Times change.

mb58

Member
Guess I'm just to old. I carried a Jersey bull to the sale yesterday. There is only one dairy left in my part of the state. Almost no one around here milks a cow anymore(except me)nor do they want the milk from a home-milked cow. Sale owner says these bulls are a specialty item around here. Wont bring much. I said I understood. When leaving, I noticed a sign on the front gate of the penning barn, We will neither accept nor sell hogs after 1-1-2018.
I got to thinking about that. The next closest sale barn is over 100 miles away. If you sell a hog, it'll most likely be by word of mouth now. So much has changed in the last few years as related to farming and ag in general. The elevators around here only accept grain delivered in a hopper bottom trailer, so the small farmer with a tandem axle truck, farming 40 to 150 acres of grain either goes in debt over his head or pays $$$ someone else to harvest for him.
Sorry about all this whining. I just miss the old days when things were simpler. Where did 1968 go?
 
I can hear you. The 60's were good for me. first real job off the farm, first new car (65 chevy) first girl friend. Dad and Mom were still alive. Introduced to the real world, (Navy). At least I still have my tractors, no one has figured out how to regulate them yet. Stan
 
Apparently you haven't been listening to the garbage coming out of the USDA for the last 60 or so years.Get Big or Get Out ain't just a slogan with those folks they have been
trying to get the small guys out of farming since WWII.Very fortunate I live in an area with several very strong independent livestock markets that still have a good
number of buyers.
 
Holstein bulls here have to be 90 lbs to be worth $40. There's not many jersey breeder here but from what I'm told their bull calves are sent to dead stock.
 
As thin as the margins are,I think most guys wives would tell them the same thing if she was the one balancing the checkbook.
 
It has always been thus with Jersey bull calves- dad "humanely euthanized" them back in the '50's when we were milking- we'd end up owing the sale barn if we took 'em in.

But I hear you on the other changes- we used to have 5 or 6 livestock auctions within 100 miles back in the day- we're down to 1 now, but I think its pretty safe- we still have some dairy and beef in the area, and its just too far to haul anywhere else.

We also used to have "stock jockeys" around here (SW Washington)- guys who would just stop by your place in a pickup with a stock rack, to see if you had anything you wanted to sell (and do a little visiting and gossiping while they were at it). They'd usually concentrate on critters that didn't really "fit in" with the rest of your stock. The last days of that were probably in the 70's- some old guy stopped by my place- I wasn't really looking to sell anything, but he offered me about what this runt steer was worth, and I sold to him for the same reason some of us "buy local"- to preserve something that is falling by the wayside.
 
Ah yes but they have. Maybe not your older ones but who knows how to program one of the new tractors besides the dealers? They do have a hold on you.
 
About two yrs ago the neighbor had their milk cow running with stock cows so at milking time they would bring the bucket an stool to the field,tie the cow to the fence post and milk her.. Thought that was cool to see that again.
 
1968 was a good year I think...but I was just a child so what would I know? I also know nothing about selling cattle. But on that other thing..the big elevator in Webberville, MI only takes hopper trucks I hear, but I have an elevator only a few miles from my fields that happily takes my little dump grain truck. I understand there is another further north who will also. Ultimately, I can do better in hay and would probably just switch over most of the fields to that. Or put it all in bins and then hire a semi to come and load it all out. I have no interest in buying a bigger truck. Licensing and insurance would take the last few dollars I have. Too big to be a hobby, too small to make much money.
 
mb58,

Ahhhh... the past decades were all good decades. Sometimes I get into the "wistful mode" too.

But mostly I just try to smile about those memories - and then appreciate the fact that I'm still here... and I'm still kickin'. :)
 
Pardon my ignorance, but I have a potentially dumb question.
What is wrong with Jersey bull calves? Obviously, they will not give milk, but wouldn't they make good veal? Or raise them up for beef?
Bear in mind that I know next to nothing about cattle. I would be grateful for a bit of education here.
 
jimg.allentown: A Jersey bull turned into a steer will have a much lower rate of gain and higher feed rate conversion. Meaning you will feed it longer to finish. Then the steer would finish at a lower weight. So for the same amount of feed you could grow a bigger beef breed steer. A Jersey can have a more yellow tint to the tallow when compared to most beef breeds.

Some people claim that Jersey beef is more tender and sweeter than the beef breeds. I have not noticed that. If I was just raising a beef to eat for myself A Jersey would work OK. If your going to sell it at the sale barn then any Jersey showing will kill the sale price.

