will be losing money fast. They are worth about a buck a pound at 350-400 lbs currently. Depends on some factors, but 6-7 months to that wieght in dairy breed is close.
Harder to find good calves now, usually already spoken for or are sent to the auction. Jerseys can be had cheap, but are fragile and stay small.

If you sell at 350 lbs. then you will be doing all the work and standing the expense and somebody else will be making the profit. You need to go at least to 600 lbs. and do as much of it on grass as possible, or hay and corn silage or hay and a little protein supplement when off the milk, corn feeding stocker cattle is a loser. If you find or know of a good dairy that properly starts their calves by maintaining a proper vaccination regimine on the cows and by making sure the calves get colostrum shortly after birth and they don't have a high incidence of disease at their facilities then you have a good chance of getting calves off to a good start, if you do your part diligently. One big reason that so many people lose money and have high death rates is because they are too lazy to properly care for the calves, it takes time and effort to do it right and you have to pay attention, anyone who thinks they are just going to run out and feed a a half mixed bottle twice a day and run back in to the TV or computer is fooling themselves. If you are retired and have plenty of time and the most important thing, want to do it then it is not that difficult. Healthy started calves hauled home in a disease free trailer and kept in well ventilated individual pens that are well bedded and limed in between occupants are not that hard to keep healthy, the number one killer of well started calves is over feeding milk replacer, you want your calves a little hungry and offer hay, water and starter feed from day 1, you don't need any fancy dollar a pound calf starter, some 16% dairy pellets or similar will do the trick. You will need to keep some antibiotic boluses, LA 200 and Micotil or equivalent on hand but the first thing to do with new calves is vaccinate against scours, enterotoxemia, blackleg and IBR/BVD -- any Vet can line you up on recomended vaccinations in your area.

I'd think the dairymen would have an advantage over the average Joe, because they usually have waste milk they can feed, to cut down on milk replacer. But you may be right about being too busy, etc.- I recall from my years on the farm that there always seemed to be plenty to do!

I'm not saying you can't make money raising Holstein steers- the part of your plan I was questioning was selling at 350#. You've got all that expensive early feed and medicine in them, and have lost a few to eat into the profit margin, and don't have a very big animal to sell.

I think you'd do far better, money wise, if you went ahead and grew them out. But its been a long time since I was in that game, and circumstances may have changed- can you find someone raising Holstein steers, and pick his brain a little?

Dairymen feeding their own heifers used to be the norm with average size herds. Now with mega dairies common here, most contract it out to others, with an agreement to buy them back when bred. Bulls are typically sold by pre-arrangement with custom feeders.....some feed to stocker weight, some to market weight.

Individual hutches work very well for calves, especially when sourced from multiple farms. Not always fun feeding in MN weather, but better for the calves. Someone getting only 50% survival is doing too much wrong.

Hence, how I got them for next to nothing. I was doing this as an ambitious young farm boy close to 20years ago, I would never, EVER consider something this today. Milk replacer has quadrupled, calves are high and most important, I got older and smarter. People forget just how much feed and time it takes to put weight on a freakin Holstein.

Here are some realistic numbers:
1) a GOOD holstien bull calf, couple days old $120.00, maybe more maybe less, average.
2) bag of milk replacer 50lb $80.00, I run a bag through each one, when thats gone, they get weaned.
3) vaccination, dehorn , banding , booster , about $40.00 a head.
4) 3 lbs of starter a day average for 3 months is $100.00
5) hay is harder to figure , if you are making your own
6) dry feed at 4-5 lbs a day for the other 3 - 4 months would be about $75.00
7) mineral, water , bedding, electricity for fences and water heaters, gas for transport , manure hauling,and your time????
So you have $415.00 or more dollars into a 400lb calf worth about $400.00 bucks. And as others have said, that all assumes nothing goes wrong, like vet bills , death, or repairs of any equipment.
There is NO money in it, gets better if you take them to 6-800lbs or all the way to market, if you have the hay and space. Or, if you can reduce inputs at any of the points, get them cheap, pasture , barter , etc. Or , tax angle ??

Maybe cuz lots of guys get the same idea and try it out. Are you doing it as a hobby, or a money maker? Were you making money with finishing beef steers? If so, then just fine tune that would be my recomendation. You can make good money just selling hay lately also.

