TOPSIDE asked me to post some more pictures of my calfs

OK everybody...the building were a one time deal ECHO is on the building but I can not find a MFG or anything about them I looked hard before I bought them there were list in the greenhouse section I think why I got them so cheap



the builds in pictures are 3 sections making them 21 x 15 building and then I put out 3 cattle panels in a u so 5 calfs have a pen 15 x 36 with a few overlap i have made them 2 sections of building making them 15 x 29..

I run as many heifers as I can buy last year I sold 93 heifers....I have 440 acres of land ..

If you look at the sale barn ad I posted You can see why I sell at 400 ...spring heifers bring really big bucks but thats almost 18 months away from what I sell......at 400 lbs it is really hard for a vet to tell anthing but 4 teats and bredable........not one bad teat....not 2 year and open been with a bull 4 months still open......not LIGHT on one side...so I advode all that and look at the price I get $2.25 to $3.00 a pound look at the 800 lb size in ad some brought $525 for the common kind when mine are 400 its really hard to pick out the common one......at a sale all it takes is 2 people want one cow to run it way up.........when I had beef cows why at the sale barn does a 3 rd stage cow from the same farm bring more then a cow with calf at side both bred to the same bull same farm...I have seen it happen way to many times.....so they buy mine and think I CAN MAKE THAT A GREAT COW



yes I only raise dairy calfs jerseys holstiens and milking short horn and all kinds of dairy crosses



I have 15 cows looking for a good cow all the time...I do keep some of the heifers as replacements


I have had 43 on milk at one time right now I have 36 on milk...I can raise 200 all I have to do is put up another building for another 5 calfs I can put 6 in each pen but its easy to get them to find a emity teat with always being a free one



never get freemartins as stated before I only buy at a place that TUBES THEM


I give the calfs all the milk i milk except what WE DRINK FOR THE TABLE




got an more ?????????????????????????????




tjm

some of my calfs I raised last year when I got them and this spring











clarabell she give 8 gallons a day with the little bull they is in the other picture weaned





some of my calfs from last year




betty she is one great cow now....this was when I bought her at a dairy sell out

as you can tell I REALLY LIKE DOING THIS........MOSTLY SELF TAUGHT but I do belong to the keeping a family cow board....learned alot there.. and my mother was one hell of a milk cow trainer....

Even with all of the precautions you take don't you worry about disease?



The big one but I feel anything a calf bring to my farm will more then often kill them before they spread it to my farm as to me the cows will be more the carry the disease then the calfs...and I move the pens and the SUN will kill lots of things....... and if it does all I have to sell is my 15 cows wait a year and start over bleach everything with my power washer..

so I guess you never buy from anybody else since your vet give you night mares


...what would happen if you took it to your farm.......


tjm

That's one good looking farm, the extra photos are greatly appreciated....

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TOPSIDE FARMS

Thank you for your time. You have a very nice operation! Keep us updated on how things are going, please. The animals look well fed.

They didn't reap havoc on the bales in the pasture?

wow I am so envious. Those heifers would look great in Iowa. Just a quick question though. Why do you start them on replacer before cows milk??

How many pens do you have set up for calves? How tall are your fencs for the older ones?

evermor I try not to change to many things at one time...since I get it from different farms ...like sure not all farm feed at same time....sure some do feed MR and some feed raw milk.....plus nobody else i know puts them in pens of 5...all that creats .THE BIG WORD THE KILLER OF CALFS AND THAT IS .......STRESS.........also it is easier to stop calf scours when on MR...its also easy to make it weaker and keep the same amount of liquid when I have a pen of small calfs or jersey's






srobles.
. have 5 pens with 5 calfs in each pen on milk....
...1 pen with 11 calfs and will be getting only milk once a day and I give a 1/2 gallon but will be going down to quart each

1 pen with 13 that are weaned the picture with the bull standing by it is that pen


one pasture with 37 ready to go to the sale in a few weeks when the weather clears up



that adds up to 86 calfs that sound about right but sometimes one slips in my trailer by mistake

fence are cattle panels right now and they are 48 tall

then they will go out in the pastures which is 5 strand bard wire

i guess nobody realized that the calf picture on the milk bar...far right is [SOCKS] and that is her grown up picture right below it......the 3rd calf from right is [ SARA ] and thats her in picture right behind the milking shorthorn.....the 5 th calf at milk bar is [ LITTLE BIT ] she is one closes to camera and with the horns......tjm

