raising bottle steers?

[oceanmist]

Hi I would like to try raising a couple of steers. We have a neighbor with beef cattle and they are wondering if I would take on some bottle babies. We have a LOT of grass on our place and I thought it would be a good way to regenerate our pasture by letting the calves eat down the old grass, but not over graze.

what can I expect to pay for a calf if I bought it rather than was given it?

how much is milk replacer?

when do I start them on solid food?

Do they have to have grain?

How old will they be old enough to butcher?

Is it best to raise 2 together or is just one okay?

Thanks Misty

[agmantoo]

Why would a person with beef cattle be selling calves that need to be bottle fed? Doesn't make reasoning to me!

[francismilker]

oceanmist, you need to visit with TullyJohnMyers. (our resident HT calf raiser!) He can answer all of these questions.

[Teacupliz]

what can I expect to pay for a calf if I bought it rather than was given it?
not sure on beef cows

how much is milk replacer?
About $75 a bag- get a good milk base replacer.

when do I start them on solid food?
I put food out at about 2 wks. and hay, water bucket
Do they have to have grain?
Yes,

How old will they be old enough to butcher?

depends on how you like your meat-

Is it best to raise 2 together or is just one okay?
they can do fine- only problem is when they suck on each other
and it gets out of hand

[Ronney]

Misty, I would have to echo Agman's question in that why would a beef farmer be selling off calves that need to be bottle fed when they have a perfectly good mother on tap? Doesn't make sense to me either. I have reared beef calves when living on large stations but only when the mother had died or the shepherds had found a mis-mothered calf. And these calves were given to me, not sold.

Cheers,
Ronnie

[oceanmist]

Originally Posted by Ronney

Misty, I would have to echo Agman's question in that why would a beef farmer be selling off calves that need to be bottle fed when they have a perfectly good mother on tap? Doesn't make sense to me either. I have reared beef calves when living on large stations but only when the mother had died or the shepherds had found a mis-mothered calf. And these calves were given to me, not sold.

Cheers,
Ronnie

I think this is the idea... my neighbor just asked if I would do bottle calves, nothing was said about my buying them from him only that he might have a need to have some raised... I would guess it would mean if the mother died.

but I didn't know if beef calves were sold like dairy.

I just figured it might be an inexpensive way to aquire some beef!

thanks Misty

[francismilker]

The only time you'll have a chance to get ahold of a beef bottle calf is if mama died during calving or sometimes a cow won't take a calf and the farmer sells them in lieu of bottle feeding. Either way, most of the time, the calf hasn't had colostrum.
If you're going to get serious about raising calves, you'll probably want to buy a source of milk (a good milk cow) instead of buying milk replacer. It just costs too much and it's hard to make them pay if you're having to pay $100 for a day old baby and $75.00 for a bag of MR. You'll also have a small amount in vaccinations, minerals, and grain.