Worthless calves.

[happycows]

The subject nobody wants too mention and your milk buyers would rather keep quite.

Truth is there are lots of calves out there not worth the money they’ve cost on current trade.

I sold a mixed pair of month old fleckvieh twins 2 weeks ago for £5 each and actually cost me too sell them. They’d had £80 worth of milk powder, straw and coarse calf oh and a ear tag. They weren’t great calves but really........someone else’s blue heifer made £30.

What’s the answer? We’re trying too run a business not a charity.

Luckily I’ve not much till Easter now and hopefully things will have improved by then and will be continental calves.

 

[ploughman1963]

Our bulls have been getting £30-£40, continentals have been doing £150ish. The stabiliser x calves from sweeping up are coming through now so at least they will be worth a bit more

 

[happycows]

Local market stopped putting prices for dairy bull calves now. Says a lot really.
Maybe area dependant?

 

[Friesianfan]

My dad always said if a calf isn’t worth anything keep it and it will be make you money if you sell it at the right time. People buying these cheap calves will do well on them

 

[Martyn]

The subject nobody wants too mention and your milk buyers would rather keep quite.

Truth is there are lots of calves out there not worth the money they’ve cost on current trade.

I sold a mixed pair of month old fleckvieh twins 2 weeks ago for £5 each and actually cost me too sell them. They’d had £80 worth of milk powder, straw and coarse calf oh and a ear tag. They weren’t great calves but really........someone else’s blue heifer made £30.

What’s the answer? We’re trying too run a business not a charity.

Luckily I’ve not much till Easter now and hopefully things will have improved by then and will be continental calves.

Have tried selling on face book we have we got £80-120 for under 42day black and white fresian sired over last month. have finnished calving now, actually struggeled to sell beef calves so kept all of them but lots of phone calls for b&w

 

[som farmer]

gave away Friesian bull calves, av ten quid, good chunky calves sold the last private. the market calves chap ringing up 'really pleased have I got some more'
on Herefords, bb's now,chap who had a lot last yr, wants the lot, price to be negotiated, in a 3 way deal.
we jab all cows for rota virus, try and do the job well. when buyers know you do this, they are prepared to bid more, or do a private deal

 

[Princess Pooper]

Prices definitely down this year, I assume because (certainly round here) folks don't want the cost of feeding them through this winter (or just haven't the forage to contemplate it). We are selling good AAx calves at 4-5 weeks at £190-£250 which is £50 down on most years. Fortunately with sexed dairy semen we have few dairy bull calves to sell but this has been our worst ever year for sex ratio and prices have ranged from £15 to £50 so far. Continentals a bit better than native breeds - fortunately this week we change to selling Simmx so it will be interesting to see what a decent 4 week old heifer makes this week.

 

[Horn&corn]

My haulier blames the ban on calf exports. Guess it’s a bit of that and the shortage of grub. Also grain v expensive to feed this time.

 

[happycows]

Milk powder isn’t cheap and neither is taking milk out the tank @33ppl.
At 3/4 weeks old it needs to be £70 minimum just too cover costs.
If you have waste milk it’s a different matter but this time of year I can go for months without treating a cow.

 

[som farmer]

don't blame export/feed shortages, there is a basic reason why calves are cheap this year.
calf rearers do not want the hassle of rearing them.
some reasons why
feed/forage shortage - calves use very little forage
some calf rearers have filled their sheds
after the wet spring and drought, cows have been worked hard, and are not in top condition, this will reflect on calf growth and vitality
and who would buy calves when you can buy stirks for at least half the cost of rearing them.
it is going to be a very interesting 2019
calf losses will have been much higher than usual
calves killed as bobby calves will be much higher
and some rearers having sold, but not restocked, will not have the readies to start again
so, what does this mean for 2019?
cheap grass keep?
stupidly dear store cattle ?
or a more 'sensable' price for calves. to dairy farmers that don't like this bit, would you want to buy calves at £300 and sell a finished animal for £1200, having had all the losses and costs, 24 months later?

