Raising a single calf

[Witterbound]

I'm going to be building a home on some rural land I own. I have zero experience with cattle, so I'd like to ease into it. I do own a horse and a mule. Guess my question is, can I buy a calf/steer this summer, put him in with the horse and mule, then have him butchered late this year? I've got plenty of fenced pasture. Is July until December too short a time to do any good? Could I learn something if I did this, even if it didn't make any sense from a financial standpoint?

Signed, Cattle Clueless in Arkansas

[montysky]

Watch the Horse it could run the steer, better off getting two and keep them away from the horse.

[Horns Bach]

Someone gave us a bottle calf last year and we've also got horses and a mule. We've got other cows as well that we keep separate from the horses and mules. I've heard that mules will sometimes kill calves, depends on your mule I guess. I've seen one of our calves go up and try to sniff mule's rear and get kicked at, so it could be easy to get kicked and injured just because they do dumb stuff like that and cows don't speak horse. I'd advise to keep them separate, at least until they get used to each other and the calf gets bigger, like some cross-fencing (which doesn't have to be fancy). Also depends on your horse because if he's cow-bred he might run after the calf alot, and again there's the language/understanding barrier between cattle and horses where the calf might get hurt.

Also you shouldn't worry about the financial standpoint if you want to learn stuff (and as long as you can semi-afford it), as knowledge is priceless and learning never ends. And who cares if he's butchered young, then you get to learn the butchering process plus get wholesome beef. Also depends on the age of the calf when you buy it... and how you go about that...
Sincerely,
Horns Bach

[Witterbound]

Thanks for the input. If I get one or two, I'll be asking a lot of questions.

[ErinP]

I'm going to guess someone who doesn't have a clue about cattle probably doesn't have a real cow-y horse...
Even our horses, which *are* fairly cow-y, don't seem to pester our bucket calves too much when we pasture them together in the summer and fall.

BTW, an '08 spring calf will only be around 500 pounds or less come December. You can butcher that small if you want, or go for a weanling that was last fall's calf... It'll at least be a yearling this fall when you're ready to butcher.