Hilly
Member
- Location
- Scottish Borders.
Aye but they will be to dear to buy ! nice to sell tho.that's the ones to have
Feeding Sucker Calves
- Thread starter Old Tip
- Start date
when I see them on the telly they seem to be eating trees
no buckets or feed troughs in sight
Hilly
Member
- Location
- Scottish Borders.
They are the bargins imo, have to keep your pride at home sometimes it can be expensive thing at times.But having said that I have seen buyers shy away from ones that look like they haven't been fed anything or looked after at all
Hilly
Member
- Location
- Scottish Borders.
Elephat farmers eh ! hiding the elephant creep feeders ! as bad as sucled calf producers lol
I know someone that will only buy well shaped animals with a good frame be doing it for years and not gone bust yet, blues and quiet lims mostly odd sims and charlys but they have to be very top end
Hilly
Member
- Location
- Scottish Borders.
Them elephants are bad for poaching around the creep feeders mind.
no the ones I am talking about are no bargain, whould have paid everyone better with a bullet at birth I am sorry to say
Hilly
Member
- Location
- Scottish Borders.
Everyone has different ideas and they all work for each person, this is what makes the job interesting.
Hilly
Member
- Location
- Scottish Borders.
Ah i see, i reckon there is a margin in them all one way or another.no the ones I am talking about are no bargain, whould have paid everyone better with a bullet at birth I am sorry to say
I was up the wildlife park years ago spreading lime on grassland the tractor was hardly making a mark, anyway the keeper came down across the field taking the elephant for a walk while I was sat waiting for a load of lime, the elephant was sinking six inches in the ground, you can keep them on your dry ground
dannewhouse
Member
- Location
- huddersfield
what value do you put on the silage fed to suckled calves over the winter? to compare to an arable crop on the same land.
I'm one of the guys you talk of shoving nearly 2t of grain into a suckled calf but I'm selling fat at 12-15month £1250 as a rough average, yes I get the odd heifer goes a touch fat so sold under weight (500kg ish) but I will have a few bullocks get over 600 LWT so averages out. Lim and Blue X calves out of a mix of cows BSH
I have always viewed it as keeping the beast longer would result in more bedding/housing costs or grazing so isn't necessarily cheaper feeding a lower price feed/day for longer gets you to the same end point but added bedding etc. there is probably a balance which I may be a touch over but adlib feeding has a lot of time benefits so I can afford to over feed (slightly) to offset the reduced workload.
I have 1 neighbour that talks of free grazing for his yearlings he just sees grain as a cost rather than an investment. I'm quite fortunate in that near all of my land could be ploughed for barley/wheat I do like to reseed grass the only reason some doesn't get a brake is it would be painful combining 5 acre paddocks dotted all-over.
I'm one of the guys you talk of shoving nearly 2t of grain into a suckled calf but I'm selling fat at 12-15month £1250 as a rough average, yes I get the odd heifer goes a touch fat so sold under weight (500kg ish) but I will have a few bullocks get over 600 LWT so averages out. Lim and Blue X calves out of a mix of cows BSH
I have always viewed it as keeping the beast longer would result in more bedding/housing costs or grazing so isn't necessarily cheaper feeding a lower price feed/day for longer gets you to the same end point but added bedding etc. there is probably a balance which I may be a touch over but adlib feeding has a lot of time benefits so I can afford to over feed (slightly) to offset the reduced workload.
I have 1 neighbour that talks of free grazing for his yearlings he just sees grain as a cost rather than an investment. I'm quite fortunate in that near all of my land could be ploughed for barley/wheat I do like to reseed grass the only reason some doesn't get a brake is it would be painful combining 5 acre paddocks dotted all-over.
Hilly
Member
- Location
- Scottish Borders.
Why not try 1 ton of feed sell store at similar price 1 ton feed less no leveys and keep them odd fater heifers seperate and a bit leaner, sell in bigger batches as well not worried if they fat or not ?? just a thought.
wellingtonfarmer
Member
- Location
- Herefordshire
i believe cattle roughly eat 2% of there body weight on dry matter basis a day.
For easy workings, If a calves average weight is 200kgs until weaning that means they will be eating 5kgs of creep a day (fresh weight). They would have to be fed creep for 200 days without eating any grass or milk to eat a tonne of creep.
Depending on weaning age i can't see how they can eat a tonne of creep
For easy workings, If a calves average weight is 200kgs until weaning that means they will be eating 5kgs of creep a day (fresh weight). They would have to be fed creep for 200 days without eating any grass or milk to eat a tonne of creep.
Depending on weaning age i can't see how they can eat a tonne of creep
wellingtonfarmer
Member
- Location
- Herefordshire
I creep feed 60 Calves born from mid march to mid may from 1st July. They were weaned mid October and I think they ate 6t of creep, might of been 7.5t (I mix 1.5t at a time) but certainly no more.
dannewhouse
Member
- Location
- huddersfield
my plan when I get the farm stocked enough is to sell store but for now I'm shoving the grass hard with cows the arable hard and feeding the grain is giving a better return than selling it (ignoring the extra work aspect <goes against my earlier comment!)
I feed the stores 1ce every 3 weeks with grain 4 ton in a beef hopper in front of 25 then its only a good hour per day and everything is fed and looked over.
beefandsleep
Member
- Location
- Staffordshire
I do agree. It also assumes the calf eats no other feed, I.e forage nor gets any milk from its dam.
dannewhouse
Member
- Location
- huddersfield
I agree with you that it takes a lot to get a ton into a calf before weaning.
I have 30 going at a creep feeder at the moment and 8 bags does them 2 days but there could be near 30kg per bag, they have only really started shifting creep in volume this last month or 2 as grass quality has dropped off therefore milk from mum etc. march/april born calves only just at under 4kgs per day
I put the creep out the first days of August and depending on season they will eat about 140 kg of feed per head between then and the end of October . This is on an ad-lib basis so how anyone can manage to get them to eat a ton of feed is a puzzle to me .
beefandsleep
Member
- Location
- Staffordshire
I put the creep out the first days of August and depending on season they will eat about 140 kg of feed per head between then and the end of October . This is on an ad-lib basis so how anyone can manage to get them to eat a ton of feed is a puzzle to me .
Cows got no milk maybe? Would have to be on pretty bare pasture too I would think.
Neighbour has 40 - 50 spring calves in a shed , weaned off there mothers a month ago ad lib on a blend ...... 6t a week @ £227 blown & he's had some delivered in tote bags