Woo Hoo ~ Dairies within sight!!

[Cat]

I've FINALLY gotten a line on some dairies that raise Jersey within a couple hundred miles of home and really close to where my niece is going to college so hopefully I'll be getting a jersey bull calf or two soon. They're not selling for the low low low prices people find down south, but what I save on gas would more than make up for the extra investment in the calf. Anywhoooo...actually had one woman ask me if I was interested in buying all their calves...which got me to thinking.

I know a few farmers around here who are selling natural, injection free beef, but they're wanting top dollar for it..and it's actual beef breed cattle. What I started thinking about today is instead of trying to find a market where I can get the most money possible, but limit my buyers, that I might try to cater to those people like me who can't just come up with a lump sum of money on a moment's notice. Sorta like catering to the lower income... Anywhoo...I was wondering whether it'd be feasible to buy a few extra calves and basically create contracts with people for a monthly payment system where they pay so much per month while the calf is being raised which will cover costs and provide a small profit and then when the calf is ready to be taken to slaughter, they pay for slaughter and deal with the butcher themselves. I'm thinking...if a Jersey takes about 15 months or 18 months, whatever, to get to a decent weight, I could create 15 month contracts and would guarantee someone a whole beef upon completion of that contract. Of course, that'd mean I'd absorb any losses but I'd have to plan on a few losses & have extra calves available...

Does something like this seem feasible? Maybe worth a try on a 1 or two calf basis...to work out the kinks and get a good contract figured out? What do y'all think?

[JulieLou42]

Sounds like a plan to me...maybe I could do that here, too. I'd SURE disbud those horns right from the day they got to my place. I'm eating a half Jersey steer now and didn't do that...kinda scarey keeping him around once those horns got a few inches long. He was 750# at 10 mo. but had been nursing all those months.

Thing is, I've got folks all around here now wanting Ginger's milk...and she's NOT a big producer. Need to get a Guernsey heifer in here to help her.

[Cat]

That's the one thing that worries me is feeding them...what it may require my doing is trying to get a few cull cows from the local dairies which would be holstein and use them to raise calves for me, which is what I'm going to be doing with my own Jersey & her calf and the few I buy for the family beef.

I almost bought a guernsey a few years ago...I was too young and wasn't making enough money to afford her then, but she was a beaut! Milk-share is something I'm interested in doing, too, but I don't have the facilities to do that, really.

[Sue Usry]

Where in Kansas are you, and if you don't mind sharing the information. where are the dairies? I am having trouble locating a source for bottle calves for my kids to raise as 4-H projects.
Sue

[a1cowmilker]

I am going to just butt in here and ask perhaps a stupid question. I had always heard that jersey bulls are about the meanest bulls to have around.

I would hate for you or your loved ones get hurt. Are you worried about that?

Not meaning to be a dreamsquasher at all, just a little neighborly concern.

And, trust me I am in no means an expert in this in any shape or form.

[Spinner]

Would you castrate them? Would they still get mean if you did?

[Cat]

Well...castrated bulls don't breed cows...lol Yes, as a general rule they'd all be castrated at one point or another. I'll probably keep one a year or two for him to service my cow and then he'd either be sold or butchered. Right now the only way I'd keep one is if I was able to take him and keep him at the neighbor's corrals which are not far from the house. It's doubtful that I'll keep one for long, though, as there's no need to feed an extra critter all year long for a month or two's work.

Sue, I'll PM you the details...

[Spinner]

LOL... Cat, I was talking about castrating the extra ones for butcher, not the breeder. I sold a very nice black angus bull a few years ago and he brought a very nice breeders price. But if I would have kept him for butchering I would have castrated him when he was a calf. I've always been told that cutting them at a early age makes for better tasting meat at butcher time.

[Cat]

I got to thinking later that I hadn't mentioned my plan of raising one bull for breeding in this particular thread so you couldn't know that I wanted one for breeding! oops!

My mother is adamant that bulls have the same 'taint' (didn't know that's what it was called until I got this pig!) that boars do but I've talked to quite a few individuals that said if you castrate them and then finish them for another month or two the beef isn't bad at all. I figure if it's not true I'll find out the first time I try it and will have plenty of dog food! lol

[Cat]

Well, I should have one or two little bullings on Friday! Woo hoo! I can't wait!

[Cat]

Here's the new little guy!! I wasn't able to get a second but I was late getting there so was lucky to even get this guy...