Calf rearing costs..

Guiggs

Member
Location
Leicestershire
I'm looking at rearing calves again, not done it for a few years now so a bit out of touch with the expenses..
Would anybody be able to give me an idea of the costs, I have a outlet for weaned animals but it has to be viable, looking at local mart prices there's got to be a couple of quid in it, surely??🤔
Thanks in advance
 

Granite Farmer

Member
Mixed Farmer
I working out cost at the mo. Prices I have collecting so far. Milk powder between, depending on what product you use, £2150/t to £2595/t. 17% nut £473/t in bags or £404/t bulk blown min 3t. That is all from my preferred merchant.
 

Guiggs

Member
Location
Leicestershire
I working out cost at the mo. Prices I have collecting so far. Milk powder between, depending on what product you use, £2150/t to £2595/t. 17% nut £473/t in bags or £404/t bulk blown min 3t. That is all from my preferred merchant.
Thanks for that...are you feeding 6ltr of milk per calf per day?
Does that work out at 1 bag of powder per calf to weaning?
 

unlacedgecko

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Fife
Thanks for that...are you feeding 6ltr of milk per calf per day?
Does that work out at 1 bag of powder per calf to weaning?

If you're keeping to 18months plus, look at poukhowa low volume feeding. Potential for big savings. But does need to keep till that age to take advantage of compensatory growth on grass.
 

Anymulewilldo

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Cheshire
If you're keeping to 18months plus, look at poukhowa low volume feeding. Potential for big savings. But does need to keep till that age to take advantage of compensatory growth on grass.
If it affects growth that much how can it be a big saving? Cheapest most cost effective time too feed calves is 0-3months. FCR are never that high again
 

TheRanger

Member
Location
SW Scotland
6 litres per calf per day at 155g/l, and weaned at 8 weeks (56 days) is over 52kg of milk powder, that's over 2x 25kg bags. I don't understand this talk of people weaning a calf on one bag of milk powder, have heard it a few times on here how do they manage it? Are they buying the calves at a month old? We're currently spending £120 per calf on milk powder here for dairy replacement heifers, but they'll be over 100kg weaned.
 

Jonny_2

Member
Off the top of my head paying £2225 for a good whey powder, £440 for weaner in bags and think £370 for good 16% GP nuts. Feeding 6L at 125g per L. Working on £17 per head a week to weaning getting calves about 3 weeks old, weaned about 8wks then ad-lib cake to about 14/15wks (they eat about 3/4kg a head per day). Only just starting recording weights so can’t say how they are doing. Calf’s from £75 for fresians to £325 for blue bulls
 

som farmer

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
somerset
quite horrified when quoted £2,700 a ton for milk powder.
we have put 180 ish calves through our rearing shed, and zero cost of powder. If you work on 1 bag per calf, at £67.50 a bag, that amounts to £12,150. That is the potential saving, even impresses me, when looked at it from powder angle, or scares me.
Multiply that by several years, or since we started acidifying milk/colostrum, that really is serious money. lt puts a very different angle, on our calve rearing enterprise. We have bought in 70 beef calves, mainly smaller AA hfrs and hfrds, though a far few bulls, at an av cost of £45 a head, no powder cost, say 333 kg cake, till the autumn, and straw/odd's, as a rough budget, might not look quite so good, if powder added in.
We will make a decision, in the aut, to whether house them, or sell them, certainly will have the grub to feed them. Having cut the dairy back, we have some 'spare' land, and just at the moment, for us, the future has some hiccups coming, so we are covered with beef stock, if an unexpected change occurs. The hfrs could be bulled, if required.
 

Samcowman

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Cornwall
On a machine mostly here. 150g/l gives 33kg MP which is a 24/20. Cake comes in bulk blown in 7tonne drops. Each calf has about 200 each. Calves sold at 120-130 kg average.
we do mostly Angus some black and white bulls and try to get as many direct off farm as possible.
 

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