Here is how the prices stacked up at the local sale barn this week. Beef breeds (colored cattle) topped out at $1.27 per Lbs., The top Holstein brought $.86 per Lbs.. There where two Jersey steers that the fellow had finished real well. They had marbled well for a dairy breed. They brought $.75 per Lbs.. If our freezers where not full I would have bought them, that is some cheap eating.

These Jersey steers only weighted 1080 Lbs. The Beef breeds averaged 1370 and the Holsteins averaged 1480. So that made the gross look like this. Jerseys, $810. Holsteins, $1272.80. With the beef breeds, $1739.90. So the colored cattle grossed over twice what the Jersey's did. The colored cattle more than likely took a little more feed but not as much more as you would think. The main difference would have been the value of the steer when you started feeding it. The beef breed steer would cost more but not $800 more. So if the Jersey was free and the beef steer cost anything under $800 the beef would still be a better deal.
 
A man I know owns around 3000 acres of hill timber land, there are several meadows and plenty of native grass growing in the timber, he buys jersey and longhorn bull calves real cheap and turns them out, period, all he buys is salt, a few die but most don't, he might leave them grazing 3-5 years, when he can gather them he sells the bulls that weigh over 1000 lbs. they normally bring low end of the slaughter bull market but that is roughly 750 dollars per head for cattle that he has less than 200 invested in, he sells at least 100 head per year. Could not do it many places but our property tax is extremely cheap for class 3 timber land.
 
I have a herd of Jersey milk cows, so I guess I am some what qualified to answer your question. Yes you can raise a Jersey bull calf for veal, or beef, but it will take longer to put weight on them. Jersey cattle are not good at converting feed to flesh. While the cows are efficient at turning feed to milk/butter fat. You just don't see many "fat " Jersey cows. The difference between a big Jersey cow and a small cow might only be 300 lb. Lucky to get much more then $20.00 for a well started Jersey bull calf at 3 weeks old, really not worth their feed, I practically give them away.
 
Jim- something I would add to the discussion- Jersey meat is also a bit different in that the fat is yellow rather than white. This is true of Guernsey cattle as well, and in both Jerseys and Guernseys the milk fat as well as the meat fat has a yellow gold tint to it. While this makes for a pretty milk product (ever hear of Golden Guernsey Dairy products?) it can appear off colored on the butcher's shelf, and may look unappealing to customers.

For this reason, as well as others listed below, Jersey calves sell at a discount to others.

There was joke about a farmer having tow young Jersey calves, and not wanting them, he took them to town. He left the back of the truck open, in hopes someone would take them when he went in the store. When he returned to the truck, there were 6 calves in there!
 
(quoted from post at 09:16:53 01/11/18) Guess I'm just to old. I carried a Jersey bull to the sale yesterday. There is only one dairy left in my part of the state. Almost no one around here milks a cow anymore(except me)nor do they want the milk from a home-milked cow. Sale owner says these bulls are a specialty item around here. Wont bring much. I said I understood. When leaving, I noticed a sign on the front gate of the penning barn, We will neither accept nor sell hogs after 1-1-2018.
I got to thinking about that. The next closest sale barn is over 100 miles away. If you sell a hog, it'll most likely be by word of mouth now. So much has changed in the last few years as related to farming and ag in general. The elevators around here only accept grain delivered in a hopper bottom trailer, so the small farmer with a tandem axle truck, farming 40 to 150 acres of grain either goes in debt over his head or pays $$$ someone else to harvest for him.
Sorry about all this whining. I just miss the old days when things were simpler. Where did 1968 go?

Obviously you have not heard about the in ter net and craig's list. All you have to do is start a blog on the in ter net espousing the benefits of their tasty lean grass fed flesh with a link to your craig's list ad for gmo free artisan grass fed beef fresh off the farm for only $3 a lb hanging weight....supply limited!
 
I had heard a similar story about accordions. Apparently this fella was out playing polka tunes at a seniors home, and stopped to grab a coffee on the way home. His accordion was in the back seat of his locked car. When he came back to his car much to his dismay , the back widow of his car was smashed out , and three more accordions had been stuffed into his car !!
 
(quoted from post at 20:48:28 01/11/18) Pardon my ignorance, but I have a potentially dumb question.
What is wrong with Jersey bull calves? Obviously, they will not give milk, but wouldn't they make good veal? Or raise them up for beef?
Bear in mind that I know next to nothing about cattle. I would be grateful for a bit of education here.

I just sold 2 steers, a 2.5 year old full jersey and a 1 year old Jersey/Angus cross. Both scaled at about 1300 lbs. Theres the big difference. The other difference was that I got 53.5 cents a lb for the Angus cross and 45 cents for the Jersey. BTW, that's less than I was getting 20 years ago! 2 less mouths to feed though.
 

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