Calf sale prices
 

Went to the sale barn tue.night,they should just have had a free sign out.So sad ..bull calves were running around 20.00 each I got 2 and paid 11.00 each.We have little hay around tho and I more then likely made a big mistake.The girls needed 4 h stock tho.At 11.00 minus the auction fee and the gas to get them there farmers are hurting bad.I need to figure out how to feed these guys this winter.Milk replacer maybe the way to go,anyone feed calves for a long time on it?

Renee, where do you live? I raise calves as a hobby I guess 4-8 per year, milk replacer is very expensive in my opinion and only needs to be fed to the calves until they are 6-8 weeks old. Write back with specific questions, this forum is full of knowledgable folks...Once again where do you live and yes write back with questions.

Renee,
Once you've fed each calf a 50lb. bag of milk replacer, they should be able to be weaned. I would personally feed medicated if possible. It has neomycin in it that helps with scours and other ailments. Make sure you put them on a good grain as soon as you can get them started eating and I always try to make sure they are eating at least four pounds of grain before I wean them off of milk. Like topside1 said, there is a lot of knowledge on the board. Ask any question you have and someone should be able to answer it. Good luck with the babies.

I'll buy all I can get at 20 bucks.....wonder if you can overnight ship a bull calf...;-)

As others have asked, what state are you in?

What breed where the calves?

I could see some money to be made based on where you are located.

Don't want to buy too much milk replacer. That is why bull calves are so cheap. We used to get $150-$200 now $80 is great, we got a $1.70 bill for the 85lb we sent last. Milk replacer is SO high because of the NFD milk market the veal guys have shut down for now.

I am in Northern Maryland ,the sale yard is Westminster livestock Yards.I'll buy for you guys if you want and hold them here.

Thank you very much Renee but I must pass on your kind offer. Sure wish I lived closer. What breed of calf did you buy? Also don't forget to write if you encounter any problems.....John

We got a holstein and a jersey cross.Both are doing well,I did give them a long acting antibiotic just to be safe.Both took to the bottle right off and still are i did find out of a new {to me} electrolyte that is medicated and I give them one bottle every day.Its called re-sorb.With hay so bad here i bet net week prices will be lower.

Where ARE you? WOW, things are tough all over, either too much rain, cant cut hay...or not enough rain, hay wont grow.

well we went to the auction today and calves were going for $0.40-$0.50/pound. So that works out to $40.00- $57.00. Last year they were going for $184.00- $350.00. (These are Holstein and Beef crosses-- a few Jerseys but not much). The goats as babies are goiing for 5.00-15.00 and adults for 20.00-35.00. Last year they were going for 40.00(babies)-120.00(adults). Prices sure have changed! Oh and hey was going for $2.30-$3.50. A guy bought it all to haul it down south.

Wish I could figure a way to make money on bottle babies,I was just offered all the bull calves a farmer will have till March of 08..FREE! He will keep them on mom for 4 days then I pick up.Any ideas? again hay is soooo high now.

buy some jersey milk cows ...milk the cows to feed the calfs..... thats what i do..........only i raise dairy heifers... I can make milk for 23 cents a gallonhttp://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y29...21706076-1.jpg

Yall need to ship them down here. Cause at 4 weeks old there selling for 150 for cross breed ( hol x jer) and 250 for pure hol.
You can't even pick them up day old down here for less then 75 each anymore.
And that's with the prices down right now.

You can feed a calf on milk for 6 months. We did it with a couple, and let me tell you, the growth was really nice. They had some grain as well, along with baleage. They also developed sexually nicely, had holsteins coming into heat at 8-9 months, which isn't abnormal. But these have been consistent, strong heats.



Jeff

Even if good square baled hay is costly a calf won't go through much of it in six months.

The TN Farmers' Co-op carries a product called Calf Grower in 50-lbs bags. About $9 bag, but a bag goes a fairly long way for a calf.

By and large calves bought cheap, sell cheap, especially dairy breeds. Say you raise a Holstein bull/steer to 600 pounds and he sells for $.80 pound. $480 minus about $30 yard commission so say $450 net. Start subtracting out of that feed, infrastructure support and your time and likely you won't end up with much, if anything.

Old story: A couple of years ago people simply wouldn't even bid on Holstein bull calves in some places. At one yard a guy parked a trailer with five of them and put on a sign, free for the taking. When he came back out he had six of them in the trailer.

If you are getting the calves for free, consider putting them in the freezer quickly. Would keep you in veal for a while. A 90-lb calf should yield about 30-40 pound of veal, a nice meal of baby back ribs and lots of bones and raw feed for any dogs.

kinda my thinking too Ken,cheap now means cheap in 1yr at weight? I am trying to figure out what each calf will eat x bulk price of replacer x feed my time well we all know what that means haha.We sent a dairy bull to butcher and got 650lbs of great meat sold 1/2 which paid for our 1/2 but come next year or 18 months from noww would we have buyers?.the guy called he has 2 holstein bulls born this am I need to work on this now.We used the bull this year to breed a heifer then butchered him does any one know the difference in growth between a steer or bull?

wow, maryland is a long way up there... LOL

saw on RFDTV auction they sold 5440 yes thats 5440 one guy sold 3200 calf's from different people that weight 275# some sold for $1.25 lb to $1.29 and they meant they got .. the cheapest brought $343.75 the high $354.75....even buying for $10.00 doesn't seem to me you would make very much on each calf sell in smaller lots you would not get even those prices...tjm

Cattlemen in this area are outright amazed on the prices of the livestock auction on RFDTV. Certainly not reflective of this area.

Generally a bull will grow faster than a steer until about six months old, then a steer will grow faster than a bull. Some say the difference isn't enough for the extra trouble of castrating at six months old vs say a week or so old.