 

[hendrebc]

Question from a non dairy farmer that might seem a bit of a dumb question to you. What do you reckon it costs to rear a calf? What sort of price would you want to rear these so called "worthless" calves? Reason I ask is I wouldn't mind trying a few (5-10max maybe) to see how I get in with them when I see them selling at £20-30odd but everyone I know who has tried one says they are very hit and miss because some dairy farmers don't give them enough colostrum and lose too many to be worth the bother. I'd gladly pay more for one that had been done well but how much do you think that would be to be worth it to you?

 

[jamj]

Ear tags, milk, labour....
I guess at 3-4 weeks £60 must just about cover them.
And that does not include allocating a bull cost.
But I am scared to actually count it up!

 

[Holsteinfriesian90]

There has been a load of suckled calves on the market as well and some of them have been making £250-£300. Can't blame people for buying them instead of dairy cross calves least the hard work has already been done.

 

[jimmer]

We are shut up with TB , but it could be a blessing in disguise, the last calves we sold were 100quid down on three weeks previous , very well done blues and Sims

 

[som farmer]

our calves get this treatment
cows are vaccinated for rota virus £7.50
all calves have colostrum at birth
we block calve, so have plenty of milk to feed to the calves
we treat our calve milk with formic acid, this helps them to process it in the gut, and increases intakes
all in individual pens ( don't tell tescoes) with clean water and conc
used to reckon on a bag of powder per calf
200kg conc to 3 months
400 kg to6 months
then out to grass
year 1 silage straw etc
wormers
roughly works out at £900 a calve.
rule of thumb, cheaper the calf less of the above.
but if you can find a source of calves that come from a farm that does the above or similar, there is good money to be made.
calves through market, have contact with every disease going
not so good calves = higher vet and med
reduced growth rates
higher mortality.
the most important time in a calves life is the first 10 weeks, you will never be able to match feed to growth ratio again.
so I repeat, the way the calf is treated from birth to 10 weeks, probably dictates the amount of profit.
we have reared 120 calves this autumn, fr bulls given away, beefs waiting collection.
other than 1 calf dead in first 24 hours, 1 shot as its head was a very funny shape (stood on ?) we have lost 2 calves, both one of a twin. (excluding those born dead )
as I said earlier, the chap that bought are fr bulls as pleased as punch with them, the beefs are going to a repeat customer as well

 

[sidjon]

Neighbours a small calf rearer (150ish calves) and hasn't purchased any calves for 4 months as he can't get a good price on the weaned calves and is going to hold them until spring, guess this could be happen to more so calves aren't wanted and probably won't start buying until the spring.

 

[nonemouse]

Price cuts are just passing back down the chain, sold some 18mth bb store heifers the other week and they only made £800, similar animals last year were more like £1100.
Decision made to keep stores as long as possible (shed space permitting) and hope the spring trade is better.
Short of silage, but keeping young stock on a straw + homegrown barley + protein balancer ration.

 

[Zippy768]

Neighbours a small calf rearer (150ish calves) and hasn't purchased any calves for 4 months as he can't get a good price on the weaned calves and is going to hold them until spring, guess this could be happen to more so calves aren't wanted and probably won't start buying until the spring.

Yep finding the same here. People are not wanting weaned calves (4-5month old 140kg).
We still have baby calves coming in as price is alright but concerned that people won't be wanting reared animals til the spring.

 

[scatterbrainedlass]

We've just started up, buying at 2 weeks old amd selling around 10 weeks. Prices have just dropped, last batch barely broke even. Wrong time of year really, so many can't afford to keep them indoors.

 

[Zippy768]

We've just started up, buying at 2 weeks old amd selling around 10 weeks. Prices have just dropped, last batch barely broke even. Wrong time of year really, so many can't afford to keep them indoors.

Why don't you take them to a little older before selling. Can put plenty of weight on for far cheaper than milk powder