cooksey
Member
- Location
- Bala north wales
Will give them a ring tomorrow morning then!
calf rearing questions
- Thread starter cooksey
- Start date
How much does everyone think it takes to rear a calf to 6 months old from day 1?
jbl
Member
- Location
- North Wales
Costs £140 to £150 to take it from 3 week old to 18 week old at least and not taking mortality into account.
- Location
- Gods country (England)
£1 a day wouldn't be to far out
I wonder would the wynstay thing be tied in with meadow quality? Apparently there was a discount on wynstay milk powder if you were on a meadow quality scheme a while ago.
Meadow quality have got a fresian steer scheme as have pickstocks and Buitelaar need to be killing something like 20000 more per year within two years to keep up with demand so there is obviously serious demand for black and white beef.
Meadow quality have got a fresian steer scheme as have pickstocks and Buitelaar need to be killing something like 20000 more per year within two years to keep up with demand so there is obviously serious demand for black and white beef.
One thing we did find after looking at contract rearing is its all well and good them supplying the powder, meal etc but it might not be the best quality. You would think that it would be in their interests to use top quality feed to get them the best quality weanlings but it doesn't seem to be the case.
Some of the stuff they wanted to put into the calves was bloody awful to be honest and its quite worrying how so called calf specialists can tell people to use it.
Some of the stuff they wanted to put into the calves was bloody awful to be honest and its quite worrying how so called calf specialists can tell people to use it.
dannewhouse
Member
- Location
- huddersfield
how are you paid on these rearing contracts? per kg gained or just per head per day/week?
what are the rough prices?
I'm half interested in them as something to run alongside the sucklers
are there any particular companies around Yorkshire cant say ive herd of rearing contracts around here?
what are the rough prices?
I'm half interested in them as something to run alongside the sucklers
are there any particular companies around Yorkshire cant say ive herd of rearing contracts around here?
I think on the contracts where you purchase the calf its a case of an amount for the animal at a certain minimum weigh then so much per kilo over that, normally £1/kg for excess weight. They normally want them 120-130kg minimum. I don't know about the contracts where they supply everything including calf.
- Location
- Gods country (England)
Had numerous offers, couple of flat rates- they pay for all inputs except water and bedding one was talking £30 which is about the run of it (not enough in my opinion for the work involved) but another did say £50 which sounds more like it.
Couple of firms looking on a B&B basis but no figures have been mentioned as of yet,
And then there's the contracts where you buy the calves off them in the first place and then they offer a guaranteed buy back price per kilo - but from wat I've seen of these contracts it's pretty cut throat if u lose a calf i think u can kiss any profits good by, for the hassle of buying etc you'd be just aswell buying some good calves and rearing them yourself in my opinion!
H-C
dannewhouse
Member
- Location
- huddersfield
for how long is that price? 30-50 seems cheap?
it depends how old you get them and how old they are going,
6 weeks to 12 weeks is a massive difference from 2 weeks to 4/5 months?
- Location
- Gods country (England)
8-10 weeks old so they'd be on farm for about 6-8 weeks
- Location
- Shropshire
In simple terms, to get them to 10 weeks old, they drink about 1 bag of milk powder each which is about £30.
Many of these rearing companies trying to sell 4 month old bbx weanlings seem to think that £600 plus is where they should value them. Personally I think can buy the calf and get them to that age far cheaper than that.
dannewhouse
Member
- Location
- huddersfield
they use 625g of milk powder each per day so a 20kg bag lasts 32 days 4 and half weeks and I think £35 is nearer for a better milk powder but I'm not up on the price quality argument or the skim/ whey?
- Location
- Gods country (England)
Yep completely agree and i got a shed half full of bbx 4-6 months and i know full well i aint getting 600 pound for them
- Location
- Shropshire
Bought a tonne of blossom mix today £31/bag
Also, after 4.5 weeks, bought calves will generally be about 9 weeks old, so obviously they should be eating corn too by then.
dannewhouse
Member
- Location
- huddersfield
your right in what you say, I thought by 1 bag per calf you were meaning from like 2 week old to say 9 for weaning.
do you prefer a pellet or loose ration for the calves?
I like a loose ration but find they leave bits? and that they eat less as pellets but is that because 1 scoop of loose is say 750g whereas its 1kg of pellets?
another debate we have had the 3mm pellets, when we finished them we offered them the 6mm? beef 16% pellets and they seemed to prefer them to 3mm ones? feed rep also says 6mm nuts are best for calves but no 1 will buy them?
- Location
- Shropshire
How often is a bought calf truly 2 weeks old?
I like a loose ration but find they leave bits? and that they eat less as pellets but is that because 1 scoop of loose is say 750g whereas its 1kg of pellets?
another debate we have had the 3mm pellets, when we finished them we offered them the 6mm? beef 16% pellets and they seemed to prefer them to 3mm ones? feed rep also says 6mm nuts are best for calves but no 1 will buy them?[/QUOTE]
Someone else will be better to answer this, as it tend to mix small pellets with our normal fat beef home ration. I also tend to pour a bit of extra mollasses on to make it moreish.
I like a loose ration but find they leave bits? and that they eat less as pellets but is that because 1 scoop of loose is say 750g whereas its 1kg of pellets?
another debate we have had the 3mm pellets, when we finished them we offered them the 6mm? beef 16% pellets and they seemed to prefer them to 3mm ones? feed rep also says 6mm nuts are best for calves but no 1 will buy them?[/QUOTE]
Someone else will be better to answer this, as it tend to mix small pellets with our normal fat beef home ration. I also tend to pour a bit of extra mollasses on to make it moreish.
Blade farming approached my neighbour to contract rear calfs for £40 a calf, he told them it was hardly worth getting out of bed for.
Someone else will be better to answer this, as it tend to mix small pellets with our normal fat beef home ration. I also tend to pour a bit of extra mollasses on to make it moreish.[/QUOTE]
What do you do with yours, do you take them through all the way to finishing?
- Location
- Shropshire
What do you do with yours, do you take them through all the way to finishing?[/QUOTE]
Yes, do about 80 a year, so not in a big way, but big enough