Turning a profit with cattle

Werzle

Member
Location
Midlands
when the suckler farms, work out how to rear bucket calves, as a lot don't, and as you so rightly say, management has to be top notch, that may take out the better calves, but the lower end ? The biggest problem, for us dairy farmers, is going to be, finding a home for those calves, and, to find a home, they have to be profitable, and we have to realise, the sheer number of extra calves, that, when euthanasia is not allowed, by your milk contract, will have to find a home.
And, what are the consequences, for us, if we cannot find a home, and we are forced to keep them alive ? We are sleepwalking into a massive problem, the best we can hope for, is a scheme to rear them for a new end product, or a relaxation of the rules, to allow those rubbish end, to disappear. Figures do vary, but an extra 20%, is a figure used, and that gives a number of 200,000 calves, a hell of a lot.
Dairy farmers will have to realise they will need to pay us retired sucklermen to take these awful calves. Perhaps it would be better to get to the root of the problem and cull all these crossbred dairy herds and promote the friesians !
 

som farmer

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
somerset
Dairy farmers will have to realise they will need to pay us retired sucklermen to take these awful calves. Perhaps it would be better to get to the root of the problem and cull all these crossbred dairy herds and promote the friesians !
unfortunately, the xbred cows, and friesian type cows, for many of us, pay better than hols, would be happy to revert to friesians, but good proven bulls, with the right shape, are harder to find, mostly genomic,
 

Werzle

Member
Location
Midlands
25k on mule hoggs and tup them/lamb inside In March then sell as gimmers (having reared) in August/sell the lambs fat june-September.

25k on £40-£50 store hoggs in August/sept to sell by feb (utilise shed from January).
Playing devils advocate, what happens if the january brexit causes the 30% overnight drop in sheep prices that the covid19 restrictions in europe caused us?
 

som farmer

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
somerset
Same in all breeds. But I DO agree, BF all the way, also Monts, Flechveih, and some shorthorn.
back to xbreds then ? Until one could unite bull breeders, and dairy farmers, into a single aim, xbred or mongrel bred dairy will continue, a problem with all 'not pure bred' cattle, is some offspring are throwbacks, looking 'odd' and not particularly well proportioned, and will never make a good animal, most of these don't make market now. if they do, they make b-all. I have no doubt, at all, that the breeders will solve the conundrum, and cows will become more standardised, for each system. I will go 1 step further, and say, it will be the holstien breeders that will win the race, and I hate holstiens, for our grazing system, but, if you look how quickly they have already moved, like feet, fertility, longevity, mastitis's, TB resistance etc, simply because they have an enormous gene base to select from. But, at present, the British friesian is popular, that breed, has been diluted with some/lot of hol blood, they have had to, for the breed to survive, no criticism at all, but now, busily finding fr type bulls, from a small gene pool, that answers that demand. But, the proper old fashioned fr has gone, correctly so, they were some miserable old bitches, and the speed farmers converted to hol, in a degree, proves that.
 

t murrr

Member
This thread could go on a while...... ?

If you had £50k to put into cattle this autumn, what would you do. On an outstanding grassland farm that can grow cattle exceptionally through the grazing months and plenty of shed space.

Buy weaned calves (dairy or harder done beef suckled calves) and grow them on to sell as strongish store cattle 12 months later? Anything any more likely than this to turn a profit?
Always wanted to buy heifers and turn them out for sale with calves at foot but can be a risky business with lots to go wrong.

Obviously dozens of variables to be considered. Just wondering what people’s rough options were.
Why not just buy some cattle males or females bout 300kgs and run them on the ground all spring summer for six months and sell them 150 days put on 1.5 kg a day for males 1 kg for females so buying for 2.30 a kg and sell for 2.10 a kg so assuming you buy steers at 300kgs which o
Is 690 and that steer should be 525 kg off grass s0 that should be £1102 and put the feet up during the winter key is good grassland management
 

Weare Cham

Member
Location
N. Devon
This thread could go on a while...... [emoji2]

If you had £50k to put into cattle this autumn, what would you do. On an outstanding grassland farm that can grow cattle exceptionally through the grazing months and plenty of shed space.

Buy weaned calves (dairy or harder done beef suckled calves) and grow them on to sell as strongish store cattle 12 months later? Anything any more likely than this to turn a profit?
Always wanted to buy heifers and turn them out for sale with calves at foot but can be a risky business with lots to go wrong.

Obviously dozens of variables to be considered. Just wondering what people’s rough options were.
Buy a tractor and live the dream
?
 

Stockwell

Member
Why not just buy some cattle males or females bout 300kgs and run them on the ground all spring summer for six months and sell them 150 days put on 1.5 kg a day for males 1 kg for females so buying for 2.30 a kg and sell for 2.10 a kg so assuming you buy steers at 300kgs which o
Is 690 and that steer should be 525 kg off grass s0 that should be £1102 and put the feet up during the winter key is good grassland management

This is similar to what I had in mind thanks @t murrr
 

Agrivator

Member
An old crofter on Tiree was asked what he would do if he won a million pounds..... the answer, carry on crofting till it ran out.

But if he had another 10 years left, he would have to spend £100,000/year before it ran out.

Is it possible to do that on Tiree? Or would he have to go to Oban now and again?

Or maybe to Dalmally to buy one or two Blackface tups. :scratchhead:
 

t murrr

Member
This is similar to what I had in mind thanks @t murrr
One thing with the system you could buy bout 53 or so and you could give them 3 kg of meal a day which would equate to 7500 so take that off the 50k too could be money well spent if grass got tight .Also if you in a T B area be aware cause you could have them longer with the restrictions placed on the herd
 
Location
Suffolk
Local beef man has just stopped raising cattle here. Opportunity or warning.......Grow tasty stress free beef and make your money on reputation for nice marbled, properly hung meat, but the rub is the BIG industry abbatoir dominating with the local man pushed aside so no one knows if the carcass has any provenance. That's my 2p's worth.
SS
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

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Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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