Bottle calf prices this year

[SmokeEater2]

I've been keeping an eye out for a calf to raise to butcher this year and I'm surprised how much they've gone up.

2 years ago a dairy breed bull calf could be had for 75
bucks with Dairy/beef cross breeds or bringing about $100-$125 on average.

Currently in my area dairy breeds are at $225- 250. Mix dairy and beef breeds are around the 300 dollar mark. Straight beef breeds (Angus,Hereford etc) are starting at $350.

This is great news for the folks raising and selling them but it sure is sticker shock to me.

Interestingly, you can still buy feeder pigs for 45- 70 bucks and there are a lot of them for sale.

Are those prices about average in your area? Or higher or lower maybe?

[Wendy]

Sounds about right. Beef is at an all time high. We had a beef butchered this week & it cost us $1.55 per pound live weight. Still ends up cheaper than the store.

[arabian knight]

Sounds a little low compared to what is in WI.
Prices are real high up here at 250 to even as high as 400 for a few weeks old.
And heifer calves can be bought for half that price and some even a lot less.
Last year I bought a Jersey heifer calf 3 weeks old for 150, had it through the summer and sold it for a profit in the fall, with very little but the cost of grain in her.
And i may do the same thing in a few months once again.

[Pony]

Golly, we may go south of the border to get a bottle calf. They're at least twice the prices you quoted up here.

[SmokeEater2]

Originally Posted by Pony

Golly, we may go south of the border to get a bottle calf. They're at least twice the prices you quoted up here.

Holy cats! I had thought we must be on the high end of the market here but I guess we may be lucky.

[jwal10]

I have seen big week old Holstein bull calves at $500.00 here....James

[Jlynnp]

A bottle calf here runs about $300 and up if you can find them. Weaned calves were just listed on LSN (out local version of Craigslist) were just priced at $525. The last 2 calves I bought I spent $650 to buy and ended up loosing one of them to a nasty disease called Bovine Viral Diarrhea which we learned she was born with.

[Batt]

Wasn't that many ears ago when you didn't dare leave your livestock trailer unlocked at the auction for fear you would come back and find a couple of calves in the back.

[FarmboyBill]

Aknight. Do they still have producers? Selling and shipping calves throughout the Midwest? Over 40yrs ago I bought 10 Holstein calves in St Joe Mo from a trucker in Wisc. Paid $100ea then.

[Ramblin Wreck]

Jersey bottle calves on our Craigslist are now $200. Last Summer the Jerseys were going for $100 and the Holsteins for around $150, slightly more for heifers. There are very few bottle calves on Craigslist right now.

[big rockpile]

I use to buy Bottle Calves. Anymore if I was going to buy a calf to raise up to butcher I would pay extra for a Weaned Beef Calf. But that is just me.

big rockpile

[jbo9]

Last year I bought a couple of beef baby calves for around $200. And I thought I was really taking a risk. This spring, I paid as much as 375, but was only able to get the bottom end of the calves. This fall I got a really good deal on a couple more calves at $400, if they had been through the sale barn, they would have brought 600-650. I just got them sold this week.

While I was at the sale, there was a bottle calf that weighted 215 that brought 425. Not the prettiest animal, but calf prices are about to slip, I'm afraid.

[iafarmer1424]

Holstein calves are going for 400 to 500 bucks a piece up here in eastern Iowa. If you find any beef bottle calves at all you would have to pay 500 to 600 bucks for them.

[mmoetc]

Beef prices are high, feed prices have dropped. A lot of of people who were dumping animals a couple of years ago when hay and grain skyrocketed are getting back in as feed prices have fallen. It's part of the farm cycle. I just talked to our dairy farm neighbor about getting a couple of calves as we have in the past and even with the good neighbor discount they'd probably be over $300 each. Two years ago, at the height of our drought, he called me offering a couple for free but our pasture was already so beat up I passed.

[maddy]

Just as an aside, what amount of acreage would be required to take a bottle calf from spring to fall?

[arabian knight]

And this is what I am talking about when it comes to buying heifer calves instead of bull calves.

This one is just a few days old and a Jersey at that.

The sire, particularly, is out of a couple of our best cow families, and this heifer should be a sharp cow in a couple of years. She's good sized: probably about 55-60 pounds. $225.

And they taste just as good. LOL

[FarmboyBill]

AK Did you see my posting above?

Maddy, It depends on where you live. Up home in NE Kans id say 3 acres of good grass. Here in NE Okla, Id say 3 or 4, depending on the year.

[arabian knight]

Originally Posted by FarmboyBill

AK Did you see my posting above?

Yes I did but for the last 30 years I only get bottle calves as I want to raise them up and tame them. Bitterly making a 'et' out of them, even halter breaking them if you please. So I will not get those over a certain age.
Even if it does cost some in the beginning I want them as tame as possible. And getting one just a week old or so I have got plenty of time to desensitize them to ME.

[mrs whodunit]

$300 for a beef bottle calf for this area.

[FarmboyBill]

The ones I got then were bottle calves. Im just wondering if there are still farmers who ship bottle calves all over the midwest like they did in the EARLY 70s