xbred dairy bull calves

ImLost

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Not sure
On the subject of xbred dairy bulls, what I want to know is with the likes of bottom end stuff, jerseys and the like, would those that usually shoot them actually take care of them properly if they had to keep them alive? What I mean by this is would they get adequate colostrum within the right time frame etc?
 

som farmer

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
somerset
On the subject of xbred dairy bulls, what I want to know is with the likes of bottom end stuff, jerseys and the like, would those that usually shoot them actually take care of them properly if they had to keep them alive? What I mean by this is would they get adequate colostrum within the right time frame etc?
on many farms, no, all effort goes to the hfr calves, it will need a massive change, to put that right, with all the demands on time, in a large dairy unit, time has to be prioritised, and with the best will in the world, dairyx bull calves, are not worth the hassle, and more than likely, an unwelcome cost.
 
on many farms, no, all effort goes to the hfr calves, it will need a massive change, to put that right, with all the demands on time, in a large dairy unit, time has to be prioritised, and with the best will in the world, dairyx bull calves, are not worth the hassle, and more than likely, an unwelcome cost.

Sorry, but what bollox.

If your trying to sell a calf it has to at least look healthy, even if it's not too shapely. I've managed to move all my beef calves on bar the last handful. They've probably only averaged £50/60 but that's still £20k worth of calves. They're worth looking after.
 

som farmer

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
somerset
Sorry, but what bollox.

If your trying to sell a calf it has to at least look healthy, even if it's not too shapely. I've managed to move all my beef calves on bar the last handful. They've probably only averaged £50/60 but that's still £20k worth of calves. They're worth looking after.
look at some of the 'big' managed units, their calves don't get to mkt, 12 years ago, buying calves ex market, soon learnt what farms not to buy ! The big managed units, are under time pressures, that's why dairymen don't stay on them !
 

Rossymons

Member
Location
Cornwall
look at some of the 'big' managed units, their calves don't get to mkt, 12 years ago, buying calves ex market, soon learnt what farms not to buy ! The big managed units, are under time pressures, that's why dairymen don't stay on them !

Whats a small loss for a small unit is a big loss for a big unit. That calves on units are managed in the way they are is indicative of culture on that farm and not with size of the unit.
 

sidjon

Member
Location
EXMOOR
look at some of the 'big' managed units, their calves don't get to mkt, 12 years ago, buying calves ex market, soon learnt what farms not to buy ! The big managed units, are under time pressures, that's why dairymen don't stay on them !

Most are sexed first service, then Angus and sold on to Blade these days, definitely wouldn't be buying calves from market, as disease risk is to high for calves with a poor start to life, two neighbours calf rear and the one who purchases solely from market has the biggest losses.
 

ImLost

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Not sure
Sorry, but what bollox.

If your trying to sell a calf it has to at least look healthy, even if it's not too shapely. I've managed to move all my beef calves on bar the last handful. They've probably only averaged £50/60 but that's still £20k worth of calves. They're worth looking after.
Not sure if I made it clear or not. Fair enough looking after the beef x etc but what about bottom end stuff, pure Jersey bulls etc. Would they get the same treatment?
 
Not sure if I made it clear or not. Fair enough looking after the beef x etc but what about bottom end stuff, pure Jersey bulls etc. Would they get the same treatment?

Very few will exist, I doubt there will be a jersey herd in the country that will use any un sexed semen any more.

sidjon made the very important point that you just can't let disease start to creep in, once you have a sick calf it will quickly spread to other.
 

som farmer

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
somerset
we bought calves xfarm, in 2001, till that point, we had no trouble with lice, in calves, after, to now, lice in calves is a serious problem, at the start, couldn't work out why calves were looking 'iffy', no scour, no temperature, just 'not doing'. Only on seeing them on a white calf, did we realise. Best part of 20 years later, we have to routinely treat all calves, often more than once, easy when you know the cause, and in this case, the cures cheap. Rearing calves then, we had 2 sheds of 40 calves individually penned, working on, an all out at once, steam cleaned shed and hurdles, but, yet those lice have hung on ! 5 batches through each shed/ year, awful lot of fly pour !
 

O'Reilly

Member
Very few will exist, I doubt there will be a jersey herd in the country that will use any un sexed semen any more.

sidjon made the very important point that you just can't let disease start to creep in, once you have a sick calf it will quickly spread to other.

You are looking at it from the perspective of a good farmer. Talking to dealers, there are still quite a few stupid farmers about.
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 78 42.9%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 63 34.6%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 30 16.5%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 5 2.7%

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

  • 1,286
  • 1
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/
Top