230 i think
Buying milk calves...
- Thread starter buttercup
- Start date
Farmeraduk
Member
- Location
- Oxfordshire
Not inconsequential , £150 calf is 2ppl on a 7500 liter cow. (If my maths is correct) so worth doing properly.
- Location
- somerset
the calf is a by-product, perfectly correct.
but it can be a very valuable by-product, and it doesn't take a lot to get them looking better, but time is time.
calf price fluctuates, usually now, and in the spring peaks. Bad calves make be-all, then there is ARLA calves, must live to 8 weeks, surprised more processors haven't copied that. Anything not good on that
And to be fair, if you know a calf is going to make sub £10, is it worth making an effort ?Farmers could use better sires, take more care of fresh calves, and get a decent price for all of them, easily possible, for farms with high calf mortality rates, there will also be a % of 'poor' calves, that get sold for feck all, who wants them ?
But not all of those poor looking calves, are 'bad' calves, its being able to judge which ones. Son bought a BB bull calf, £1, took a chance, sold him at about 8 weeks, £235,
Mixedupfarmer
Member
- Location
- Norfolk
Did well to get the passports back in that time.not much
trying to buy calves of some farms, they want theirs to match top mkt price, and sometimes you wouldn't want their calves anyway.
but if you can get a good/trust deal with a farmer that'sBought loads off farm, some bought off them for years, some a lot less, some once only. Its one thing saying what they will do, its if they do what they say they will.
had good calves off 1 farm, for a fair time, calf quality was going a bit down hill. The arrangement was 6/7 days old, queried 1 calf, assured it was 6 days, his brother came in, and said, 'that's the calf we had a hell of a job, to get out, yesterday'.
known them for 40 odd yrs !
- Location
- somerset
used to send off the 'pre passport' forms then, or the creative movement dates, easier direct of farm.
Why don’t they just shoot them straight away and not register them? What’s the point in keeping calves badly for 8 weeks to be worth f**k all.calf price fluctuates, usually now, and in the spring peaks. Bad calves make be-all, then there is ARLA calves, must live to 8 weeks, surprised more processors haven't copied that. Anything not good on that
- Location
- somerset
perceived public opinion.
totally and utterly stupid policy, but that is what the retailer wants.
more to the point, there was talk that if to many were being killed at 8 weeks, the age limit would be extended.
some calves are fine, others most definitely not, cheapest l saw this spring, 50p. Suspect the s/mkts are eyeing up some very cheap mince !!
- Location
- somerset
we rear everything, probably costs us to bother with some, but, doesn't sit right with us either.
the problem could be helped by the use of sexed semen, sedge will not accept arla dairy bulls under 56 days, and farmers using better bulls.
that will help reduce the number of crap calves, but farmers don't tend to buy top class semen, or top class stock bulls.
add in some very mediocre care of fresh calves, on farm, you end up with some calves that will never make a decent thing, and who can blame farmers for that mediocre care? When the calf will only make £5 or less, its simply a waste of time, for some.
we use herfd stock bulls, and AA or BB, AI. We like hfrd bulls, but used on xbred cows, you certainly get a multi marked calf, at times, which tend to be of little value, others are fine. As we rear them, some odd hfrd calves can be allright, there's a farm in Cornwall, with some very smart red hfrdx sucklers !
Because certain milk buyers have access to herd production data. It looks a bit suspicious if you have 200 dairy cows but only 100 calves registered.
Farmeraduk
Member
- Location
- Oxfordshire
Anyone had calves bloat 2 hours after feeding milk, 3L @150grams as instructed on bag. 4week old calves. Do a lot of calves never seen this before?
Usually happens if the powders too strong, 450g to make 3L of milk is a fair feed. I rear a few when time allows on a five tit wydale, 1450grams of powder mixed to make 11 litres of milk split between the 5 ,fed twice aday. 1 litre split between them keeps them on there seperate tits and gives me chance to give them there remaining 2 L each. Adlib water , cake and straw.
Last edited:
Is hygiene good? I don’t have an issue with 150g but from experience it may take more cleaning.
Any pneumonia?
Norfolk Hill Farmer
Member
Are the teats worn on your feeder, giving the milk too quickly ?
Farmeraduk
Member
- Location
- Oxfordshire
New Peach teats so quite quick. But fine last few years. Bit suspicious of the powder, they are a bit lethargic. Not very interested in dry feed? I have swapped one shed of 60 onto different one to compare.
What age do people start feeding weaned calf’s onto silage/wholecrop? Currently mine 10/12 week old are on add lib 18% rearing loose mix and straw. Just wondering what age I could add in some wholecrop barley and/or silage while keeping the the cake add lib as well.
hubbahubba
Member
- Location
- Sunny Glasgow
We have our first batch of heifer calves to rear, hopefully for bulling eventually. We have them started on 420 grams and 3 litres twice a day just now . Everyone i talk to says we are looking to get them to at least a kg of powder a day? Its roadhead blue bag which gets a good reputation around here. Is 3 litres twice a day untill weaning enough or should that get closer to 5 litres twice a day?
We feed 8 litres a day at 150 grams per litre through an automatic machine. That way any calves which never drink the full 8 litres which there is always some, still consume a lot of powder. I would do a trial on your next batch with half on 1kg of powder and the rest on your current amount. I’ve always found more is best with calf’s.
I introduce Lucerne silage from 7-10 days pre weaning alongside straw.