I must say it is the same way over here in the UK. I used to raise about 80 Holstein heifer calves as replacements every year....I calved them at about 2 years old and kept about 25-30 of the best bred heifers as replacements for my own herd and sold the rest fresh calved. I made good money because I had good pedigree well bred stock, but the bull calves......one year our meal firm held an open day, I got talking to a few dairy farmers. they all wondered why I sold my bull calves for what ever I got (and counted it as a bonus)....that year I was getting about £20/head x 100 bull calves(this was a very bad price!) One guy also reared 100 bull calves from his herd, he sat quiet during the discussion. Afterwards he said quietly to me that I had made about £1000 more out of my calves that year than he had!! and I had no work!
I can not speak for how it would work on your side of the Atlantic, but we have a lot of small farmers here that specialise in breeding pedigree beef cattle....small herds of 25-40 cattle. They get top prizes and prices for their reared bulls to run with suckler herds and they sell off a few of the heifers as breeders and keep the rest as replacements. they all seem to be making a nice comfortable living!!!
Good luck with whatever you do, but do the maths first!.....Sam

Super h mike nailed it pretty good. The margins are so thin the effort is hard to justify or as I have heard it, "the juice ain't worth the squeeze". If you wanna do a few a year just to have something to do, great, but to enter into this as an agricultural enterprise would be somewhat ill advised. I think, and I am just speculating, but I think operations that do this (start dairy feeders) do it on such a large scale that their input and labor costs are significantly lower than a smaller producers would be, therefore making it more profitable than somebody buying random bull calves, taking them home and starting them. If I am wrong, or out of line on this, someone please correct me.

When I was a kid 50 years ago, I always had the job of caring for the calves, heifers and bulls of our from 2 to 5 milk cows. At that time it was legal and customary to sell raw milk to customers who came and got it at the farm. We had lots of customers who liked our milk because they said it was cleaner than what they could buy at other farms. Anyway we always had several cows milking at once and to keep them milking, they had to each have a calf about once a year. We fed the baby calves milk with nipple pails, colostrum at first, then whole milk for a while and eventually skim milk, as we ran the excess milk through a separator and sold the cream.

Over the years I raised lots of these calves. Some of the heifers became replacement milk cows, while others joined our beef herd. The bulls were always castrated very young, and we usually fed them out and butchered them when they were about 18 months old. We only ever lost one of the milk cow calves.

Were they particularly profitable? I really don"t know how well we did on them, but our little dairy business did pretty well. I do know that dealing with the calves all the time was quite a bit of work for me, but it was just one of the jobs I knew I was supposed to be responsible for, so I took good care of the calves. My guess is that we came out OK on the calves partly because we had milk to feed them, essentially free labor and plenty of good pasture on our small ranch. We had to do something with the milk cow calves--my Dad did not believe it would work well to have them continue to nurse from the cows.

But these days I do not believe that it is legal to sell raw milk on a farm and I would be very leery of the possible civil liability in doing so. At least in my area, it is no longer acceptable to sell separated cream to a local creamery. So I don"t think many people are milking a few cows any more like they used to. Calves need milk. Milk replacer might work, but it is fairly expensive, and in my opinion, not nearly as good as real milk. There may be better ways of feeding young calves than the methods we used, but I still think that taking care of baby calves still would be a bunch of hand work.

I could see dealing with a couple of baby Holstein bull calves, planning to raise them up to butcher size, but only because the calves would be cheap to start with. But I would doubt that it would be a paying proposition to raise a bunch of them to feeder size, unless somehow you have milk available and want to do a lot of work for little or no pay.

But some guys have to try things for themselves. Good luck!

Go buy 10 calves. take them home and shoot them between the eyes with a .22. Costs you less than $10 for the ammunition. Lots cheaper than milk replacer and you will be money ahead in the long run.

At this time you will have minimized you costs.

Gene

I raise calves on grass turn on lawn and around buildings mowed lawn maybe 4 times last summer just stick a hot wire up couple days later lawn mowed weeds trimed fertilizer on pull calves to new spot take out post and wires got the best lawn in the neighborhood.

All it takes is two fools to make a profit at an auction...MTP...

There is no money to be made feeding calves, It has been
tried hundreds of times by a zillion different people a zillion
different ways, the costs are to high, death and disease,

LOL, dang that was funny Gene ! I dont want to discourage OP from farming in any fashion, just be realistic about the expectations.

Only way I ever made any money with bottle calves was to use my Jersey cows when they dropped a calf. I put the new bottle calf in the barn and turned the Jersey in for him to suck twice a day. My one Jersey could raise her own calf plus 2 more with adequately feeding her. If I didn't put other calves on her, she would get mesatitus (spelling?) so I did the calf thing in order to keep from milking her daily. I was able to save up and buy my first car in high school from doing this for a couple of years.

If you have to buy the supplies, you won't make any money.