In calf dairy heifers

[Bramble]

Not having ever bought any, what would I have to pay?? would be due in the autumn, out of a 8000lt herd, all black and white?

 

[Farmer Keith]

I used to buy a few, want to be in the £900-£1000 bracket or you may as well buy fresh calved ones. They were usually not too bad to source.

 

[dinderleat]

£1200-£1500 depends on health status and breeding and constituents of dams

 

[Farmer Keith]

£1200-£1500 depends on health status and breeding and constituents of dams

How much are fresh heifers down with you guys?

 

[Holsteinfriesian90]

I used to buy a few, want to be in the £900-£1000 bracket or you may as well buy fresh calved ones. They were usually not too bad to source.

You can’t rear them for that money.

 

[TheRanger]

Carlisle last week:

 

[Bald Rick]

You can’t rear them for that money.

Exactly. We did a back of the envelope calculations with regard to looking at being a flying herd and although it costs circa £1200/head to get them to the point of calving, it was going to cost us £1500/head to get a very similar animal in from Denmark without the benefits of having the heifer grow up on the farm & used to us and the noises.

The latter point is quite interesting as we find that our own animals are far less flighty when first on the platform than anything bought in.

 

[Farmer Keith]

You can’t rear them for that money.

Not inside no, the key to cost efficient young stock rearing and striping cost out of the job is outwintering.

The OPs question was how much should he be paying and up until around 5 years ago when we started breeding all our own replacements I was regularly picking in calf heifers up from dispersals for around £1000. Granted I never went near the fancy b & w sales. Plenty of potential hassle between 20months and having a fresh heifer.

 

[cattow]

Dairies averaged £1718 at Leek yesterday

 

[dinderleat]

How much are fresh heifers down with you guys?

1400-1800+

 

[mixed breed]

Local Market report..

? ? SHREWSBURY WEEKLY DAIRY SALE .

Heifers with faults acheived £1200 & £1180

Both fresh cows and heifers are hugely sort after, with more needed for next weeks sale.

HEIFER TOP PRICE £2120
COW TOP PRICE £2100

Averages Including all faults
Cow £1705
Heifers £1690

 

[som farmer]

the problem with buying I/c v fresh calved, is you take all the risk, as against the seller calving it down. As a rule of thumb, on average, 1 in 3 fresh hfrs, have a fault, whether caused by a bad calving, death, temperament, slow, 3/4rd or uneven, some batches are fine others not, and you don't know, till they have calved ! And we calve and sell a lot of fresh hfrs. Hfrs reared on your own farm, do settle in much better, and, I think farmers tend to 'overlook' faults in their own homed reared hfrs, perhaps, to them, its just 'normal' to have some faults, In mkt, on a 'bad' day, it could be £500 a head difference.
just read the above post, dairy is short, faults are overlooked, if plenty of milkers, they definitely are not, but the same 30% applies.

 

[TheRanger]

the problem with buying I/c v fresh calved, is you take all the risk, as against the seller calving it down. As a rule of thumb, on average, 1 in 3 fresh hfrs, have a fault, whether caused by a bad calving, death, temperament, slow, 3/4rd or uneven, some batches are fine others not, and you don't know, till they have calved ! And we calve and sell a lot of fresh hfrs. Hfrs reared on your own farm, do settle in much better, and, I think farmers tend to 'overlook' faults in their own homed reared hfrs, perhaps, to them, its just 'normal' to have some faults, In mkt, on a 'bad' day, it could be £500 a head difference.
just read the above post, dairy is short, faults are overlooked, if plenty of milkers, they definitely are not, but the same 30% applies.

You get all the risk, but you also get the calf.

 

[Wee Willy]

You get all the risk, but you also get the calf.

I bought 5 Springer's in March
2×3 titters,
1× slow milker
1× mad b*tch
3 living calves and 2 dead.
£1340 each
Will buy milking hence forth!

 

[pappuller]

Not having ever bought any, what would I have to pay?? would be due in the autumn, out of a 8000lt herd, all black and white?

At leek auction a couple of groups of late summer/autumn calving heifers averaged around £1700 very tidy things with good figures behind them.

 

[Barmyfarmer]

Cull cow trade be bumping the price up at the minute

 

[happycows]

I bought 5 Springer's in March
2×3 titters,
1× slow milker
1× mad b*tch
3 living calves and 2 dead.
£1340 each
Will buy milking hence forth!

That’s bad luck.
Bought 20 German fleckvieh x for last 3 years.
Lost one heifer calving and her calve first year and put calving camera in after that.
Not had a 3/4 one yet out of 60. And not lost a calf this year. Couple lively ones but soon settled in.

 

[pappuller]

That’s bad luck.
Bought 20 German fleckvieh x for last 3 years.
Lost one heifer calving and her calve first year and put calving camera in after that.
Not had a 3/4 one yet out of 60. And not lost a calf this year. Couple lively ones but soon settled in.

I hope my 17 coming next week for August/September calving are as lucky

 

[som farmer]

You get all the risk, but you also get the calf.

which is worth ?
the hfr, is the important bit, why risk a bad calving, for the sake of a few £ extra on the calf ? You can get problems with small calves, at calving, let alone risking the hfr on bigger beef breeds. For us, we want the hfr in best post calving condition possible, to risk that, is stupid. This year AI to jersey, then running with jersey bulls. Next yr, probably sexed jersey.

 

[Bald Rick]

then running with jersey bulls....

Are you mad? Especially as I thought you were a bit compromised health wise.

I treat our “soft as butter” Hereford with a hell of a lot of respect never minding a lunatic Jersey Bull!
Odd isn’t it that a female jersey is a docile as any breed but the male is raving nuts