WARNING I WOULD JUST ALSO LIKE TO SAY THIS WORKS FOR ME.....NOT SURE IF IT WILL WORK FOR ANYBODY ELSE....I AM IN THE BOOTHEAL OF MISSOURI IT NEVER GETS COLD HER FOR VERY LONG......it has took years for me to get this going the way it is....first you need to know what a sick calf looks like BEFORE IT GETS SICK....how it holds its head or ears.......I set on a 5 gallon bucket or set in my little japenese truck..every day right in front of the pens just watching to get to know the calfs...who is last to the milk bar better be the last calf always if not somebody is going to get a shot.... a ounce prevention better then a dead calf.....


yes I lose calfs at first some I should have raised now i get most to 400 lbs and at the sale barn...with out colostrum it is almost a gift of GOD if they make it to the first month.....


hope every one has asked there ????? if not ask away will help all I can



tjm

Thanks John. I can see you have been working on doing this for a long time and learned from trial and error. It seems almost overwhelming, noone could step in to do what you are doing, this is something you have to grow with over time.
Banamine! Yes! It makes sense. Stress is a big deal. I will remember that if I ever go to the auction for babies.
What is a milk bar?

Shirley you comments are dead on right. I only raise two to three calves at a time and wow each time is a learning experience. TMJ is defiantly in the big leagues of calf raising. TMJ may also want to comment, but a milk-bar is just one big bucket with six rubber nipples sticking out. Pour in the white refreshments and the calves belly up to the bar and drink in the nutrition. I pray that I can raise 8-10 healthy heifer per year, can't imagine managing more than that...Great thread TMJ

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TOPSIDE FARMS

Shirley topside is right if you look at the pictures I turned some around so you can see the nipples thats also what the 6 calfs are sucking with the tails wagging...some are green some are gray but the nipples are all the same....change out the nipples every other batch or when they leak Have the same milk bars for 3 years but have bought more each year have 8 milk bars right now... they also have a groove on the bottom and made to slant down to the nipples so only drops or left in the bottom of milk when the calfs get though sucking.......to rinse out you just go back thought with a quart of water and the calfs will suck that out also ready for next meal.....calfs in pens of 5 will not suck on each other very much either they suck on the milk bar instead.....why I like to have each pen its own milk bar I have 8 of them.....tjm

topside when you talk about raising 8 to 10 heifers....when everything is going great it takes very little more time from 10 in 2 pens then it does with 40 in 8 pens.....but when everything goes bad 2 calfs are 2 too many......tjm

Oh, I see and the calves take right to it. I've never seen one, I'll look for one at tsc or the feed store to look it over up close. Sure beats bottle feeding when there are many of them to feed! Thanks

dooles wanted to know about my heifers so I am bumping this for her.....tulleyjohnmyers is me MYERSFARM.....tjm

TMJ, this question is about calf frames. All market reports show generally three animal frame sizes.
Heifer Calves: Medium and Large 460.00-680.00; Medium 260.00-390.00;
Small 120.00-200.00.
This market report lists small framed heifers, does that usually mean she is just born small but will become a standard size and a valuable part of a dairy herd.
Or does it mean she was born small and will remain small and never become a standard size milk cow.
I realize that there is no right answer and that anything is possible. But what's you personal opinion on small framed heifer calves.....is buying them generally a mistake? Thanks for your time.

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TOPSIDE FARMS

no that just depends on the gentics...... a large will get bigger faster but a small can with the right care get big kind like us humans...a 12 pound baby boy is big and usually gets real big as a adult were a 5 pound baby gets big but not that big........I have found the large will jump a bunch of calfs they will look like they are 16 weeks old when they are only 8 weeks old but of course they eat as if they were 16 weeks old also........ it also seems like I can raise 2 small for the price of one large so I just buy anything I can to get to the 30 or 40 that I need to buy that day...... but I never buy the tiny they just can not have enough meat on them to keep warm in the winter....but thinging I might built a heated barn for them...I have bought some small in the winter for as low as $25 and raised up to 400 lbs sold for the same price as the bigger ones...buyer just thought it was younger then the others..........If you have the time this is the way to go.....$500 to $600 profit a calf is alot money when I use to make $50 on a angus calf... last year at this time I was feeding 8 round bales a day to the beef herd now I feed 3 bales every 2 days ! bale to the milk cows and one bale to each herd of calfs every other day... tjm